If ever there was an entry list of who’s who in Seattle dinghy racing, one doesn’t really have to look further than the Tasar Worlds entry list. The regatta started today off Shilshole, and goes through next Saturday.
From the 217 Worlds in Japan, won by Jonathan McKee and Libby Johnson-McKee.
For those unfamiliar with the Tasar, it’s a 15′, 150- lb. 2-person skiff. With it’s light weight, fully battened main and rotating mast, it rewards excellent crew work and weight placement. The best sailors are those that work closely together. It’s not a boat that requires extraordinary strength or size, and is designed so that couples can be competitive.
As is most often the case, the real strength of the class isn’t the boat, but the people. It’s a tightknit group of enthusiasts that keep the class vibrant despite limited numbers and the distances between active fleets. Over the years, the Worlds have been on the Columbia River Gorge and Esquimalt in BC. They have also been in the UK, Japan Thailand and Australia.
The boat has been around since the mid-1970s and has been a mainstay of the Northwest most of that time. World. Major international regatta and Worlds winners from the PNW include Jonathan McKee and Libby Johnson-McKee, Charlie and Becky McKee, Jay and Lisa Renehan, Carol and Carl Buchan and Anthony and Haley Boscolo. Others on the podium include Dalton and Lindsey Bergan and Mike Karas. Teams from Australia and Japan have also made the trek to Seattle.
Looking to this year’s Worlds, most of the usual class suspects are tuned up again, with many of them shifting their focus from singlehanding at the RS Aero Worlds at Cascade Locks this summer to sailing with a partner for this regatta. Other strong entries from the area include Stasi Burzycki and Sophia Kasper. and Dieter Creitz and Sam Bush.
If you want to see dinghy sailing at its finest, and the current sailing conditions hold fast this week, a day watching these Worlds may be well worth the time.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
When West Coast Sailing introduced the RS Aero to the Pacific Northwest, it was pretty clear there was a sea change brewing. That sea change will be official when the RS Aero Worlds takes place on the Columbia River Gorge June 25-July 1.
At the time, I and many other Laser stalwarts were fed up with the acrimony between Laser Performance and the International Laser Class Association. The Laser, while still an Olympic class, had been technically lagging as any 40-something year old design would. Along came the RS Aero, boasting a hull weight of a little over half that of the Laser, carbon spars and a more ergonomic and efficient layout. At the time, I wondered aloud if it would replace the Laser. It hasn’t. They now co-exist. The ILCA won the war with Laser Performance, retained its Olympic status and ILCA regattas are in full swing around the world. But the moment did allow the RS Aero to also establish itself worldwide. Which brings us to this point.
RS Aero fleets have been growing around the world, with plenty of regattas throughout Europe despite the Covid times. The rise of the class hasn’t been as dramatic in the United States. One place it has been dramatic is here in Seattle, where the bulk of the older Laser sailors moved to the Aero early on. West Coast Sailing was eager to help the new class, and managed to get boats into the Northwest quickly while also supplying the necessary support as the fleet established itself.
As one of the founding Aero fleets in North America, and with one of the world’s great sailing venues a three hour drive away, it would make sense that the first World Championship in North America would be on the Columbia River Gorge. This is the 4th Worlds, the other three occurring in France, the U.K. and Australia. Fifty seven boats are entered in the 5, 7 and 9 (sail size categories) representing USA, Australia, China, Ireland, Canada, Great Britain, and Uruguay.
One question remains to be answered. Northwest singlehanded stalwarts Carl Buchan, Dalton Bergan, Dan Falk, Andy Mack, Jay and John Renehan and Stasi Burzycki are all entered, with many other excellent local sailors also strapping in for what promises to be some fast sailing. Will they be fast enough for to take on the Brits, et. al.?
Ed note. As a strong Laser proponent (and still an owner), it took me a while, but I’m also now an RS Aero owner. My boat has the provisional name Dark Side, because I’m now there as well. I can safely say the RS Aero is challenging and not for the feint of heart.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Ed. Note: Sailish supporters West Coast Sailing and Zim continue to step up to the plate when it comes to supporting sailing. The 5-year sponsorship of college sailing shows that dinghy sailing is thriving and our friends continue to be lifeblood for our sport . For more information on West Coast Sailing’s ICSA sponsorship, go here. For the West Coast Sailing newsletter, click here.
From the West Coast Sailing Newsletter:
We are excited to announce that we have entered a new five-year sponsorship agreement with the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA)! We are committed to youth sailing, growing the sport, participation and are proud to be giving back to the community.
As ‘Official Suppliers,’ Zim and West Coast Sailing will contribute equipment for the use at various ICSA national championships. Additionally, 5% of all sales made by college sailing programs will be donated back to ICSA, which embodies our commitment to give back to the sailing community.
OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS Discounts for college sailing team purchases From hardware to dollies, we help alleviate the cost of keeping fleets and sailors on the water. If you run a sailing program or collegiate team, check out this link: Program Purchasing Details
Discounts for student athletes Helping students gear up is important to us, and we continue (year round) to offer a collegiate discount of 15% off apparel and accessories for those sailors. Scholastic Discounts
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
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.
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.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
It’s Turkey Bowl time again, virus or not. CYC-Seattle’s venerable small boat regatta is this weekend. Click on the masked turkey to sign up! We’ll get a weather outlook up tomorrow night.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
It’s pretty safe to say that for most of us, sailing is critical to feeling alive. But as performance sailors will tell you, pushing one’s limits in big breeze is about feeling really alive, whether it’s on an Opti going 7 knots or a foiling cat going 25. Andy Mack, a performance sailor if there ever was one, pushed his limits on the Columbia River Gorge on Labor Day in his RS Aero. He told his tale to fellow Aero sailors and has graciously allowed us to share it here. Read on! -KH
Feeling Alive
By Andy Mack
Andy Mack
Around 2:00 pm on Labor day I was noticing the breeze from the east was picking up and started to think maybe it would be worth considering trying to make a run at the Hood River YC 20/20 record, Hood River to Cascade Locks. The last record was set in 2014 by Bill Summerfield and crew on his Express 27, 1:54:38. Doing the math; for 20 miles you need to average better than 5.73 minutes per mile, which is an average of 9.1 knots. After pulling up the charts and a calculator for some quick estimates, I figured it could be possible in the Aero. The challenge to being successful is to be able to keep the overall average speed up high enough to make up for the typically slow first 3 – 4 miles where the wind is barely enough to get on a plane. You start out at a deficit to the average since the wind builds as you go west through the Gorge, so you have to be really cooking in the second half to make up for the early lost time. I did some quick estimates for where I would need to be by what times for the first half, after that, it doesn’t really matter. Just get there in one piece. It can get pretty sketchy for the second half, not much time to think other than 100% focus on staying upright and in one piece. This day was especially unique. The forecast was for a once in a 50 year easterly blow. The i-windsurf forecast had estimates of 40 – 50 knots. How likely was that going to happen? I was convincing myself that those peaks would be further west of Cascade Locks, not through the mid-Gorge corridor.
I sprung the idea of the downwinder on my wife, Jaime. To my surprise, she thought it was a great idea and said to “go for it”. She offered to help support me in a power boat, but I talked her out of it. Once I’m in 20+ knots the RIB could be a liability. The next best plan would be to track me through my phone location and meet me at the other end. Worst case, I could haul out in Viento or one of the other beach launches. I’ll call for help if I need it. Everything is within 30 minutes by car. So, I packed my dolly in her car just in case.
I’m not the most tech savvy, other than I can run an app on my phone. I had made sure “Find My Phone” was working for Jaime to track me and “Race Qs” to record a GPS track record. Then, I put my Velocitek SC-1 in the cockpit, which I hadn’t used in about 11 years. No video or GoPro on this excursion. If I had more time to prepare I would have put one on my boom. Another non-typical added environmental condition was forest fire smoke that had started to blow in from the east from fires in eastern Washington. Visibility was down to about 3-4 miles. Air quality was starting to be problem, I thought I could deal with it for a couple hours. I was a little concerned about not being able to see barges coming upriver before they could be a problem. However, since it was a holiday, there may not be any barges on the river. Air temperature was about 80 degrees, water temp around 72 and not much current. I decided to go without a spray top or insulating layer. In hindsight, a helmet would have been a good idea. I have a few different rig sizes to choose from and decided to go with the 7 square meter rig.
When I went down to the marina I sent a message to the HRYC group that I was planning to go for the 20/20 record. A few minutes later I got a message that a Moore 24 had already left to go do the run too. Oh great! I wish I knew this ahead of time, I would have tried to join them for at least a little safety in numbers. Maybe I’ll see them with their rig down or some other carnage.
4:00 I rigged up and shoved off the Hood River Marina dock into the smokey Mordor looking scene.
I spent 5 minutes getting mentally ready, setting my phone tracker, watch countdown set to 1:54:00, just under the last record, then deciding the best position on the start line and angle to begin my run. Double checking with myself if this is really a good idea. Of course it is!
4:07:50 Bore off and went for it. I had some nice initial puffs over 15 knots and flat water, hitting 12 knots over the bottom. That was a good start.
4:10:50 I was hit by a puff which must have clocked to the south a little and caught me off guard, leading to a deathroll. That was dumb! Fortunately, I was able to climb over the rail and get on the board quickly while the boom was still up in the air. I lost a little time. As I got back upright I heard some cheering from some people that had walked out to the tip of the sand bar to enjoy the awful weather and air quality conditions. Immediately after recovering I was hit again by a 20 knot puff, sending me back up to 14 knots.
4:12:00 I had to luff up for a few seconds to put the main halyard back in the sail pocket. I figured I better stop now to take care of it before the wind got too crazy.
4:17:00 Mile 1, I needed to average better than 6 minutes a mile to break the record, I was over 1.5 minutes behind.
Slow going the first 2 miles.
4:25:30 2 miles down, passing by the Hatchery Buoy, 4 minutes behind the average. My mantra for the run was to focus on keeping my average boat speed up over 10 knots, “Keep the average up”. As I was going through the corridor from the Hatchery to Viento, the halfway point, the wind was steadily picking up over 20 knots, my average speed getting closer to 10 knots and trending up. The waves were kicking up too keeping me cautious to not stuff and wipeout.
4:45:34 First heavy air jibe, resorted to a chicken jibe. I didn’t want to risk another capsize to keep my average up. The waves were getting bigger, forcing me to slow down and steer around more. I was easing my vang a little for safety, trying to keep control over where I had to steer to avoid stuffing the bow.
4:50:19 Waves and gusts were getting bigger, forcing me down the troughs into the backs of bigger and bigger waves, I had to resort to burning speed by luffing up to avoid stuffing. Not fast, but still better than a capsize.
4:50:07 Chicken Jibe #2. My strategy was to stay to the leeward side of the channel on the Oregon side of the river as much as possible to avoid shifty and disturbed wind on the north side of the channel. On final approach to Viento Park, it was WINDY, gusting well over 30 knots, waves were getting bigger. My goal was to pass Viento before 5:00.
4:58:15 Passing by Viento, the midway point. Now, I was about 5 minutes ahead of the record and feeling kind of crazy, but more confident I could make it. As I was cruising by the park I only saw one windsurfer braving the conditions, and he was headed back to the beach in retreat.
Lulls were 20 knots, gusts up into the high 30’s. As I made the commitment to proceed past Viento I was extremely focused on not dropping the mainsheet, oversheeting to reduce power and keeping the loads balanced, easing vang to let the top of the sail twist off, pulling controls on and steering with deliberate precision. Stuffing waves and filling the cockpit was a regular occurrence at this point. After I passed the park, to my surprise, I experienced much flatter water, and the boat lit up planning much more steadily, helping the average. For 20 minutes I almost never dropped under 10 knots and hit one peak of 16.3 knots. This section was a blast.
5:20:00 Settling into the start of the Home Valley stretch where it can get squirrely from the wind pinching between Wind Mountain and the Oregon hillsides. As I was passing by the Wyeth park and launch area I looked to my leeward side and realized I was only about 3 boat lengths from a long native American salmon net. At least it was strung along the current, not across it. The thought of running over a net in these conditions was not a good one.
5:23:00 Conditions were now getting very lively. I was hitting new high speeds, surging to 15 knots then hitting 16.5, with a short burst to 16.7, my peak for the whole run. And then, I don’t know what happened. Next thing I know, I’m in the water and my boat is pitch poled in front of me completely straight up in the air with only one foot of the bow in the water. That would have been a cool photo! My first thought was to start swimming towards the boat quickly before it blows away from me. The next thing I realize, my ride is falling back towards me, on to me. I managed to not get hit in the head by the port side rail as the boat fell back down into the water. My left shoulder and thigh took a blow from the hull or rail. Fortunately, I was able to quickly reach up and get on the board and get going again. Needless to say, I was a little shaken up wondering how much windier it was going to get and what else could go wrong. At this point, I was straight across from the Home Valley park boat ramp. As I looked down river the smoke was obscuring the next point where I would be hanging a left into the Cascade Locks/Stevenson stretch. As soon as I got going again the breeze dropped, big lull. More encouragement to keep going!
5:30:00 the breeze came back on hard. I have been out in big breeze and waves many times in the Aero, but this was different. I was worried there was a lot of potential to brake something as the puffs kept getting well over 30 knots, driving the bow down and loading up the rudder. I did my best to not push it too hard. Hiking off the back corner was helpful and necessary to keep the bow up.
5:31:21 Any time I felt the boat was getting overloaded I purposely rounded up to burn off speed and unload the rudder. As I bore off and got going again down the Home Valley channel, I was in more of a “safety” mode, trying to stay in control as the puffs got bigger and the waves were stacking up.
5:34:34 A huge gust hit me, I jumped to 16 knots again, stuffed the bow and capsized. This time I was getting concerned about what to do next. Once I got the boat back up, I cranked on controls to flatten my sail as much as possible. In the process, I was hit by a huge puff, and had to hike out just to stay upright while I was luffing on a beam reach angle. Not good! When I looked out into the channel it was knarly; big breaking waves, with the gusts blowing the tops off the waves. There was no way I would be able to go upwind in these conditions. With no boat launches or beaches nearby to pull out, I had no choice, but to keep going. I bore off in the next lull, with the belief I may be able to still make it. Success! I proved I could still bear away and survive. It didn’t take long before I had to do another round up to slow down. Then I decided to tack to stay closer to the Oregon shore. One of the awesome features about the Aero is, it’s very light. The downside is it doesn’t carry much momentum through tacks, especially when it’s blowing over 25 knots. The tack took me two tries to complete. Worst case scenarios were starting to cross my mind. Where could I bail out? About now, I knew Jaime would be either close or already in Cascade Locks to pick me up. As I approached the Oregon shore, I knew I didn’t want to get too close to the lee shore or shallow water, so I tacked again and bore away.
5:42:48 Capsized again. Shifting priorities, I have given up trying to break the record and focused on trying to survive and keeping my boat in one piece. I noticed my rudder was starting to kick up a little, so I had to cinch down the tie-down line. If the rudder kicks up too much, it increases the weather helm and could over stress the rudder and rudder head. I managed to bear away again in a lull and kept going. I was thinking, if I could just get downwind another quarter mile I could duck into the coves at the east end of Cascade Locks for shelter. Once I got going again, I kept in control enough to keep pushing towards the finish. In these conditions, when I was stuck going up the face of a wave, all I had to do was sheet out a little to power over the wave and sheet in again to slow down on the backside. Now that I was pointed towards the Stevenson kite launch area I knew I was almost home free. This section was 7 minutes of high averages and almost no dips below 10 knots. As I approached the Stevenson boat ramp area a few kiters were ripping around, smiling, having a ball as I was trying to loosen up and enjoy myself. The wind had moderated a little more, gusts in the low to mid 30’s, lulls around 20. The tracking data of this 25 minute section really revealed the extreme up and down conditions and wave action.
5:53:24 As I was bombing towards the Stevenson shoreline I found the lull I was hoping for and went for a legit jibe, barely landing it. Knowing I was potentially on final approach to the Cascade Locks beach, no more jibes were necessary, I was starting to relax a little more and enjoy the ride. I looked at my watch one more time and realized I could still potentially make it under the previous record. Hard to believe it was possible with all the flailing around I had been doing. Port jibe was more challenging with the wind and wave angle, I was having to spin up a couple more times to keep from going down the mine in the big puffs. At least I was getting quicker at the recovery and bearing off again. The last four minutes were really fun, with higher averages and awesome surfing conditions. As I came up on the Cascade Locks park I was thinking a photo or video to capture the occasion and accomplishment would be cool. Nope! Just me, myself and I. With the smoke filled air and gale force winds, who would want to be going for a walk to the beach on a day like this?
6:01:07 I finished this crazy adventure! Broke the old record by a little over a minute. Nothing broke on my Aero and I was in one piece.
Jaime got there a few minutes after I landed at the dock. She had pulled off the highway a few miles back looking for me when the phone tracker showed me flailing around. She took these pictures while looking for me. Not much to see with the heavy smoke screen. By the time she took these I must have got my act together and carried on. When she met me at the dock, she said I looked like Gollum; pale, shaking and my eyes bloodshot from the smoke.
I didn’t realize until a couple days later how hard my boat had hit my shoulder.
The Moore 24 “Nice One”, owned by Andy Estcourt, with crew Sean “Doogie” Couvreux, and Mike “Spike” Slater managed to smash the record by a little over 10 minutes, 1:43:20. The bruise was Andy’s take-home from the adventure.
The Moore 24 “Nice One”, owned by Andy Estcourt, with crew Sean “Doogie” Couvreux, and Mike “Spike” Slater managed to smash the record by a little over 10 minutes, 1:43:20. They left Hood River an hour before I did, around 3:00 pm. When I look at the wind data and my GPS track, I am confident if I had left when they did, it would have been a very close race. Nice run and perfect timing guys! It doesn’t hurt to leave the task to a couple of veteran pro’s and an experienced Gorge sailor. I hear they had their own harrowing experience during the second half of their run.
Obviously, it was not blowing 20 – 30+ knots yet, cocktail hour on the back deck!
Final Conclusion: I am completely impressed with how well the Aero is built and handled these extreme conditions. I now know I can trust my boat to hold together, should I end up in these kind of conditions again. Looking at my recorded track I followed very close to rhumline, only crossing the river four times and staying close to the channel to maximize the current push. While I am disappointed I missed the new record, set an hour before me. I can look at the data and know if I had not capsized, I would have easily saved 10 minutes. If I had left an hour earlier, I would have had about 10 knots less wind on average, which would have made a big difference. It was a bit much to expect to survive every massive puff and pearl into the waves ahead of me, which lead to most of my capsizes. Maybe the 5 rig would have been easier to control in the 25+ knot conditions. I’ll have to test this out for future attempts. All I can say is, this experience left me Feeling Alive! I loved it! Can’t wait to try again next year and beat the new record.
We don’t have regatta reports from the dinghy racing on the Columbia River Gorge this year, but once again the Gorge delivered and we have pictures to prove it.
CGOD was notable for three Laser fleets (4.7, Radial and Standard, with the Standard fleet the smallest!) and the prevalence of youth in that class. The 15-boat Tasar fleet shows that class is healthy and a great two-person boat for the Gorge! The RS Aero PCCs were a veritable who’s who of Northwest Washington sailing. It’s worth noting that many of the names (Dalton Bergan, Jay Renehan) could be found on the leader boards of both regattas.
Dinghy sailing has been one of the sports that can remain active throughout the pandemic. It’s great to see sailors out there making it happen.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
This year’s Hobie Division 4 Area Championships were sailed in August on, as usual, Lake Quinault. We’re finally getting around to publishing them.
We didn’t get around to creating a full report on this event, but you can see the results here. A couple interesting things are apparent from the results. Big boat sailor John Hoag is crewing for his daughter Jennifer (they were second in their class) and Dieter Creitz took a break from all the other boats he’s good at to show he’s good at Hobies too.
But the key to this fleet isn’t in the results. It’s clear from these photos – the key is community. It is a fun-loving well organized group that absolutely knows where to hold bush regattas.
Thanks to Jan Anderson for the photos. Here are the rest. And here’s Jan’s description of the event: “It’s always a pleasure to reconnect with the Hobie community, our multi-hull (heck, sailing) family of choice, in a consistently stunning venue, with super sailing, nice breeze and weather, an unbelievable spread of food, terrific raffle prizes, and this year, even a full blown wedding! Enjoy these images – we sure enjoyed gathering them!”
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
For those who bemoan the decline of dinghy racing in the Northwest (I know I do in my darker moments), take this from this past weekend’s Turkey Bowl Regatta in Seattle: There were seven classes, eight if you count the lone FJ on the water. Depending on the class, 5-10 races were sailed.
Most importantly, a lot of the faces on the water were young.
Here are some of Jan Anderson’s photos. The rest are here.
Optis downwind
Surveying
Opti Racer
Seattle Laser Fleet Captain Mark Ross
Sailing it flat and fast.
Laser Radial Start
505s
505s
Libby and Jonathan McKee
Tasars
Close Racing in RS Aeros
Scott Malone
It’s about intensity.
Kaitlyn van Nostrand, coach of the Mount Baker Rowing & Sailing Center, and who also coaches in New Zealand, was impressed. “It was the best run Turkey Bowl regatta I have been to! This was my 4th year coaching this event. The race committee did 3-minute starts and wow, the races went off fast with seven fleets.”
“It was a great showing by the 505s, RS Aeros and Lasers. Coaches did their best to stay out of the way of sailors racing. Big current on Saturday ebbing, so no general recalls. Great dinner on Saturday night too. A job very well done by CYC! Our parents felt welcomed, kids sailed and had a blast. “
Mt. Baker was represented with 9 boats, 10 sailors. SYC was there with their youth fleet and eight Opti kids managed the bigger breeze on Sunday. The Royal Van laser team showed up and said it was a great event.
Laser models: 4.7, Radial, Standard.
Perhaps the most significant turnout was 7-boat Laser 4.7 fleet. This class, which is extremely popular in Europe, features a smaller rig with a different mast bottom section and a much smaller sail. It gives kids and small adults (approx 110-130 lbs.) high performance and provides a good stepping stone to other Lasers and dinghies. With used Lasers widely available, it’s an affordable and accessible racing platform, and with coaches embracing it as well, it is becoming a great tool for growing youth sailing. Alex Zaputil won the 4.7 class this time around.
With a total of 21 boats on the water, the RS Aero class was the biggest and arguably most competitive. Dalton Bergan won by a large margin, chased by John Renehan and Andy Mack. Hanne Weaver trounced the 18-boat Laser Radial fleet, Ian Elliott got by Ali Fuat Yuvali in a hard-fought Laser contest, Jay Renehan won in the Tasars and Miles Johannessen won in the 505s and Dieter Creitz won in the Optimist class. Results.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
OK – It’s not Puget Sound or the Strait of Georgia, but we’ll peek at some great Bay sailing any time. Especially when it involves our sponsor West Coast Sailing and their nifty RS 21. By the way, there were three of the 21s at Annapolis doing some dubious but still interesting racing next to the US Sailboat Show venue.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
