505 Dinghy

Youth Resurgence at Turkey Bowl

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Corona Virus Break, Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Racing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment

There are few, if any, more Covid-friendly, appropriately socially distant activities than dinghy racing. Especially for kids desperate for some kind of sporting activity. That reality, and the Seattle Laser (and RS Aero!) fleets’ ongoing organizational efforts, helped make CYC-Seattle’s Turkey Bowl a big and successful event last weekend. Even with cancellation of Sunday’s racing because of too much wind, the event was a tremendous success. While there are a lot question marks regarding upcoming social events and regattas over the coming months, one thing is certain: The Seattle singlehanded scene has provided great sailing throughout this troubling year and is well set up to do so moving into the future. Seattle’s RS Aero fleet continues to thrive and attract the very best talent, while the Seattle Laser Fleets – 4.7, Radial and Standard rigs – have become the place of choice for youth you develop their skills while having a great time, and a haven for some of us oldsters.

There were other fleets as well. Seven brave Opti sailors were on the course, four 505s and a lone Vanguard 15.

More than 20 RS Aeros turned up, and Dalton Bergan dominated with two firsts, a second and third. In the biggest Laser fleet, Hannah Weaver made a triumphant appearance winning in the Radials. There are excellent pictures from Jan Anderson (above) and John Beaver.

RESULTS

I put out the call for input about the youth fleet, and immediately got this back from Alex Zaputil, skipper of Zap, the winner of the Laser 4.7 class:

Turkey Bowl , as you know, was a one-day event. It was great to have a 10-boat fleet- the largest so far this year. Despite the forecast for Saturday, it turned out to be a generally lighter day. The first two races were a southerly of 12-15 and pretty puffy. On the first race, the fleet bunched up at the committee boat so much that I found it faster to start at the pin with speed, port tack the fleet and tack back to consolidate.  Tacking back to starboard fairly quickly was important, as the chop early in the day on port tack was not very fast! Hiking hard upwind was key. As the wind lightened for the last two races, the fleet became closer and going to the middle/right upwind paid off. — Alex Zaputil

And the following report came from Mark Ross:

Singlehanded fleets competing included RS Aeros (21 competitors), Laser Standard (5), Laser Radial (11), Laser 4.7 (9) and Opti (7).  Double handed fleets included 505’s (4 boats), FJs (4) and Vanguards (2).

One of the Aero sailors described the sailing as follows: On Saturday four races were sailed with a mix of wind conditions. The first two races were medium breeze and the last race was light. The wind and current were going opposite directions throughout the day, so keeping the bow above the chop and the boat dry was important. The pin end of the start line was being pushed up the course with the current resulting in several general recalls in the very aggressive Aero fleet, and the RC worked hard to keep the line square. The pin end of the start line was still generally favored. There were shifts on both sides of the course with longer lasting left shifts. You could go left or right up the windward leg as long as you maximized the time on the lifts and covered the fleet when there was an opportunity to do so. On the downwind legs it was important to have a good visual on the mark and it usually worked to sail close to the rhumb line while taking into account a few degrees of offset for the current.

Unfortunately on Sunday morning racing was postponed and competitors remained on shore as the wind was consistently blowing around 30. Shortly after noon the race committee canceled racing entirely for the day as the wind remained strong and there was no expectation that it would drop.  Thus the finishes on Saturday resulted in the following regatta winners….Dalton Bergan (RS Aero), Owen Timms (Laser Standard), Hanne Weaver (Laser Radial), Alex Zaputil (Laser 4.7), Barrett Milne (Optimist).

Thanks to CYC for putting on a great regatta.

–Mark Ross

The next frostbite is scheduled for December 6. Register here and dress warmly.

Laser Pacific Coast Championships

Mike Powell 505 Dinghy, Laser Sailing 0 Comment
Laser Pacific Coast Championships

Bellingham Bay saw 23 Laser standards and 41 Laser Radials from mostly BC, WA and OR plus one brave soul from CA line up to race on a weekend that proved to have most wind ranges to contend with.

Saturday morning started sunny with 10-12kts out of the south dying as the day went on to finish in about 3-5kts, the Standards got 4 races off and the Radials 3 as they had to re-start several times due to general recalls. Races were championship length running around 50-60 minutes which favored the fit when the wind was up.

  • Standard rig start.
  • Working the Bellingham breeze.
  • Sammy Farkas, working hard and loving it.
  • The Radial podium with Hanne Weaver, Maura Dewey and Al Clark.
  • The requesite 505 planing under spinnaker photo.
  • 505 action.
  • Radials rule.

Sunday started with a weak easterly, never a good thing in Bellingham Bay but as competitors arrived the expected sporty southeasterly kicked in and we had 18-24kts with quite bumpy sea states for most of the day until the last Radial race where it eased to around 10kts. Standards raced another four for a total of eight races and Radials four for a total of seven.

In the standards the Canadians swept the podium with Ian Elliott from RVYC dominating the fleet with six bullets a 2nd and a 4th place throw out for eight points, Mathew Stranaghan, WVYC, 2nd (Also first youth) with 22 points and Tony Martin, JSCA, in 3rd with 29.

In the larger Radial fleet, which was also packed with the region’s strong youth contingent, Maura Dewey, RVYC, Al Clark, RVYC and Hanne Weaver, SYC/RVYC could be seen swapping leads and racing bow to bow around the marks both days. The final points showed how close the competition was as they finished with 12,14 and 15 points in total. Cameron Holland, RVYC came in 4th overall and also the first youth racer.

The BYC operated two full race courses over the weekend as we also had the annual Dale Jepson One Design regatta happening with a fleet of 15 505’s and 6 FJ’s. With over 30 volunteers and 10 support vessels on the water it was a large undertaking for our club, which was handled well. PROs Mick Corcoran (DJOD) and Blaine Pedlow (PCC’s) managed both race courses.

A big thank you to our event sponsors; Samson Ropes, The Port of Bellingham, Stones Throw Brewery, West Coast Sailing, West Marine and the host Bellingham Yacht Club.

Mike Powell & Mike Poulos, Regatta Chairs

Results here; http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/19445#_newsroom

Ed. Note: For permission to use this text or photos, please contact Mike Powell at mike@mikepowellphoto.com.

Sparkling Turkey Bowl and Laser Districts

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Racing 0 Comment
Sparkling Turkey Bowl and Laser Districts

The sailing gods must have had a meeting and decided that this year’s CYC-Seattle Turkey Bowl, sailed this past weekend, was going to be spectacular. I can hear them having a chuckle: “Let’s see if we can send everyone home really sore and tired. And while we’re at it, let’s see if they wore warm enough clothes.”

Those gods succeeded. With winds in the high teens on Saturday and into the low teens on Sunday, the race committee could run race after race. And they did. Seven class raced, and eleven races were sailed, except in the Tasar class which only participated on Saturday. The physical nature of each of these boats, and the hiking demands of boats like the Laser and Aero, meant some very sore bodies. The temperatures weren’t all that bad, reaching into the 50s, and the sun was spectacular, but the wind chill tested everyone’s gear and more that a few of us came back to the dock not even in the neighborhood of toasty.

It’s easy to forget what we can have here in the Pacific Northwest. The weekend’s snowcapped mountains, sparkly blue waters, fresh northerly and a contingent of organizers, volunteers and parents made this an event to remember for a long time to come, and a poster-event for future Seattle dinghy events. It’s not always like this, but it can be!

The event also served as the Laser 22 Districts. Thanks to a coordinated effort between kids, coaches and parents the Laser Radial fleet saw 24 entries and the Laser 4.7 class saw three boats. The 4.7 is following the European lead and becoming a popular alternative in the U.S. for kids transitioning out of Optis. There was also a healthy and competitive fleet of a dozen Standard rigs. In the Standard fleet Matthew Stranaghan of Canada overcame the early lead of Brian Ledbetter to win comfortably. Amongst the Radials, Kit Stoll and Owen Timms picked up their rivalry with Stoll coming out on top this time. In the 4.7s, the brothers Cruz and Chase Custodinho were one and two with Delfino Li coming in third.

For me, the quote of the day came from one youngster to another – “Bye – See you at Frigid Digit!” referring to the Seattle Laser Fleet’s big January regatta to be held on the same waters.

In the very competitive RS Aero class, Dan Falk won a hard fought battle over Dalton Bergan and Carl Buchan, ahead of Bergan by a single point. Finishes were very close and the fleet often very tightly packed.

Matts Elf and Brent Campbell won the 505 class, Jacob Posner dominated the Opti class with straight bullets and Jonathon and Libby McKee won Saturday in the Tasars. Jonathan came out on Sunday and sailed in the RS Aero fleet.

Results here. 

These photos courtesy of Brad Greene. Thanks Brad! Click to enlarge.

505 Pacific Coast Championships – Breeze on in Bellingham

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Racing 0 Comment
505 Pacific Coast Championships – Breeze on in Bellingham

5-ohs forever. These sailors are a tight-knit group, and the boat can sail in zephyrs and full-on blows. From their rabbit starts to freely trading all their boatspeed “secrets,” these sailors have figured out how to keep sailing fun internationally and here in the Pacific Northwest. –KH 

By Paul Pihl

Bellingham Yacht Club hosted the 5O5 Pacific Coast Championships on June 15-17 on Bellingham Bay. Seven professionally run races occurred in varied conditions over the three days by PRO John Pedlow. Thirty-two teams attended the event and the pool of talent was deep. Several current/former world champions were present including Mike Holt, Rob Woelfel, Mike Martin and Howie Hamlin. The list of titles won by the top talent would exceed the limits of this brief report and perhaps even bore the reader. The competitors also included weekend warriors, college students and recent graduates. In fact, there was at least one competitor who graduated that same weekend from WWU. Teams traveled down from BC and up from Oregon and California. Doug Hagan flew in from Maui and the former International Class President and current class liaison, Pip Pearson came all the way from Australia. The father-son team of James and Ethan Brown drove all the way out from Alberta to race together on Father’s Day weekend. Walking around the boat park before racing it was clear that a great range of talent and ages were present, it was also equally clear that 5O5 sailors are united by their passion for the boat and class. Something that sets 5-oh sailors apart is their openness and congeniality. Boat set-up, sail trim, and tactics are openly and enthusiastically discussed by all competitors before, during and after racing. The goal seems to be to go faster together. Indeed the unwritten class goals seem to be, go faster, learn more and have as much fun as possible.

These Jan Anderson photos tell Saturday’s story. There are so many more good ones at her smugmug gallery.

 

Many of the competitors arrived early on Thursday, rigged and practiced on the bay in 10-15 knots from the south in champagne sailing conditions. The forecast for the weekend was for wind from the northwest, an unusual and often undependable wind direction for Bellingham Bay. Friday the wind lingered in the high single digits and was shifty. In race one, abundant weeds and lulls in the middle and left were painfully experienced by those on that side. In race two, the weeds had cleared and the left seemed favored. On Saturday, before racing many were busy making weed sticks to clear their rudders. As it turned out, the northwesterly filled in early with an unusual vigor. The wind and waves seemed to clear the bay of the eel grass, or maybe the boats were just going so fast they didn’t see or care about the weeds as they blasted by. Four races were run in 14-18 knots, at times gusting higher. It was full-on planing conditions. Finding pressure and lifts led to big gains at the higher speeds. There were abundant thrills and more than a few spills too. The racers returned to shore tired, sometimes bruised but always smiling.   The 5O5 is pure joy to sail, whether you are in the front or at the back of the fleet. Jim and Susan Holstine hosted a fleet party at their home on Lake Samish after racing on Saturday and it was a fantastic finish to the fabulous day of sailing. Mike Martin said it was, “the best regatta party” he had ever attended, a notable comment from someone who has attended a plethora of sailing events around the globe. Sunday the northwesterly filled in late with its more typical, lackadaisical tendency. The RC got off only one race. Initially, there was some wiring upwind. However, by the end the wind shifted and faded to a whimper.

Former world champion, Mike Martin and his crew Adam Lowry took away the gold. They had sailed amazingly consistently with 2-(11)-1-1-2-2-2 finishes. Current world champions Mike Holt and Rob Woelfel finished second. Former world champion and legendary 5O5 sailor Howie Hamlin and his crew Jeff Nelson were awarded third place. But by the looks on all the faces after, everyone was a winner. Thanks for Mike Poulos, regatta chair, for organizing a fantastic event and to all the BYC volunteers for making it all possible!

Thanks to competitor Paul Pihl for putting this report together. If your PNW class wants some digital ink, email me and we’ll set something up. 

PSSR Small Boats – RS Aeros Ascend

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Racing , 0 Comment
PSSR Small Boats – RS Aeros Ascend

Hobie 18 punching through a wave in 2017

I was hoping some pictures my bubble up from last weekend’s CYC-Seattle Small boats regatta, but alas none have (So I’ve resorted to using last year’s). But there was some good racing across several classes this year. The Hobie 18s had a nice 5-boat fleet, with Ethan Salkind showing his winning touch extends to the 2-hulled vessels he sells, with straight bullets. There were two Hobie 16s as well. It’s great to see the multihulls in the CYC events, and hopefully those classes grow at major events.

505s, Stars and J/24s all featured small fleets but a dominant performance in each. Results. Jay Winberg was the lone Laser out there as others in the fleet were off traveling.

The biggest and most competitive fleet was the RS Aero fleet, which now boasts Jonathan McKee as one of their own. We have a report from one of the original fleet members, Jacques Garrigues:

PSSR was a challenging first regatta. The Seattle Aero fleet has some of the very best sailors and now Jonathan McKee has joined us to add to class acts like Dalton Bergan, Carl Buchan and Dan Falk.

Jacques Garrigues in an Aero in 2017.

Top Tasar sailor Michael Karas was sailing our loaner Aero and is a terrific talent.

Saturday was raining, the breeze was 5-7 kts early and built to 9-14 kts from the south running against a strong flood tide. On Sunday thank goodness the rain was gone and the breeze had switched to a northerly, 8-10 its early, building to 15-24 kts late. We had three very experienced new additions in Jonathan McKee, Jim Barrett, and Michael Karas all of whom were fast from the first horn.

The regatta though was dominated by Dalton Bergan who has phenomenal speed upwind, downwind, 9 rig, 7 rig, you name it he is showing the other Seattle Aero sailors how it is done. Congratulations to him. As usual, other consistent performers were Todd Willsie (second) and Eric Becker (third) despite some “kissing” by them at the leeward mark followed by a swim to cool off!! The swimmer will remain nameless.

We were on the water for about four hours each day with full on hiking and gathered at the end for well earned drinks and food.

All in all a really good start to the season in the Pacific Northwest for our very competitive and growing Seattle RS Aero fleet.

 

Thanks, Jacques!

Youth Movement at Turkey Bowl

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Laser Sailing, Racing, Youth Sailing , , , 1 Comment
Youth Movement at Turkey Bowl

Laser Radials lining up for a start on Saturday. Matt Wood photo.

Corinthian YC’s Turkey Bowl doesn’t always attract the biggest fleets (something about sailing in November), but last weekend, thanks to the efforts of kids, coaches and parents, it was a remarkably well attended regatta. Nearly 60 boats were entered including 505s, Vanguard 15s, RS Aeros, Lasers, Laser Radials and Optimists.

Mats Elf won the closely contested 505 class, while Dieter Creitz won the Optis with straight bullets and Nate Walgren won the 4-boat Vanguard 15 fleet.

Lasers setting up for a start Sunday.

The singlehanded fleets each had a strong showing with 14 Aeros, 9 Laser standard rigs and 13 Laser Radials. Dan Falk, winner in the Aero class, “couldn’t remember having that much fun” as the last heavy air duel against Carl Buchan. They finished a foot apart, with the nod going to Buchan. Oregon’s Doug Seeman made his trip worthwhile, winning the Laser standard rig on the strength of a dominating performance on the light air first day. In the Radial class, it was Owen Timm taking the win over Abbie Carlson and Kit Stohl. The Radial class is really coming into its own and is a great place for younger and smaller sailors to compete at a high level

Results here. 

One of the groups of young sailors came from the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center, a City of Seattle racing program based on Lake Washington and now headed up by Kaitlyn Van Nostrand. It would be great to have a city-based program turning up at regattas! Here’s Kaitlyn’s report from the weekend:

Mt. Baker Youth Sailing Team culminated its first fall practice series by attending CYC’s annual Turkey Bowl with 4 lasers and 2 Opti’s. Three of our novice sailors had never raced on the Sound before and for one of our Opti sailors, it was her breakout regatta! They were tough kids, considering most juniors start and stop when the weather is warm and dry.  

With some nervous laughs, the junior sailors joined the 505’s, RS Aero’s, Lasers, Radials and Optis for 6 great races on Saturday. Our team learned about the current, being scared then excited about the waves, swell and lots of ah ha moments when we talked about how the current would affect the mark rounds, and connecting the theory to practice when the current did just that. For two of our Radial sailors, their goal was to finish the races. Finish they did and by the end of the day, the race committee was cheering them on as they crossed the line!  For the other two second year Laser sailors, it was to see their great improvement that all the sailing they did this fall paid off. As they were able to finish closer to the fleet of great year around juniors sailors from SYC’s race team! Our Opti sailors learned how to stay out of the way of 505’s screaming past and got a few helloss from our laser master’s friends! After over 5 hours on the water and some warm chili, our sailors were falling asleep at the Clubhouse. Needless to say, they had a good night sleep! 

The forecast was wild for Sunday, but we did manage to get two great races off in the funny west/south west direction. Then the real fun began, the swells started getting larger before the big gusts came just as the second laser race was finishing. Race committee abandoned racing for the junior classes and the parade of laser radials and opti’s made their way back to the docks. It was a wild ride in huge gusts and big swell for our lake sailors! They were pleased enough to be done early after the long day Saturday. We washed our boats, packed up and headed back to Mt. Baker. Lots of smiles, lots of excellent experience gained and excited to start up again in the Spring.

If any Junior Sailors are interested in joining our youth sailing team at Mt. Baker, we will be starting Laser and Opti practice again on the weekends in April 2018. Sailors must know how to sail, but do not need racing experience. All our boats are owned by Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Center and we have scholarships available. We practice April to November! Email Coach Kaitlyn at mtbakersailingteam@gmail.com to find out more. 

Thanks, Kaitlyn, and I’ll second her call for more sailors. Whether it’s Mount Baker, Sail Sandpoint, CYC, SYC, high schoolers or any of the other great junior programs around, competitive sailing is definitely on the upswing in the Northwest. There are plenty of great coaches, parents and other sailors to help and keep things safe.

Have a great Thanksgiving all!

Yanez Repeats at the 2017 Dale Jepsen One Design Regatta in Bellingham

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Laser Sailing, Racing, Youth Sailing , , 0 Comment
Yanez Repeats at the 2017 Dale Jepsen One Design Regatta in Bellingham

It was a small but mighty fleet of Lasers at Bellingham Yacht Club’s Dale Jepsen One Design regatta this year. Jorge Yanez, the winner of the DJOD last year and the winner of the Laser Radial Masters Nationals event in the Gorge this year was there; the winner and runner up from 2015, Sascha Smutny and Doug Honey were there; and Perham Black, fresh off his win at the Bellingham Youth Regatta was there. The top of the 9-boat fleet was so evenly matched that places changed at nearly every mark rounding.

This is a photo from the Laser fleet in a previous Dale Jepsen Regatta.

Mike Johnson lead the regatta after two races with a first and a third for four points, followed closely by Yanex and Black with five points each. Yanez jumped out after that with two firsts in races 3 and 4, establishing a five point lead on Black. Undeterred, Black went hard right on the last beat of the last race, jumping past several boats and winning the race. Yanez finished 4th to save the regatta win by one point.  If he had been 5th, the tie breaker would have gone to Black.  

Third place went to Mike Johnson with only 4 points separating third through sixth places. It is for this kind of tight racing, often overlapped with other boats at every mark rounding and multiple boats arriving at the finish together, that we keep showing up. There were no protests, no starting line abuses, and only a few capsizes. Racers compared their ideas after each race were clearly glad to be lucky enough to be having fun among friends.  

Results here.

Regatta chair Mike Poulos, race officer Jonathan Knowles and their terrific volunteers, did a great job under difficult circumstances to choreograph five well-run and fair races. All races occurred on Sunday due to no wind on Saturday. Saturday had been the regatta organizer’s nightmare. Just enough wind to leave shore that went flat at the first warning, and then came back up 10 minutes after all boats got back to the parking lot. So on Sunday, everyone was elated to see a sunny 8 to 12 knot southeasterly materialize from the glassy bay – less than an hour before the first warning. The breeze held nicely right up through the last race and then died.  

It is interesting to note that only three participants at the event this year were also at the event last year.  Some could say we lost the others but the positive perspective says we gained several new people. Let’s build on that momentum and have some great events this fall. We could have a start at Corinthian’s PSSC (October 7-8) and Turkey Bowl (November 18-19). Would it be crazy to imagine 15 Laser’s on the starting line?

–Jay Leon

Ed. Note: I’d love to post something on the FJ and 505 fleets, so if anyone wants to share some words or photos, send them along and I’ll get them in. Also, thanks to Jay for the Laser report. No, indeed, 15 Lasers is not too many to expect for for PSSC and Turkey Bowl, especially if the great young sailors show up. Maybe both full rig and Radial fleets? Note this video from the Junior Olympic Regatta.

Flying without Foils on a 505

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Racing 0 Comment
Flying without Foils on a 505

Mike Powell is both an elite photographer and a very enthusiastic sailor, competing in boats ranging from a Lasers to offshore keelboats. He made this great video and wanted to know if the sailish.com readers were interested. That’d be a YES.

It’s a rare image, moving or otherwise, that captures the excitement, effort and “moisture” of dinghy sailing in good breeze. This video from Tuesday night racing on Bellingham Bay in 20 knots does just that. Note there’s some salty (but happily said) exclamations caught on tape, so if you don’t want kids to hear turn the volume down. But the audio lends a lot to the video!

While some seem to think you have to foil to have fun, I’d say sending it downwind in a 5-0 is plenty exciting.

Check out more of Mike’s work.