Dinghy Racing

The Positive Energy Pumpkin Bowl This Weekend

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing , 0 Comment
The Positive Energy Pumpkin Bowl This Weekend

West Vancouver YC’s Pumpkin Bowl is an amazing event geared primarily at youth classes, and Bruce Hedrick and Sailish.com are giddy to be able to help out. Bruce will be providing a look at the weather and Sailish is providing a bit of promotion, not that it really needs it. The event features youth classes, the Laser District 6 Championships and lots and lots of positive energy. PRO Stewart Jones, a rigger in the area and one of the driving forces behind the regatta, explains what makes this event so special.

So what is this Regatta?

We try and fill the Club with Youth Sailors and volunteers to create the greatest energy level you can imagine.

Here is a link to  Regatta Tool Box for the event you can see the numbers of sailors. https://www.regattatoolbox.com/eventDetails?eventID=F2eOyWPXGe – There is much more on Facebook as linked on Regatta Tool Box.

With coaches and racers we have 189 boats registered through the classes. Over 200 sailors plus  over 70 volunteers on the water and over 30 more in the club area helping with launching, parking, lunches and all the other administrative functions that go along with the logistics.

There are four race courses in the area inside Passage Island, down to the lighthouse and up to the Whytecliff Park. We put a volunteer mark set team of boat and two workers on each mark and have safety, spectator boats and media boats all on the water.

.The on water volunteers all attend a safety briefing one evening. They meet their fellow course workers and receive assignment sheets so all know their roles for the day of the event as well as all the safety and crisis scenarios to help the event overcome obstacles. The onshore and on water volunteers are all recognized with a Club hosted BBQ after sailing on Saturday.

We are very proud of our event. Last year in two days we completed 63 races for the Pumpkin sailors.

We have many financial supporters from our membership and others that help to allow us to provide great features to the regatta.

The classes initially include:

  • Opti Green
  • Opti (White, Blue & Red)
  • Laser (4.7, Radial & Full Rig)
  • 420
  • RS Fevas
  • 29er
  • X Class

Other facets and freebies include:

  • Free Technical shirt all logoed up
  • Mercedes toques to all
  • Make your own lunch both days
  • Chilli, soup and hot chocolate after sailing each day
  • Two sittings for dinner, close to 350 meals, maybe more
  • Desert, Ice cream bar
  • Movies for the Opti kids, face painting and pumpkin carving
  • Older kids have a roaring quiz evening with prizes
  •  Many door prizes
  •  Medals for first year Opti kids and Harken plaques for placing in the fleets
  •  A very realistic Witch attends every year as well
  •  A billeting service with members is also well used
  •  Lots of fun as the dinghy season is coming to an end for another year.

So that is Pumpkin, lots of fun and people working together. We have good partnerships with the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue 01 who provide one or two large vessels on the water for the whole regatta if not tasked to a call. Vessel Traffic Services continually reports to mariners of the large number of boats in the area. One deep sea vessel transited on the west side of Bowen Island when leaving Squamish after traffic  ‘filled him in’ on what he was going to encounter at the mouth of Howe Sound.

Please do your best on letting people know about our regatta that will have over 300 people on the water and close to 250 boats going in every direction.

We sent a link to the competitors to look for your  Salish.com posts to get your call on the weather for the regatta.

Thanks for helping Pumpkin Bowl, a weather briefing adds an extra touch, you do it so well.

Regards

Stewart Jones, PRO Pumpkin Bowl

Ed. Note: I don’t know about anybody else reading this, but I’m sitting here at my computer wondering why I’m not headed north with a trailer full of Lasers and Optis.

Canadian Opti Nationals, 100-boat Fun at Squamish, BC

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Youth Sailing , 1 Comment
Orca delay!!

If you’re one of those who decries the Optimist dinghy as holding back the sport of sailing, please, please don’t tell that to the 100 or so kids that just got back from sailing the Canadian Optimist Nationals at Squamish, BC Aug 17-23. They had a blast, from full-on hiking conditions to no-air delays to an orca-on-the-course race delay. A total of 10 races were sailed, and full credit goes to the organizers for pulling off an epic event.

With Optis, there is of course an overall winner but many others as well. The overall winner was Noah Adler (overall Red fleet winner), second was Seattle’s Dieter Creitz (overall Blue fleet 11-12-year-olds winner) and third was Andreas Steinitz. The first girl was Carling Davies.

Andrew Nelson, NW Youth Director of The Sailing Foundation, submitted a report below. As far as I can tell, the coverage from the event itself is all on the Canadian Optimist Dinghy Association Page. At the end of this post there’s a brief report lifted from that site.

I got a chance to talk to Dieter Creitz and has dad Nate after their drive back from Squamish.

“The trick was to sail to ‘The Wall,'” Dieter explained. The Wall is a towering shoreline where there’s plenty of depth and a current that carries the boats to weather. Boats lined up beam to beam, bow to stern, at the boat end of the start line trying to get over to The Wall the quickest. “The boats that got to ‘The Wall’ first won, every time. There were no changes to the places after that,” Nate said.

Creitz was in first place after two days, but on the last 5-day race the 14-year-old Noah Adler came through and won the event, with Creitz hanging on just ahead of Steinitz. Adler qualified for the Canadian Opti team and he and others are headed to Cyprus for the Worlds.

The story of this regatta is as much about the turnout and great venue. Squamish has long been a favorite for great winds and natural beauty. Nate reports that there’s a new sailing center taking shape which will make Squamish even more of a Mecca for small boat sailing. “It’s like a mini Lake Garda,” Nate says. “It blows from one direction in the morning, then you take a break for lunch, then it comes in from the other direction.

Click on any image to enlarge.

It’s clear that the Canadian Optimist Dinghy Association is well organized and eager by the number of participants and the quality of racing. It’s also clear there’s an ever increasing amount of cross-border cooperation in the youth sailing programs. US and Canadian youth sailors and coaches are creating a regional boom in small boat skills. And while it’s quite a hike for Seattle sailors to get to Squamish, seven made the trip in large part because of Andrew Nelson’s commitment and energy. “The fact that Andrew Nelson stepped up and got all the kids to go was really big,” Nate said.

And before I could say goodbye to Dieter and Nate, Dieter made absolutely sure I got in a big thanks to his parents, “None of this would have been possible without my parents!” Amen. Parents take note.

Youth events coming up include the SYC Junior Olympics this weekend at Corinthian YC on Puget Sound and the JAM Regatta at Port Madison in early September plus the Northwest USODA (Opti Assoc) Championships in late September. Youth sailing is alive and well throughout the Pacific Northwest, whether in Optis, 29ers (a Vancouver team won North Americans – more on that later), Lasers or whatever floats!

From Andrew Nelson:

A group of seven sailors representing several different clubs/teams (SYC, TYC, SSP, OIYC, and Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Center) attended the CODA Opti Canadian Championships Aug. 18-22. There were nearly 100 Optis competing this year and they ran everyone together (no flights/fleets). Most of our team had never sailed a big international championship like this before. I arrived in time for measurement/check in and the practice day. Afterwards there was also a “parade of nations (provinces)” and a traditional welcome by the Squamish people, which the kids really got into. We raced Sunday-Wednesday, except that Monday was cancelled because of smoke. 

We were “Team Northwest” for the regatta and also “Team USA.” The kids and families all got to know one another much better by the end of the event, and many new friendships were made. For most of our team it was unlike any regatta they’ve ever sailed. When do you see 100 boats on the start line? When do you see the U-Flag on the very first start of the regatta? The sailors had a great attitude despite long days spent sailing in VERY difficult conditions, which included strong winds, lots of current, smoke, VERY challenging conditions which included strong winds, crowded boat end starts, current, smoke, and a postponement caused by an orca on the race course. There were a lot of lessons learned the hard way, but it’s an experience I’m sure none of them will forget! I would say on all fronts this was a big success and I’m proud of the way Team Northwest did.

Results are on the Event Website. There are also tons of great pictures and videos on the CODA Facebook Page. Photos are courtesy of Sonya Ramsey who said to use them as we please.

From the Canadian Optimist Dinghy Association:

2018 Fleet Racing Opti Canadians wrapped up yesterday in Squamish with a long day on the water of very successful racing.
5 races were raced on the last day which made it a total of 10.
Winds were strong through out the event and up to 20 knots the last 2 days.
Sailors had a great performance spending more than 6 hours on the water and multiple races a day.

Congratulations to all 102 competitors, coaches and supporters.

Now a BIG shout out to the winners!!⛵️👏🏻
1st overall and Canadian Champion, Noah Adler from RNSYS
1st female sailor, Carling Davies from RCYC

Full results: https://www.regattatoolbox.com/results?eventID=tgoT84Ccvn

PNW Laser Youth Sailors On the Move, Abbie Carlson 5th in Leiter Cup and 4.7 North Americans Winner

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
PNW Laser Youth Sailors On the Move, Abbie Carlson 5th in Leiter Cup and 4.7 North Americans Winner

All the Pacific Northwest youth activity continues to show impressive results nationally, particularly in the Laser class. There’s so much it’s hard to get it all in, but suffice it to say that there’s a wave of excellent young sailors nationally. Abbie Carlson has found her groove, finishing as the fourth girl in  in the Radial at the US Youth Champs (AnaLucia Clarkson was third), fifth in the Leiter Cup (US Junior Women’s Championship) and winning the 4.7 class at the North Americans sailed from the Alamitos Bay YC in California. Owen Timms has been getting some tips from Isabelle Bertold and has been consistently moving up the boys’ ranks. He finished 12th at the US Youth Champs, 25th in the North Americans (all ages) and won the Radial Class in the WIND Regatta on the Columbia River Gorge.

Here are a few pix from the US Youth Champs, courtesy of US Sailing.

I’m hoping for some more “boots on the ground” reports on the events to spread the word about youth Laser sailing in the PNW. It’s booming. At the WIND regatta, for instance, there were a dozen Radials and an amazing 19 4.7s! Those 4.7 sailors are going to be wicked fast by the time they get to the Radial. PNW adults were in force on the Laser circuits as well, watch for a 1st hand report shortly from Jay Leon from North Americans.

The US Sailing web page dedicated to youth sailing is here.

In the meantime, here’s a report from Cam Hoard, the Seattle YC coach who’s been instrumental in a lot of the success:

US Sailing Youth Championship, hosted by Carolina Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

Practice Day

Abbie and Owen were able to get out on the water for a practice session on Saturday. It was a hot sunny day on the Atlantic Ocean with the sea breeze the area is known for. We started off in 10 knots and by the end were in 15-20. It was a good preview for the first day of racing.

Day 1

The forecast called for the big sea breeze to fill. Initially the ocean had an offshore breeze, not from the SW as predicted. It wasn’t long before the wind clocked around to the SW sea breeze direction and begin to build. The forecast proved to be spot on, we saw high teens to low twenties consistently.

The steady wind brought with it some big wave chop over a moderate ocean swell. The wind didn’t really oscillate or shift at all, the left side was favored but it was all about hiking and working the boat.  It was the day for the big boys.

Owen was in the front pack, working hard to keep the boat at speed. He had a 9-9-9 on the day, the definition of consistent.

Abbie and Ana were in ‘just get around the course mode.’ Not good racing conditions for the lighter sailors. But they were doing it, even smiling a bit.

Laser Full Rigs and i420s were on the same course, there was a little learning curve for the RC to get the timing right and dealing with two small fleets and one big fleet (radials).

Th High Performance course (cats, skiffs, and boards) had good racing but it was a safety boat day with multiple kids coming off the water with injuries and swallowing some water.

Day 2

Similar day in that we tuned up in a lighter offshore breeze. The RC set up the course as it seemed to be sticking around. Shortly after the start the wind began to lose its grip, by the time the fleet was at the first leeward gate the wind was very light. The sea breeze was starting to slowly build and the RC opted to continue to the race and finish the fleet at the second windward mark. Not a championship level race in my opinion, but our sailors came out of it OK. Abbie and Ana were happy to have lighter conditions.

The sea breeze began to build, but with it being later in the day it wasn’t able to get as windy as the previous day.

The RC was able to run three races again. Owen slipped off his 9s and put up a 18-18-19 for the day, not quite able to find that extra gear to work in to the front pack. Ana had a great last race of the day, rounding the last windward mark in first, but slipped to 3rd on the last run. The overlap of the 420 fleet didn’t do her any favors on that… Ana had a 15-26-3. Abbie also put up a couple good scores, her speed was tough to beat. She had a rough 2nd race of the day, the second beat just had everything going against her, she had a 7-44-11.

Day 3

The forecast had a grim outlook, a stalled front over our race area took the wind away and left us with a threat of serious storms. The RC postponed ashore and was going to be giving updates on the hour. They figured they needed a 4 hour weather window in order to safely run races. The great thing about this club is that they have dozens and dozens of rocking chairs, comfort level was acceptable for waiting onshore. 

It was about 12:45pm when they pulled the plug on the day. I think this surprised a lot of people, they had made it sound like they were willing to wait late into the day. I think it came down to the fact that the wind was too light for racing, and the day was only going to get worse. Storms did eventually roll through, but not until much later. It was a good call. Start time was moved earlier for the final day of racing. 

Day 4

The early start seemed like a good call at first. We got out on the ocean and the offshore wind was 5-8 knots. But as the RC got things in the water and started blowing horns and raising class flags, things began to fall apart. First race was abandoned for all fleets. It was a very low marine layer of thick clouds. As that began to burn off the sea and offshore breeze were fighting. The sailors and I had a good time waiting for wind, but we wanted to get races in. 

The breeze came around to the sea breeze direction and started to come together. It was light but race-able. We were getting up to the cut off time, so it looked like we were only going to get one race in. The radials had a general recall so the RC went for the first black flag of the regatta, time was running out and the full rigs and 420s still needed their shot at a final race. The last start got off and our SYC team closed out their 2018 Youth Champs with a 33 for Owen (worst score of the regatta…), 18 for Ana, and 15 for Abbie.

Results – Full results

12th – Owen Timms

25th – AnaLucia Clarkson (3rd girl)

29th – Abbie Carlson (4th girl)

Our friend and SYC Race Team alum Marcus Huttunen won the regatta! He sailed a very consistent regatta and put himself in a controlling position going into the last race.

This was a stronger showing for the trio compared to last year. In 2017 Owen was 17th, Abbie was 42nd, and Ana was 40th. All three moved up. The mix of conditions kept it interesting, the big boys had their first day and then it was light to moderate the rest of the event.

Cam

Hanne Weaver is Women’s Champ – Again!

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Olympics , 0 Comment
Hanne Weaver is Women’s Champ – Again!
Hanne Weaver

It could be something in the air. Or water. Whatever it is, PNW women sailors rock! Of course the Sail Like A Girl gang pedaled (and sailed) their way to victory in the R2AK. But there’s another woman that deserves the spotlight as well, Hanne Weaver. Weaver won the US Singlehanded Women’s Championship sailed at the beginning of the month on Galveston Bay, sailed in Laser Radials.

I caught up with Weaver after the event as she was in Long Beach preparing for the Laser North Americans. Here’s her report:

The conditions were hot and humid. It was always light in the morning until the sea breeze came then it was about 10-15. The last day we didn’t sail due to lack of wind. My key to victory was keeping a consistent score. Having a good start and always the first beat getting to the top mark in the top 10. It’s always friendly competition when competing with someone you’ve sailed with a lot. But when you are on the water there are no friends. 

I am going to keep sailing my Radial. I love it so much. I’m doing the Olympic campaign and right now in Long Beach for NA’s. Then I am going to Worlds and maybe Japan for future events.

My life is pretty much sail, gym, travel. Enjoying every minute of it. I couldn’t ask for a better life! Sadly I’m not as home as I was last year but still training out of Gig Harbor and Seattle when I can. 

Here’s US Sailing’s report:

U.S. Singlehanded Women’s Championship: 
For the second straight year, Weaver proved to be the top eligible Laser Radial sailor in the U.S. Singlehanded Women’s Championship competition. She won by a single point over Lillian Myers (Sarasota, Fla.). Kelly Cole (Charleston, S.C.) took home third place honors over nine races. Weaver and Myers changed leads multiple times throughout the Championship. Ten of the 80 sailors in the Laser Radial event were eligible for this title. Weaver placed seventh overall in the Laser Radial Class Nationals which was won by Ricky Welch (Long Beach, Miss.).

Final Results – Top 5
1. Hanne Weaver, SYC/RVYC, 10-9-7-5-4-2-1-17-10- ; 48T
2. Lillian Myers, GCYSA, 4-10-9-2-5-4-13-16-2- ; 49T
3. Kelly Cole, OCBC, 3-14-12-13-8-10-14-29-22- ; 96T
4. Elizabeth Shanahan, Stamford YC/LYC, 17-8-16-19-11-9-32-37-24- ; 136T
5. Annika Fedde, Ventura YC, 15-21-13-11-11-11-37-35-36- ; 153

I’ll keep tabs on Weaver as she pursues that Olympic spot in arguably the toughest class.

Dieter Creitz Third at St. Francis YC Opti Heavy Weather Slalom

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, PNW sailors around the world, Racing, Youth Sailing , , 0 Comment
Dieter Creitz Third at St. Francis YC Opti Heavy Weather Slalom

Dieter Creitz is at it again, putting PNW youth sailing in the limelight. This time down in San Francisco Bay where the St. Francis YC is putting on a heavy weather regatta, the slalom portion of which just concluded. Format details are a little unclear, but it looks like 35 boats started in groups of four or five, and after each heat the top 2-3 boats moved to the next round. Dieter (can we call him “our” Dieter?) made it all the way through to finish 3rd overall. Here’s a gallery of photos, a video of what I believe is the final race and then the results sheet.

 

Here’s a video from the St. Francis Facebook Page:

Click to enlarge results:

Summer Sailing Events Lining Up: J/Fest, Round Orcas and Star Clinic

Kurt Hoehne Community, Dinghy Racing 0 Comment
Summer Sailing Events Lining Up: J/Fest, Round Orcas and Star Clinic

As the chockablock spring racing season winds down in the Northwest, lots of other racing is lining up.

J/Fest June 23, 24

J/Fest is back, and the folk at Sail Northwest are excited to have folks sign up. Here’s Sail Northwest’s intro:

Sail Northwest, your northwest J/Boat dealer, invites you to join us for the comeback of the original J/FEST.  For 26 years, we produced some of the best racing and after race socializing available on the planet.  This is a two-day regatta (with a Friday night PHRF fun race) is open to all J/Boats owners and crew.    Starts will be provided for ONE DESIGN, PHRF AND CRUISING classes.  The on the water activities are hosted by Sail Northwest and CYC Seattle.  Shoreside activities will be in the Courtyard west of the main building on Friday night and at the CYC Seattle Shilshole clubhouse Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s the website where you’ll find the notice of race and entry form.

 

 

Round Orcas June 23

If you don’t have a J/Boat, or just want to try a new and different course, check this out from the folks in the San Juans. Note that there will be several different divisions including a paddleboard/kayak division. This one sounds like a lot of fun for folks who’d rather go around an island than buoys!

Orcas Island Yacht Club is pleased to invite you to participate in the first annual race around Orcas Island. Held on the longest Saturday of the year, the race presents intriguing navigational challenges set against the splendid scenic beauty and tall, forested bluffs of the largest island in the San Juans. We look forward to you joining us!

The start is between a red flag on Orcas Landing and the flag pole on Shaw Island.

We are planning on a fully crewed division, a double-handed division, and a self-propelled paddleboard/kayak division.

Buchan Star Clinic This Saturday

Local sailors Derek DeCouteau and Jaimie Stewart working upwind. Local photo by Jan Anderson.

This Saturday is the Buchan Star clinic. In addition to all the Star aficionados out there, Laser and RS Aero sailors are invited to sit in as well. If you’ve never heard experts talk about setting up and sailing a Star, I’d recommend this as definitely worth the time. Of course much of it will be unique to the Star, but it will be great insight into perhaps the most sophisticated and challenging boat on the water. Here’s a brief description by Star sailor Dave Watt. 

Our agenda is as follows: We’ll be gathering next Saturday morning at about 10:00 A.M. in the dry storage area with Carl Buchan discussing and reviewing boat set-ups, followed by Carl speaking at about 11:00 A.M. about boat handling drills.  We’ll then go out onto the water for boat handling drills during Saturday afternoon, followed by a de-brief on-shore lead by Carl during the late afternoon and early evening.  We’ll resume next Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M. with a short land briefing, followed by short races on the water, and concluding with a post-racing de-brief on-shore by Carl. For more information contact Foss Miller at foss@pacific-research.com.

PODpix from CYC Dinghy Regatta

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Racing 0 Comment
PODpix from CYC Dinghy Regatta

It’s hardly like the old S.O.C.K.S. regattas of the 1990s, where there were up to 9 one design dinghy fleets (including Europe’s-!-, 28 Lasers and A-class Cats). But there was good racing last weekend off Shilshole, including an ever-stronger fleet of RS Aeros. In a sense, CYC’s POD (or PNW) regatta is a grandchild of the old S.O.C.K.S. regatta, with the NOOD regatta in between.

The weekend’s POD was largely keelboat one-designs, with J/105, J/80 and Melges 24 fleets. The bright spot in the dinghy side of things was the RS Aero fleet, with seven boats competing in at least one race.

Thanks to Matt Wood and Diana Yuen for giving us the lowdown from the committee boat:

On Saturday there were mostly shifty north to north-easterlies, and light but moderately building all day. By mid afternoon it was 8 to 10 knots, with a VERY large ebb pushing to fleet to the North. On the RC side of things, it was tricky to set and keep the marks in place in that amount of current. 

It started light on Sunday and shifted to nothing – we had to recall the first start and postpone the rest. After lunch it picked up quite a bit and the best race conditions were at the end of the day. In one memorable moment the lone Hobie 16 started paddling by hand before the start – when the wind was really dead. In the last race, Underdog’s main halyard sheared off and Stellar J got its spinnaker tangled up under the boat and both had to retire. Aside from that, the classes were all fairly competitive and fun to watch.

 

And this from our man in the RS Aero straps, Jacques Garrigues:

It was out of the south on Saturday and started mid range and slowly dropped down towards the end. Although the participation was low (5 Aeros and no Lasers), those of us on the water commented over beers what a good time we had. On Sunday the first start was in dying southerly, no second start, Aeros heading in, no wait a minute – a northerly is on the horizon. Cool. Fills in nicely and we are racing. The breeze built all day from the north against a HUGE ebb, therefore a big and CONFUSED sea state. It was full on hiking so a really good workout and the boats were close, sometimes overlapped at the finish. At beers we were all feeling good about being on the water and we all agreed that each time we get in our boats we learn something NEW.

It is an incredible sport in that with the ever changing conditions a new scenario always plays out which you need to deal with. We were happy to be out there even though it would have been nice to have more company. I would say the race management was very good, pretty much incident free but approaching the weather mark in an Aero and a group of Melges 24 you need to pick your battles very carefully. 


Help requested for the Leukemia Cup – June 9

By Matt Wood, Fleet Captain Race Corinthian Yacht Club Seattle

I am co-chair of the Leukemia Cup this year. We’re looking for people to volunteer day of event (contact me : matthewewood@outlook.com ) and to sign up or sponsor boats. It’ll take place from Elliott Bay Marina in it’s Thursday evening format, but will be on Saturday June 9th.

POD photos by Diana Yuen.

NWISA Team Racing Districts

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, High School Racing, Uncategorized 0 Comment
NWISA Team Racing Districts

We’re a little tardy getting this out. The NWISA Team Racing Championships were held the weekend before last, and Burke Thomas reports that “there was lots of good 3 on 3 team racing.” It sure looks like it from these pictures borrowed from The Dome Studio’s Facebook Page. Where was this kind of racing when I was a kid? I’d highly recommend looking at these photos if you want to get excited about the next generation. The Orcas High School Vikings were the big winners in the Team Race Championship and the Gig Harbor High School Tides were the JV Team Race Districts.

Click to enlarge any picture.

Team Race Championship

Saturday, May 5:

Sailors were greeted with clear skies, northerly breeze, and flat water. Racing got underway about 20 minutes late, but then four flights of varsity sailors cranked through the qualifying round by mid-afternoon. The top four teams met in the first final round, and the remaining seven teams sailed a number of races in the consolation round before wrapping up around 7pm.

Sunday, May 6:

Warm sunny weather prevailed for the day, but the winds were light. After an initial postponement ashore, racing continued in an attempt to complete another final round. Unfortunately there was not enough breeze to finish those races before the time limit.

Final Results

# School Team Rec. Skippers Crews
1 Orcas Orcas High School Vikings 13/0 Ronan Rankin ’19 Miette Woolworth ’21
Dominick Wareham ’19 Millie Kau ’19
Maggie Toombs ’18 Ronan Kau ’19
Landon Carter ’21
Levi Moss ’19
2 Olympia Olympia High School Bears 11/2 Max Miller ’18 Kevin Hicks ’19
Owen Timms ’19 Evan Krug ’19
Erin Pamplin ’20 Ciara McClanahan ’19
Isabelle Stokesberry Miles-Paulson ’18
3 Sehome Sehome High School Mariners 8/5 Cedric Keneipp ’19 Ajax Robinson ’21
Lera Anders ’18 Leila Jones ’20
Emma Powell ’21 Peyton Nienaber ’18
Mallory Hood ’18
4 Bainbridge Bainbridge High School Spartans 7/6 Olivia Mitchell ’18 Banning Jones ’19
Sophia Kasper ’18 Hunter Johnston ’20
Zach Cooper ’20 Sophie Crandell ’18
* 5 OES Oregon Episcopal School Aardvarks 5/5 Claire Siegel-Wilson ’18 Gavin Waterson ’21
Megan Waller ’20 Justin Zhou ’21
Ronan Waterson ’18 Chris Reekie ’19
** 6 Charles Wright Charles Wright High School Tarriers 5/5 Alyosha Strum-Palerm ’18 Nicholas Lee ’20
Jack Corddry ’19 Carson Schauer ’19 *
Hayden Flaskerud ’20 Demetri Lord ’19 *
b 7 Capital Capital High School Cougars 5/5 Annie Buelt ’20 Caroline Hurley ’20
Orion Bird ’17 Ann Li ’20
Joy Brennan ’20 Zachary Cowan ’20
8 North Kitsap North Kitsap High School Dogfish 4/6 Nathan Grundmeier ’19 Anna Schroeder ’18
Cole Fox ’18 Sam Davenport ’21
Anna Sherry ’19 Isabelle Loverich ’19
9 Anacortes Anacortes High School Seahawks 2/8 Liam Patrick ’18 Anna Morrow ’18
Christopher Warmuth ’18 Satone Haratani ’19
Lauren McClintock ’20 Carson Lindholm ’20
10 Nathan Hale HS Nathan Hale High School Raiders 1/9 Anna Wohnoutka ’18 Zoe Plattner ’20
Reilly Hearne ’18 Jack Rovner ’20
Margot Watts ’19 Riley Kapp ’21
Colette Royer ’18
11 Oak Harbor Oak Harbor High School Wildcats 0/10 Jordan Wood-Pina ’18 Aiden Wright ’21
Jenny Danielson ’20 Virginia Blatto ’18
Willa Weinsheimer ’20 Lenika Aguilar ’18

JV Team Race Districts

Summary

Saturday, May 5:

Pat Mitchell and his crew from the Bainbridge Island program ran 55 races on a sunny day with northerly breeze. Three flights of FJs and a flight of V15s kept the silver fleet busy rotating all day.

Sunday, May 6:

Sunny warm conditions unfortunately did not also provide very much wind. Just a few races were completed before the time limit at 3pm.

Rankings

Note: Preliminary results; teams ranked by winning percentage.

# School Team Rec. Skippers Crews
1 Gig Harbor Gig Harbor High School Tides 8/0 Perham Black ’18 Nolan Loverich ’21
Ryan Squires ’18 Emily Smith ’21
Axel Stordahl ’20 Von Zimmerman Naomi ’21
* 2 Lincoln OR Lincoln High School – Portland, OR Cardinals 8/1 Casey Picket ’20 Ella Notdurft ’21
Pierre Carr ’18 Ethan Stein ’20
Anisha Arcott ’18 Jack Pederson ’20
* 2 Olympia Olympia High School Bears 8/1 Ella Hubbard ’22 Hatcher Cox ’21
Sam Bonauto ’21 Peter Kelleher ’22
Ian Connolly ’21 Rizley Cox ’20
* 4 Bainbridge Bainbridge High School Spartans 6/3 Max Doane ’20 Parker Hutchinson ’20
Lindsay Campbell ’20 Camden Lee ’19
Dane Petrakis ’21 Gus Beer ’19
Parker Hutchinson ’20 Trevor Royset ’21
Camden Lee ’19 Noah Maher ’19
Chase Van Derrick ’21
Jack Bennett ’21
* 4 Central Kitsap Central Kitsap High School Cougars 6/3 Niko Twilla ’18 Becca Sharpe ’18
Tyler Nolasco ’19 Jeffrey Scholfield ’23
Cormac Burke ’22 Kyra Bowlby ’19
Andre Alvarado ’20 Lilyan Coleman ’21
Claire Jablonski ’19 Cormac Burke ’22
Claire Jablonski ’19
Cody Kmecheck ’18
6 Roosevelt Roosevelt High School Rough Riders 5/3 Miles Williams ’20 Abbie Chipps ’21
Van Senseney ’19 Gus Rindal ’21
Sam Kimmel ’20 Emilia Garcia-Bompadre ’19
7 Inglemoor Inglemoor High School Vikings 5/4 Zach Liang ’18 Tian Marchello ’20
Alden McGonagle ’21 Johnny Satterlee ’19
Erik Anderson ’21 Annelisa Ayars ’20
** 8 Benson Polytechnic High School Benson Polytechnic 4/5 Aaron Danziger ’21 Ace Burton ’20
Conrad Miller ’21 Mikaela Lee ’18
Daniel Duyvestein ’21 Lauren Watt ’20
b 9 Bellingham Bellingham High School Raiders 4/5
10 Squalicum Squalicum High School Storm 2/6
11 Oak Harbor Oak Harbor High School Wildcats 2/7 Thomas Buys ’22 Liam Chapman ’22
Ben Servatius ’22 Cooper Billiter ’22
Quentin Vazquez ’21 Artemisia Wangler ’21
12 Kingston Kingston High School Varsity 1/7 Morgan Chandler ’20 Ian McConkey ’21
Annelise Pardee ’19 Andre Alvarado ’20
Noah Pluska ’19 James Huffman ’23
Santiago Portillo ’18 Viktor Taylor ’23
Viktor Taylor ’23 Unknown Sailor5 ’17 *
Unknown Sailor5 ’17 * Claire Jablonski ’19
* 13 Ingraham Ingraham High School Rams 1/8 Alex Hubbard ’19 Everett Rendon ’21 *
Aragorn Crozier ’20 Kira Blumhagen ’21
Max Kauffman ’18 Bridget Boyle ’18
* 13 North Thurston North Thurston High School Rams 1/8 Joey Koval ’20 Jasper Navarro Hummel ’22
Macy Bergford ’18 Lindsey Graham ’18
Ellie Davis ’21

Mount Baker Sailing Team Starts This Week, Regatta Next Weekend

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Mount Baker Sailing Team Starts This Week, Regatta Next Weekend

Things are heating up at the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center and with the Mount Baker Sailing Team. Classes are already starting up and an early season regatta is on tap. This is an up and coming program with a great facility just south of I90 on Lake Washington.

Here are upcoming classes.

Middle/ High School Sailing Team 

Sailing in FJ’s (two person boats). Open to beginner through advanced sailors in 7th/8th grade and high school – if younger may be able to join by invitation from coach Kaitlyn

Cost: $180

Tues & Thurs: 4:30-7:00pm

April 10th – May 17th

Please note: the dates for this course are incorrect in Seattle Parks’ online registration system. We are working on correcting this error.

 

Opti/Laser Race Team (Ages 8+ by invitation from coach Kaitlyn)

Please register through the office

Cost: $90

Saturday: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

April 14th – May 19th

Safety Note:

Please make sure your child has a wet suit, rain gear, and float test on file. For sailors new to Mount Baker, please schedule a day and time to meet with Coach Kaitlyn at mtbakersailingteam@gmail.com if you haven’t already.

And here’s the regatta…..

Mount Baker Open Regatta: April 15

We will be hosting our first event this Spring at Mount Baker and have over 100 sailors with 20+ FJ’s on the start line. It will be exciting and a great kick off to our season to sail the event we are hosting.

Cost: $10 per sailor entry fee (no coaching fees for this one)

Schedule:

8:30 am: Report time

9:15 am: Skippers Meeting

10:00 am: First Race

4:00 pm: Racing ends

Food will not be provided, so BYO lunch.

Parent volunteers are needed to help manage parking, dock traffic, setup and breakdown. We’ll have specific needs available next week.

 

Weekend Racing: Girts Rekevics, Frigid Digit and Jim Depue

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Racing 0 Comment
Weekend Racing: Girts Rekevics, Frigid Digit and Jim Depue

It was cold on the water this past weekend, though not nearly as exciting as last week’s Toliva Shoals and Shaw Island Winter Classic. Here’s the rundown.

Girts Rekevics Memorial Foul Weather Race

By Andy Schwenk

Girts Rekevics woulda been proud to see the brave sailors and plenty or rubber chickens gathered for this annual jaunt to Friday Harbor. Girts loved to compete in his beloved Catalina 27, once winning Swiftsure, and he thought rubber chickens were just plain funny so he always had one hanging from the backstay. A light snow was falling as the survivors from a sign up sheet of 24 drifted near the start line, maybe 18 hearty skippers and crews. The start line is just off the tanker dock in Anacortes and the finish line is just at the entrance to Friday Harbor, just shy of 20nm.The new light air rocket ship Beneteau First 30 Zephyros faded right chasing wind while the rest of the fleet slipped left toward Guemes Channel. The last time I saw snow piling up on spinnakers causing them to collapse was 12-meter action in Victoria when Canada True and Buddy Melges at the helm of Heart of America faced off. It should be noted he may have been the last Americas Cup skipper that was seen sweeping snow off the decks that same morning. I bet Larry Ellison doesn’t have that on his resume….the northerly and the southerly breezes teased one another and the fleet with the classic PNW experience of sailing in the same direction on opposite tacks separated only by boat lengths. Thermoses full of good cheer kept the conversation lively and music drifted across the still waters. Eventually the fleet drifted into Thatcher Pass compressed, caught a decent southwesterly and the real race was on. Spinnakers blossomed the sun came out, time for a sandwich and losing at least two layers of Gore-Tex and fleece. Most all boats were moving hull speed to the finish line so cutting corners was helpful except not so much at Upright Head where a few boats found a little less velocity than they intended. Finally it was a lovely spinnaker reach to the finish and a good ‘ol fashioned dock party.

The SJIYC served up heaping helpings of homemade lasagna and the bartenders moved with alacrity. 

Girts woulda cracked a smile to see a well sailed Catalina 27 win her division and probably would have offered advice on how they coulda done better as was his way.

Sunday everyone surfed home under heavy canvas and another year of sailing has begun at AYC. 

Results

Ed. Note: Thanks Andy, for all you do to promote sailing. Andy owns Northwest Rigging.

Frigid Digit

For decades, Frigid Digit attracted Laser sailors who would become luminaries of the sport. As part of a Pacific Northwest traveling Laser series, it was not to be missed. 50+ boats were the rule, and winners included Carl Buchan (a ridiculous number of times), Jonathan and Charlie McKee, Ross Macdonald, Mark Brink and many others. Today’s current Seattle Laser Fleet Captain, Mark Ross, wrote his name on the back of the painting that serves as the perpetual trophy on Sunday afternoon after winning a chilly one.

Corinthian Yacht Club ran the regatta on behalf of the Seattle Laser Fleet, and while the number of competitors (9 RS Aeros and 7 Lasers) was down, no doubt at least partially due to the cold, the number of races was way up. Both Saturday and Sunday promised big winds, but both delivered light to medium. On Sunday when the wind went east several of us thought “that’s it” and thought longingly about hot showers. But the race committee quickly set a course and reeled off several short (yippee – we love short races with lots of action) races.

Thanks to Brad Greene for the photos!

In the Lasers, Mark Ross sailed consistently for the win, followed by Jay Leon and Bob Ennenberg visiting from the Jericho Sailing Center in Vancouver. Dalton Bergan dominated the RS Aero fleet. Jay Renehan and Eric Becker sailed consistently for second and third place. Carl Buchan lent his boat out one day but was out there Sunday at the front of the fleet much of the time.  

Results.

Jim Depue Memorial

Sorry, no report out of Port Madison Yacht Club, but it looks like a dozen boats came out for the race across Puget Sound, with the TP 52 Mist finishing an hour ahead of everyone and garnering the corrected time win as well.

Results.