PNW sailors around the world

Fujin Wins on the Water But Loses the Tweak War

Brad Baker PNW sailors around the world, Racing , 0 Comment
<em>Fujin</em> Wins on the Water But Loses the Tweak War
Fujin, in the background, giving chase to Elvis. Photo courtesy of NYYC and Stuart Streuli.

Here’s Brad Baker’s wrapup to the New York YC Multihull Regatta. It’s clear that Brad has found a new love in multihulls, but we’ll have to find out if he has any new thoughts on blue blazers. It’s also clear it was a fun regatta and Fujin had a great crew. No matter the handicap results, the Bieker design caught everybody’s attention, including the handicappers’. Here’s Brad:

Well, the regatta is in the books. I have some time to reflect on the experience as I wait for our plane here at the Providence airport. Since my last write up, we had two more lighter air races on Friday, a total bust with no racing on Saturday, a BBQ at NY Yacht Club, an awards ceremony, again at NYYC and a bit of a rating controversy to boot.

We had two races Friday. The forecast was for lighter N to NW winds in the 5-10 knot range. The committee elected to take us outside of the bay. The one design Swan 42 class sailed from a different starting line a bit further east while the IRC fleets and the multihull fleet shared a starting line. Other than a brief shot of winds in the 14-knot range, wind speeds generally stayed in the 7-11 knot range. These powered up light weight cats still move at a pretty good clip in these wind speeds, but after sailing at speeds ranging from 12 – 16 knots upwind, doing speed mostly in the 8-knot range Saturday was, well, underwhelming. Also, with the inherent stability of a cat you just don’t get the sensation of power and speed that you might on a monohull going the same speed. Faster is indeed more fun, especially on a high performance catamaran! 

We had a good start for the first race on Friday. In these conditions Fujin uses the code 0 for the upwind work.  Fujin’s boat speed is much closer matched to the Gunboats and the HH 66 in these conditions. The GB (Gunboat) 62 Elvis with her aggressively tall rig and powerful sailplan, really scoots in the 10 knots and under wind speeds.  Fujin, the HH66 Nala, and the GB 62 Elvis banged left while the rest of the fleet split right. With more pressure and a right hand shift the right paid. This was the first time in the regatta that we on Fujin didn’t round the first mark in either first or second place. A GB 60 named Fault Tolerant lead the fleet around the weather mark. That said, tactician Jonathan McKee aboard Fujin did a great job, we never gave up, kept the pedal pushed down and worked our way through the fleet to cross the finish line in second, after rounding the first mark in 5th! 

For the second race of the day we sailed in similar conditions. Fujin struggled in the lighter breeze, with all the taller rigs surrounding us at the starting line. It seemed to create a vacuum.  This combined with a last minute left hand shift and we nearly couldn’t cross the line, battling to stay above the pin. Elvis started clear and managed to jump out to an early lead.  Even with our struggles, Fujin’s start is best stated as second best. Jonathan sailed us smart and fast as we held off the rest of the fleet to round the first mark in second place behind Elvis. We maintained this position for the race as the rich got richer. Elvis was just too quick to catch in these conditions.  As it turned out this was the last race of the regatta. 

The wind refused to fill in, in a timely manner on Saturday, and the race committee made the call to abandon at about 2:30pm on Saturday. Of course the overcast cleared off 20 minutes later and the seabreeze filled, but that’s the way it always works, right?  The race was on!…. to the dock. We on Fujin had wisely covered the dock side of the course and led the fleet heading back to shore. Our nemesis, Elvis, motored quicker and was on our starboard hip as we entered the bay. It turns out they wanted to share some more of that rum they have on tap.   They tossed a bottle of rum and coke.  Great sports and great competitors!

Any time there are rating systems used there is typically controversy. This regatta was no exception. Initially, Fujin was scored with a 1st and a 2nd place for the final two races sailed. That put us with 1,1,1,2 for the regatta, for a solid win, but……….     the multihull fleet is using a performance/polar based system that actually rates the boats on the average true wind angle and average wind speed for each individual leg. The boats are asked to record their data during the race and send the data log file from the Expedition software to the rating organizers at the end of each day of racing. This is only the second regatta to use this new system. Some of the competitors felt that the polars being used to rate the boats wasn’t representative of the actual speeds achieved on the course, specifically for Fujin.  The decision was made to tweak the numbers. It’s still a bit unclear as to what was tweaked and how the new rating adjustments were achieved, but the end result was the 1,1,1,2 for Fujin turned into a 1,3,4,2. Interesting changes to say the least. With these finishes, Fujin ended up with a second place finish for the regatta. In my humble opinion, this second place result for Fujin was likely appropriate, as Elvis was probably the best sailed boat for the regatta. I am concerned that the tweaks over compensated for the disparities in rating. I know the organizers are working hard to make this very complicated rating system work. I hope that they can get it right, or close to right, to keep the racing fun and to appropriately reward the better sailed boats.

Overall this has been a great experience!  I got to sail with my wife for a week. The kids got to have the house to themselves for a week (hopefully they didn’t have any parties, or at the very least have done an excellent job of cleaning up if they did). Fujin’s owner Greg Slyngstad is a class act and a joy to sail with. The same is true for the rest of the crew, which included Jonathan McKee, Fritz Lanzinger, Erik Bentzen & Mike Leslie. I can’t say enough about the extremely talented boat captain(s) couple, Gina Borza and Andrew McCorquodale.  Gina runs a tight ship, which was very much appreciated and Andrew is a true pro. This was an entirely Pacific NW based crew and we represented our region well. Sailing aboard a high performance catamaran has been a big eye opener and I can’t help but think that sailing, both competition and cruising, is going to be seeing a lot more of these versatile, comfortable and fast two hulled vessels. I’m truly basking in the glow of this experience and eagerly await the next chance to do some more!

Brad Baker is an owner at Swiftsure Yachts, which sells (among it’s many lines) Outremer Catamarans.

Fujin Winning Tight Battle in Newport

Brad Baker PNW sailors around the world, Racing , , 0 Comment
<em>Fujin</em> Winning Tight Battle in Newport

Here’s a quick update from Fujin in the NYYC Multihull Regatta. It was an interesting day yesterday to say the least. We were again postponed for two hours at the dock. Again, the race committee did a good job finding a place to race where there was wind as we went north from Newport further into the bay. A northerly filled in shortly after we arrived at the racing area and quickly built to the higher teens by the time the race started.

Views from onboard.

We had a shorter windward-leeward type course this time around with a total distance of about nine miles. Our start was nearly identical to yesterday’s with us  starting nearer the pin end with Gunboat 62 Elvis ahead and below, the only boat closer to the pin. The race can only be described as really good fun!   I haven’t experienced anything quite like it. There’s something about sailing a 53-foot catamaran flying a hull going to  weather at speeds approaching 16 knots, with a 62-foot cat doing the same thing less than a boat length away. 

It was again a very tight race with Fujin and Elvis leading the way for the rest of the fleet. We are very closely matched in boat speed and swapped places a couple of times during the race. At these speeds laylines and mark roundings came quickly and we had to be on our toes and thinking ahead to the next maneuver. Our top speed on the second run was 26 knots!  Fujin barely hung on to correct over Elvis by a mere 15 seconds.

The race committee wisely chose to call it a day as strong thunder storms were heading our way. On the hour-long motor back to the dock it rained hard with plenty of lighting and thunder.  Evidently Elvis has rum on tap and they were kind enough to share, by mixing some in a 2-liter bottle with a bit of coke then the bottle over to us while under way. Little did they know that we were staying close to them on the assumption that any lighting would hit their taller mast not ours! 

The forecast is for rain near the starting time, but the breeze should be blowing enough to allow for an on time start.  Boat call is 0900 and it’s 0825 now.  Time to wrap it up.

Ed. Note: Thanks again Brad. Keep it going PNWers! Regatta web site here. Results so far are lovely.

Fujin Invades the East Coast

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, Racing , 0 Comment
<em>Fujin</em> Invades the East Coast

We are very lucky to get some reports from Brad Baker onboard Greg Slyngstad’s Fujin in the NYYC Multihull Regatta. Designer Paul Bieker’s post on the design has been one of the most popular pieces on sailing.com in recent weeks, and with good reason. A lot of thought has gone into this design that serves as both a cruiser and impressive racer, and Bieker gives us some keen insight. But back to the matters at hand, Brad is a renown navigator but a newbie to catamarans. We’re counting on the Northwest crew no doubt to be in the thick of things. Here’s Brad’s report from the start of day 2: 

2017 NYYC Multihull Regatta

The first day of sailing is now finished, at the 2017 IRC East Coast Championships and 2017 NYYC Multihull Regatta.  I’m aboard Fujin a Paul Bieker designed 53 foot “cruising” catamaran.  Yeah, right, “cruising!”  It’s a cruising cat if you like to go upwind flying a hull at 14 knots with boat speeds at over 20 knots.  We are racing against 6 Gunboat cats and a new HH 66 cat. 

My wife PJ and I arrived late on Monday. Tuesday was a practice day and a big eye opener as to what it is like to sail on a very fast catamaran.  Designer Paul Bieker knows all about designing fast boats with a long succession of performance oriented revolutionary racer cruising monohulls. Fujin is Paul’s first shot at a catamaran, and as far as I can tell he hit a home run! To better understand Paul’s genius, his second catamaran design was the Americas Cup 50 for Oracle. 

It’s currently the second day of racing. We are currently postponed and at the dock. A perfect time to fire off a race update! Yesterday’s forecast was for light to moderate winds out of the S to SW, with a reasonable chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. The reality was heavy fog in the morning with very little wind. The race ended up being postponed for about three hours. The NYYC race committee did a nice job finding wind on the bay. Though we shared a starting line with the IRC fleet our race, we sailed different courses, with the IRC boats doing shorter buoy races while the multis sailed a “Navigator’s Race” which turned out to be a race around Prudence Island. The course length was about 17 NM.

It was an upwind start in about 14 knots of breeze with higher gusts. It was impressive to see 7 other big powerful and very fast cats on the start line. We started nearer the pin with a highly modified Gunboat 62 named Elvis winning the pin just below us. My job was main trimmer. All I can say is thank goodness for electric winches. The loads on the powered up cats are surprisingly high. Fujin is the smallest of the catamarans at 53 feet. The size range in the fleet is 53’ up to 66’.  Fujin might be the smallest, but she is one of the fastest, being nearly half the weight of the Gunboats and a radically different design, which includes C shaped foils.  The foils don’t completely lift the boat out of the water, but they do provide lift and reduce the wetted surface.  In 14 knots of wind we were achieving 14 knots of boatspeed upwind. The race quickly turned into a match race between Elvis and Fujin, with Elvis leading around the first mark on the south side of Prudence Island.

Fujin is sailing with a very talented all Pacific NW crew, with the bonus of having her designer Paul Bieker on board along with his son Leo.  We work the boat hard and shook out the first race jitters.  About 1/3 of the way around the island we managed to pass Elvis going downwind on a shift and legged out on a short reaching leg around the top. Our top speed was 22 knots. Keep in mind I don’t think the wind speed exceeded 16 knots. Though the wind got shifty at the end, we managed to hang on and stay ahead of Elvis to save our time for the win. The wind and sun held for the entire race, which took us maybe an hour and a half to complete. The intention was to complete two races, but with the late start the committee decided to call it a day. I learned a lot on that first race, but have a ways to go. These fast cats are a different animal, but super fun!

 After racing, the multi crews gathered at the New York Yacht Club Newport outstation. Cognizant of dress codes I made sure to wear a collared shirt and did not wear jeans.  The Fujin crews rubbed shoulders with the likes of Cam Lewis and Nigel Irens. Not to be out done, we had our own rock star yacht designer Paul Bieker along with his son Leo.

 The forecast for today is for light winds from the south in the morning. A cold front is forecast to make it’s way south probably crossing the race course sometime between 1300 and 1400. The wind should make a switch to the North and the temp will drop 10 to 15 degrees. Oh, and there might be strong thunderstorm activity. Should be interesting! 

 Update, the AP flag has been lowered, game on!

Ed. Note: Brad Baker is an owner at Swiftsure Yachts in Seattle. Hopefully we can hear more about this regatta and, fingers crossed, our PNW crew can make it’s mark. 

2017 Lasers Masters US Championships – One for the Ages

Kurt Hoehne Laser Sailing, PNW sailors around the world , , 0 Comment
2017 Lasers Masters US Championships – One for the Ages

“Someday, when we talk about windy regattas in the Gorge, this may not be the windiest one ever but it will definitely be in the conversation.” That assessment alone makes the Lasers Masters US Championships one for the ages.

That’s saying a lot when it comes from Bill Symes, who has sailed and organized as many Columbia River Gorge Association (CGRA) events as anyone. Symes also said it was the windiest conditions he had ever sailed in. Kaighn Smith, who made the trip from Portland, Maine, explained that in his neck of the woods “in those winds it’s just survival. Here guys are racing.”

The event was the Laser Masters U.S. Championship, so it wasn’t a bunch of strapping kids out there. Masters events start at age 35 and end at, well, who knows. In this event there were a large number of Great Grand Masters (65-74) and a “Legend” (75+).

Fleets were divided into the Standard (aka full) rig and the smaller Radial rig. There were 18 full rigs and 28 Radials, with serious international contenders in both fleets.

If anyone was on the fence as to which fleet to sail in, the choice was obvious. The wind looked to be in the 20s already when registration closed. After the usual Gorge warnings (“there’s no shame in coming in if it’s too much” and “don’t get in the way of commercial traffic, you may die”) about three quarters of the boats headed to the starting line. Over the course of the day boats limped in, some with shell-shocked skippers, others with broken parts. Nick Pullen, for instance, came in with what he thought was a broken rudder. It turned out to be a broken gudgeon. When does that happen? By the end of the third race there were only 8 full rigs and 10 Radials on the course.

All photos by Christy Usher of Christine Robin Photography. You can see all of them here. Thanks, Christy!

The leaders at the end of the first day carnage were no surprises, Charlie Buckingham in the full rigs and Bill Symes in the Radials.

The second day started much more sedately, in the low teens, which allowed several sailors to get back their Laser mojo. Just as things started to look like a normal regatta with just about everybody finishing and a good mix of finish places, the Gorge started “nukin’” again. The fourth and final race of the day was on a par with the day before, and once again the DNSs and DNFs started mounting. Epic stories abound. Bill Symes, after having an up and down day, was enjoying a great race when he broke his aluminum top mast section just yards from the finish.

At this point the races at the top were clear. Ernesto Rodriguez was giving Buckingham everything he could handle in the full rig fleet, and Jorge Luis Yanez del Castillo of Vancouver, BC and Andrew Holdsworth of San Francisco were duking it out atop the Radials.

On Sunday the wind then decided two days weren’t enough. From the moment boats left the beach to that final push to the finish, the wind was the 20s and gusting into the 30s. It always seems windier in a Laser, but they were truly epic conditions, and it’s a testimony to the quality of the Lasers master sailors (and fitness) that they could compete in those conditions.

As in most masters regatta there were plenty of awards to go around. Rodriguez topped Buckingham by just a point for the full rig win. Del Castillo and Holdsworth traded firsts and seconds the entire second half of the regatta, but del Castillo had a clear victory in the end. There were awards for the various divisions in each fleet including apprentice (35-44), masters 45-54), grand masters (55-64) and great grandmasters (65-74) and the new category “Legend” (75+, won by Jay Winberg).

Upon being awarded the championship trophy, Rodrigeuz said “I came here hoping for a lot of wind, and I got more than I even really wanted!) It’s interesting that Rodriguez and del Castillo sailed together on the Cuban national team in years past.

 

Nick Pullen gave a moving speech about the origins of the Tony Dahlman Memorial Trophy (named after a most enthusiastic Laser sailor who passed away years ago doing what he loved – Laser sailing. For many of us, this sportsmanship award embodies what Laser sailing is about), after which it was awarded to mid-fleet finisher Simon Bell.

Any coverage of a Lasers Masters event would be incomplete without talking about the camaraderie. First of all, even in a national championship it’s an international event. With sailors from the Dominican Republic, Australia, England Canada and Israel, it felt a bit like a tiny Worlds. And from the moment one arrives at the site, through the racing and meals and while packing up the boats to leave, the mutual respect and support is superlative. Masters sailors know what skills and perseverance to sail the Laser. In conditions like there were for the 2017 Masters US Championships, that respect and fondness grow exponentially.

Ed. Note: You can read my more personal account of the event, and what I think I know about sailing on the Gorge, here. Whew.

 

–Kurt Hoehne

Sensei and The Gorge

Kurt Hoehne Kurt's Cubby, Laser Sailing, PNW sailors around the world, Racing , 0 Comment
Sensei and The Gorge
Here I am, 200192, very happy in a Laser Masters race on the Gorge. Photo by Christy Usher.

My Laser Masters US Champs last weekend didn’t go as planned. I’d convinced myself that I could sail well in a breeze, didn’t need to practice and my toughest call would be the choice between sailing a full rig or a Radial. I was going to be in contention. In reality my toughest call was quitting the first day, in my Radial, without finishing a single race. I’m the guy who stays out there no matter what, so heading for the beach was, shall we say, painful to the core.

Both decisions were the right ones.

My regatta, however, was yet another instance of Sensei Laser reminding me in no uncertain terms that to sail him one must be humble and work hard all the time. I can almost hear a disembodied voice, soothing yet forceful, saying “Grasshopper, you are not yet ready. Thirty eight years of Lasers is but a teardrop of a marmot in a mountain lake. You must carry the boulder up the mountain 10 more times and then we will begin again.”

As it turned out my agonizing over full vs Radial was pointless. The last time I’d sailed a Radial on the Gorge, the winds were atypically light and it was no fun. But this weekend, with the wind already in the high teens and building, predictions for even more wind in the coming days and the window for choosing closing, the Radial was the clear choice.

I made the run to the starting area without difficulty, watched the full rigs take off, and then started to work up-current from the start line. One weird 20-degree shift-puff hit and over I went. No big deal. Then again. And again. I was nearly pushed into the committee boat. And again. I still can’t tell you how I managed to capsize 4 times in the starting sequence, but I did. I wasn’t even late for the start. However, the die was cast for the rest of the regatta. I managed to stay upright until the gybe mark on the second downwind. And again I flipped and reflipped until I lost track of my total capsize count at 14. There was a chase boat nearby, no doubt wondering when they should stop the carnage. I finally said “no mas” and headed back to the beach.

Fortunately, there were plenty of folk already there. Many had not gone out, some had come in for similar reasons as I, and there were a few broken bits and pieces. Moreover, there were some excellent sailors on shore as well.

We watched as the 18-boat full rig fleet dwindled to 8 by the third race and the 28 boat Radial fleet dwindled to 10. My boat put away, I found my tent and nearly fell asleep in the afternoon.

Having thought through all the things Sensei Laser had taught me over the years, I came back humbled and devoid of expectations. I got on the course early, tacked and gybed and gybed and tacked. The wind was down around the low teens, perfect for remembering how to sail. As the wind built during the day, everything made sense again. By the fourth race of the day the wind was up to where it was the day before, well into the 20s with puffs probably into the 30s. I stayed upright and climbed out of the results cellar.

From the outset Sunday, the breeze was on about as it had been Friday. And while I threw in a couple harmless capsizes for good measure, it was a great, exhausting day of sailing. And the final race of the day was epic. I don’t care what the anemometers say, that wind had to be in the 30s much of the time.

The results were never as good as I’d expected, but it was probably the most satisfying regatta I’ve sailed in 20 years.

 

A Gorge Primer

For those who’ve never sailed a dinghy from Cascade Locks on the Columbia River Gorge when it’s “nukin’,” here’s my best shot at describing what it’s like. These are my impressions – not meant to be gospel. Much better sailors than I can describe the ins and outs of how to sail in a breeze in the unique Gorge conditions.

Heading to the start.

You launch from a somewhat sheltered beach at Cascade Locks, and its about a 20 minute sail to the starting area. Hug the shore and it’s relatively benign, though the occasional wind blast will come through. Stick your nose out into the river more and you’ll get a a bigger taste of the huge puffs, combined with waves. More than one sailor has found themself upside down on the way to the start and considered whether he/she should even be out there. Regardless, feeling the breeze on the way to the start can be deceptive. That is, until you turn up.

The Start

With the current running at a couple knots or more, you don’t line up 3 boatlengths upcurrent of the start, it’s more like 8. You find pretty quickly that when folks pull the trigger, they’re pretty much on the line at the start. Those first 30 seconds are critical, and you want to pay particular attention to the monster waves. Hitting one wrong can stop you dead and send you to the back of the fleet in a hurry.

Upwind

If you go right off the start, you get into good current and the washing machine on the Washington side of the river. It’s as raucous a beat as you’ll ever tackle with the wind-against-current standing waves regularly enveloping your hiked-out form while bringing you to a stop. Then you look over to the left and see a bunch of the fleet on a port tack lift along the Oregon shore. But wait, you’ve been carried so far up-course with the current it doesn’t matter. Then there’s the matter of commercial traffic. Barges and their pushboats coming along at around 12 knots over the bottom can be a very scary thing if you’re upside down.

If you go left off the start, you get into the nice flat water and get knocked as you come in, delivering a beautiful port tack lift as you come out. You look up, and all those boats have been carried waaay down current and up the course. But wait, you’re headed at the mark and they’re not. All is good. Even while playing the shore at some point you’re in those big standing waves clearing out your sinuses.

Not only are the puffs often in the 30s, they seem to come randomly in 20-degree shifts. When this happens, there’s only trimming and easing to prevent capsize. There is no cleating. Ever. And tacking is something you plan for. Ease your overtightened vang, pick your trough, and don’t hesitate.

Downwind

All that current is now against you and the standing waves are waiting out in the middle for you to practice your S-turns on. And, there’s generally more breeze. In fact, sometimes boats will head out into that current and head to the gate or leeward mark in a cloud of spray ahead of everyone.

It is very difficult to describe how remarkable these downwind legs are. The adverse current makes them long, thrilling affairs and it’s a truly unique challenge to both stay upright and keep the bow from submarining. Combine that with the Laser’s responsiveness to body language and there’s really no experience quite like it. If you capsize, the water’s warm.

Set up for the puffs, because when they hit they hit hard. If your vang is eased the right amount, you’re overtrimmed just right and you don’t get itchy fingers on the tiller extension, you’ll just end up going faster than you ever thought possible.

Along the Oregon shore and there’s less current and plenty of wind. And that wind seems to bend around and give you a knock later in the leg so you can bear off around the weather mark and then hold that starboard gybe all the way to the mark. More often than not, the Oregon shore pays. But it’s not nearly as fun.

Coming back to the Beach

I see as many capsizes on that 25 minute beat back to the beach as I do on the races. We’re spent. Hiking out is often just sitting and leaning out – a little, while dumping the sail. Reaction time isn’t what it once was, so a bad shift will flip you. But as you come into the beach, there’s almost always someone to take pity on you to haul your boat, and your sorry carcass, onto dry land.

Final Thought

Finally, there’s this: While planing on a Laser in a 30+ gust and spray invading every orifice on your body, you can’t think about health care, your mortgage, your kid’s report card or even Donald Trump. Even one bit. Thank you, Sensei and the Gorge.

 

Abbie Carlson Wins Close Leiter Cup/Junior Women’s Singlehanded Champs

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, Racing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Abbie Carlson Wins Close Leiter Cup/Junior Women’s Singlehanded Champs

Some press releases are just a lot more fun than others to repost. Seattle Yacht Club Sailing Director Brian Ledbetter clued us into this one. His Seattle Yacht Club race team, and Seattle sailors, continue to establish themselves as a force on the national scene. Brian’s quick to point out that this is the third time SYC women have won the Leiter Cup in recent years, including Hanne Weaver in 2012 and Talia Toland last year. Congratulations Abbie and the support network we know you have!

2017 U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship Comes Down to Final Race

us-junior-womens-single-champ-logo-w-leiter/SHOREACRES, Texas (July 11, 2017) – The 2017 U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship finished as one of most closely contested US Sailing National Championships in recent history on Tuesday. In the end, it was Abbie Carlson (Bellevue, Wash.) who earned first place honors and the Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy following a strong showing over three days on Galveston Bay in the Laser Radial. She placed third at last year’s championship in Seattle. For the second straight year, a sailor representing the Seattle Yacht Club has won the Leiter Trophy.

Carlson trailed leader Grace Austin (Greenwich, Conn) by seven points through five races in a very competitive fleet. The first five races of the series were dominated by light wind, but just before the sixth race the seabreeze filled from the Southeast at 8 to 10 knots, providing the best sailing conditions of the week.

Abbie Carlson winning race 1.

Carlson placed fourth in the final race, ahead of her rivals for the overall title. This, combined with the dropped score that came into effect upon the completion of six races, gave Carlson an 11-point turnaround and a four point win over Austin. Marianna Shand (Chula Vista, Calif.) finished third overall and posted the top results in Tuesday’s three races.

The top five sailors on the leaderboard at the conclusion of the championships were separated by only seven points. There were also six different race winners in six races. Due to insufficient wind and stormy conditions, only one race was conducted on Sunday and two races on Monday.

Final Standings – Top 5
1. Abbie Carlson, Seattle Yacht Club, 1-[15]-5-2-8-4- ; 20
2. Grace Austin, Belle Haven Club / LYC, 5-2-2-10-5-[15]- ; 24
3. Marianna Shand, Mission Bay Yacht Club, 9-[27]-9-1-3-3- ; 25
4. AnaLucia Clarkson, Seattle Yacht Club, 13-1-3-3-[20]-6- ; 26
5. Anika Boicheff, St. Petersburg Yacht Club, 3-4-[13]-11-7-2- ; 27
Full Results

“Honestly, I was kind of surprised because everybody was so close in points, so I didn’t find out until I came in,” said Carlson. “It was hard to stay positive during all the postponements, but I stayed focused. It was really shifty today and it wasn’t what I was expecting. Overall, I thought my speed was pretty good on the upwinds and downwinds.”

High-level coaching and skill development is a key component of this championship. Prior to racing, teams took part in a two-day clinic on Friday and Saturday led by a collection of top coaches from around the country.

“One of the things that sets the Leiter Trophy apart from other regattas is the clinic and the US Sailing provided coaches for all competitors,” said John Pearce, Youth Director of US Sailing. “It creates an atmosphere of collaboration and pushes the sailors to focus on building their skills while also striving for a great result in the Championship.”

“Our coaching staff comprised of Head Coach, Richard Feeny, and coaches Elizabeth Kratzig, Scott Ikle, Beka Schiff, and Hannah Tuson-Turner have worked with all of the sailors as a group throughout the event. During the on-shore postponement Monday, Elizabeth presented to the sailors about her career as a sailor, including her current work with the Magenta Project, and other opportunities for women in sailing. It really inspired the sailors to seek out big challenges and leadership roles within the sport.”

“I was really impressed with all the girls and the close racing, especially on the last day,” said Kratzig. “It’s an honor to be here as a coach, especially having participated in this event growing up and now to give something back towards women’s sailing and helping grow the knowledge and enthusiasm of the young female sailors is really exciting. This is a broad spectrum of sailors with varying experience. By bringing them all together it shows everybody that we have a strong contingency of women in sailing and we need to continue to build on that. This event is critical to their development as a sailor.”

The 2017 U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship for the Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy was hosted by the Houston Yacht Club.

Clinic Coaches

  • Richard Feeny – US Sailing Junior/Youth National Championships Head Coach
  • Elizabeth Kratzig – Seven-time US Sailing Team member
  • Scott Ikle – Head Coach, Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
  • Hannah Tuson-Turner – Sailing Director, Sail Orcas
  • Beka Schiff – San Diego Yacht Club

Results & Coverage

  • For Twitter updates from the racecourse, results and standings, photos (to come later in the week), final report, and more information from the 2017 U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship, please visit the event website.
  • Take part in the conversation on social media using #Leiter17.

Championship Notes

  • Support of the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship as well as the clinics associated with the event is made possible by funds provided by the late C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. to perpetuate his unwavering dedication to junior women’s sailing. This support is intended to encourage young American women to enhance their sailing ability, with emphasis on sportsmanship, by providing the opportunity to compete in national-level competition with guidance from high-level coaching. Tom Clagett’s family continues to assist in fulfilling his vision
  • The U.S. Junior Women’s Championships Committee annually hosts two events: a Singlehanded and a Doublehanded championship. Both championships are open events.
  • The U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship started in 1980.

Prizes

  • The Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy is the perpetual trophy presented to the winning sailor.
  • US Sailing Championship medals were awarded to competitors who finish first through fifth.
  • Trophies were awarded to competitors finishing in the top three places.
  • The C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Sportsmanship Prize was awarded to a sailor based on the results of the competitors’ ballots. *To be announced at awards ceremony Tuesday night.

Ed. Note: We’ll try to get the story straight from the winner’s mouth, plus hopefully some good photos. 

Transpac Updates – First Tri In, PNW Boats On Track

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, Transpac , 0 Comment
Transpac Updates – First Tri In, PNW Boats On Track

The Transpac is already coming to a close, at least for the three ridiculously fast trimarans and Comanche. Mighty Merloe as smashed the elapsed time record by more than a day, and that record now stands at 4d, 6hrs. Yes, Virginia, four days to Hawaii in a sailboat. Comanche is expected to break the monohull record when she finishes tonight.

Our PNW boats are in the thick of it. Triumph has given up her lead of Division 4 and is taking a southerly approach to the island. I’m sure Bruce Hedrick has a plan in mind. Raisin’ Cane and BlueFlash are behind but sailing fast in Division 3. Kinetic V is smack in the middle of Division 1 on corrected time. And Merlin (PNW-adopted because Carl Buchan’s aboard) is standing fourth in Division 2 corrected time, but second closest to the island. Go Teams!

Here are our onboard reports, very entertaining! Our heroes even saw each other on the water!

Triumph TransPac Update 10 July 2017

Yahoo! It’s time for our 1/2-way party. Sailed over that line at about 1000am this morning. As of this evening we have just over 1,000 miles to go. Now everyone is getting ready for the big party tonight! Showers, clean clothes, practicing their karaoke etc etc.

Race has been tough, weather is not very settled and we’ve taken a bit of chance by staying to the north. We had a semi-fluky day yesterday and last night and as a result Horizon got by us to the south. They are about 40 miles south of us. However, as we say in rule #1, there’s a lot of race course left and a lot can happen in the next 5-6 days. Yesterday and last night were prime examples as one of the big boats, Rio 100, hit a log and lost their starboard rudder. We hit something last night that caught on the rudder and set up the most amazing harmonic that went up and down in frequency as a function of boat speed. Interesting, but slow. This is where once again our amazing crew kicked into action. Scott Mason grabbed our kelp stick, Zack Hannah slithered into the stern compartment to watch through the rudder window and as Scott went way out over the side, Steve held onto his legs. In one amazing pass, Scott brought the kelp stick down the leading edge and our problem was solved. We went back up to speed and only had a short wait until the challenge; we were attacked by a school of flying fish. One tried to grab the wheel from Steve but Steve dropped him to the deck where the fish bit Steve in the ankle. Steve then kicked the fish into the wheel well while the on deck crew cried, “GGGGGOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL”! As always, we are very cautious when things like this happen; however, given the craziness of this attack we are erring to side of caution and assuming sea rabies. Luckily we found that symptoms won’t kick in until 24 hours after you step on land. If you administer the cure immediately upon landing, known as mii tiii in the native tongue, it shouldn’t be a problem.

This morning we saw a boat that had crew from the Pacific NW on board as they slowly but steadily sailed past us, Raisin Cane the J-125, with Jamie Stewart, David Brink and Bob King aboard. After seeing no boats after the first day, we have seen three today.

It will be another challenging night sailing under thick overcast and total darkness. Wind will be in the 15-20-knot range and we shouldn’t have any squalls. All is well and we’re having a great time. We should finish sometime on Sunday.

–Bruce Hedrick

Raisin’ Cane

(assembled from the email string)

Saturday, 10am EDT: Good relative speed of 11.8 kts.  78 miles behind 1st place Varuna.  27.6 miles behind Resolute (showing 12 knts) but have dropped further south. Fast Exit continues to do well (showing 11.4 knts) and closer to HI by 15.3 miles. All distance calculations are based upon differences in Distance To Finish (DTF).

Saturday, 11pm EDT: RC is moving along faster than all other boats in their division @ 12.9.  Relative to Fast Exit @ 11.3 & BlueFlash @ 12 & Varuna @ 12.7 & LK @ 12.4 and Resolute at 12.7 knts.  Meanwhile all the Santa Cruz 52’s are below 12 kts.

Sunday, 10am EST:  RC appears to have lost some ground in the past 7 hours (since the last report that I checked) and is now 46 miles back of Resolute.  Doing 10.7 knts vs. Resolute’s 11.8 knts. They have also been heading up (more northerly) vs. much of the fleet.

Monday, 1pm EDT: Cruising along at 12.1 knots back around 3am HST. Based on leaderboard we have passed the half way point and are now showing less miles in the DTF column than in the distance sailed column. Yeah! Based on trackers current estimates we could be finishing early morning 07/15, that does not give the shore crew much time to arrive and get the place set up for them. The shore team was hoping for at least 1 full day before they arrive. But, the weather is fickle and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Monday, 8pm EDT: RC hit the 1/2 way mark today and now the DTF is smaller than the Dist Sailed. As a treat many of us received personal emails from loved ones, very sweet of them. Projections are having them arrive on 7/15 or 7/14, which is great for them but not for shore crew who will not arrive until 7/14 2:00pm. The Hawaii reception family today so they are ready to step in if RC does arrive before the shore team. 

Tuesday, 8am EDT: RC is moving along nicely at 12.3 knts. We are now 958 miles from HI and 28 miles closer to HI then Fast Exit.  Lady K is at 765 from HI.

Mighty Merloe finishing, photo by Sharon Green.

Mighty Merlot

From the Transpac web site: Congratulations to HL Enloe and the crew of the ORMA 60 trimaran Mighty Merloe, the first to finish in the 2017 Transpac Race, and new holders of the multihull Transpac Race record elapsed time! Mighty Merloe has been racing just about every west coast offshore event for the last few years, often with no multihull competition to measure themselves against. Getting the opportunity to welcome Phaedo3 and Maserati to the west coast, go head to head against them and come out on top is a dream come true for Enloe’s team. We’ll hear more from them shortly.

Enloe sailed this year’s Transpac with his team of Steve Calder (Main Trimmer), Jay Davis (Bowman), Artie Means (Navigator), Loïck Peyron (Helm), Franck Proffit (Helm), Will Suto (Grinder), Jacques Vincent (Co-Skipper).

Mighty Merloe crossed the finish line under helicopter escort at 17:03:30 (HST) on Monday, July 10th. Their elapsed time of 4 Days, 6 Hours, 33 Minutes, 30 Seconds beats the 20 year old record of Bruno Peyron’s Commodore Explorer by more than a day, previously set at 5 days 9 hours 18 min and 26 secs.

Couple of PNW Couples Take on the East Coast J/70 World

Ben Glass PNW sailors around the world 0 Comment
Couple of PNW Couples Take on the East Coast J/70 World
Dime winning Race 4. She finished 10th overall and second in the Corinthian (non-pro) division.

Our J/70 team headed to Newport, RI for Sail Newport’s big annual multiclass regatta. This event also carried the moniker J/70 New England Championship. This is our fifth trip across the country to race J/70s since Andrew and Mallory Loe bought the boat Dime. My wife Jen Glass and I sail with the Loes, so it’s a couple of couples. As with the other events we’ve sailed in the last six months on the 70, it was a great weekend of extremely tight racing, duking it out with a lot of big names on little boats.

Friday was a brutally wet day with over an inch of rain falling while we raced. Coming off a tough red eye with no sleep, the day was a gray blur to me. What I remember was it was windy and the course was set in a tricky current off Rose Island. We were a bit rusty and didn’t feel like we were on our game.

Saturday and Sunday were mostly picture perfect race days on the outside course in pretty steady southwesterly mid-teen breeze with a very lumpy ocean chop (aside from a 45-minute postponement when a fog bank rolled in and dropped visibility down to 500′). For us this was a challenging condition as we hadn’t yet raced Dime in ocean conditions.

After taking a black flag the first race Saturday we came back with a win the second race. You have to love that feeling when you think you’re heading to the best side of the course and the boat feels locked in, then you get to the top and realize nobody is crossing. That’s the stuff that keeps me coming back to this sport.

Sunday was a little windier and a lot lumpier. We learned some good lessons about sailing upwind with the weight way back in the boat. We made some gains in our technique downwind but our finishes were pretty average.

I’d summarize these lessons learned: Don’t let the waves dictate your speed, you have to sail so the boat maintains as steady a speed as possible and isn’t constantly decelerating and re-accelerating. Good luck with that sailing a 20’ keelboat through a confused 3-foot wind swell/wind chop.

We’re excited for the next event at New Bedford YC, the Corinthian Nationals. We hope to earn a spot at the worlds at this event, but we will have to capitalize on our lessons learned this weekend if we are going to make that happen. Buzzards Bay should be giving us pretty similar challenges to the conditions of the last couple days.

Results.

Ed. Notes: Ben Glass generously offered to write up the regatta so that sailish.com readers can get a taste of the East Coast J/70 scene. If any of you PNW sailors out there are either racing or cruising “out there” in the watery world, and want to share with our readers, email me and let’s plan it. As far as this piece goes, I’m on the hunt for some more photos of the event. If and when I can get a hold of them, I’ll update this post. 

Transpac Update – Giving Chase on Raisin’ Cane, Triumph Still Wears the Crown

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, Transpac 0 Comment
Transpac Update – Giving Chase on Raisin’ Cane, Triumph Still Wears the Crown

We’ve had several Transpac updates relayed to us from Raisin’ Cane. They had some unspecified challenges that slowed them down, but they’re back up to speed and chasing hard. Here are some of the updates in chronological order:

•Raisin’ Cane is now 41 hours into the Transpac and doing OK. Typical early passage bugs and deficiencies are being overcome and conditions aboard are improving as we settle in, shake down, and sort out. It also helps that the wind is drawing aft.

We set our first kite 30 minutes ago and, if your typist’s collected weather forecast data can be relied upon, we expect to be under spinnakers for the foreseeable future.

The deck guys are busy flaking and stowing jibs so I can get away with being brief with this message by passing none of their remarks along. This is good because it is “peppy” at the nav station as it is everywhere on board.

Regards from Raisin’ Cane.   

•Raisin’ Cane had an issue yesterday that affected their speed for a while. Issue appears to be resolved and they have been steadily gaining speed through out today and are doing their best to catch up.   Let’s all send them pleasant thoughts for good wind and increased speed.  

Not sure how close they were or if RC saw them but Comanche, a 100ft competitor, passed by them earlier today.

•Update from Ted Naughton:  Good relative speed of 11.8 knts.  78 miles behind 1st place Varuna.  27.6 mikes behind Resolute (showing 12 knts) but have dropped further south. Fast Exit (white boat furthest north) continues to do well (showing 11.4 knts) and closer to HI by 15.3 miles.  All distance calculations are based upon differences in Distance To Finish (DTF).

Other boats with Northwest connections are all speeding along just fine. In the tracker class leaders are designated with a little crown icon. Triumph, with the Hedricks aboard, wears that crown for Division 4. The young crew aboard the Oregon boat BlueFlash are close to Raisin’ Cane on a more southerly route. Carl Buchan aboard Merlin finds himself in a cluster of 70 +/- footers on a northerly route. Kinetic V is steadily losing ground to the Pac 52s Bad Pak and Invisible Hand, but had this report posted yesterday on the Transpac site:

A big moon brightens the night sky, broken cloud scuds. Navigation lights from some of the other race boats are still visible. Boisterous conditions continue. This is definitely a challenging start to the adventure. No easing in gently …

Waves pummel the boat, creating a violent motion onboard. Wind and boat speeds continue to produce a wild ride with waves sending sheets of salt spray over the deck and on-watch crew. Three crew seasick.

A blood-red sun rises through horizon haze to announce the official arrival of day. A few plump seabirds flap comically along the rough sea surface and scatter as our bow cuts a swath. The slowest-rated boat in the fastest-rated monohull division, we are at the back of our division, chasing the faster boats, now unseen in the distance, somewhere ahead of us.

We have stacked our not-in-use sails, as allowed by the rules of this race, along our weather deck, improving stability and creating a partial shelter for the crew from the waves and spray. Onward we press.

Comanche is doing what Comanche does, and will soon have passed all the boats that started two days before. The big trimarans are of going faster, of course. The Mod 70 Maserati has veered off almost due south, but no word on what that’s about, or if it’s a tracker glitch.

The tracker is delayed by four hours, so we’re a little in the dark about this instant. But we’ll keep checking in and get onboard updates if we can.

And They’re Off, Wait, Over Early?

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, Racing, Transpac 0 Comment
And They’re Off, Wait, Over Early?

From these pictures it seems the crew aboard Bruce Hedrick’s Transpac ride Triumph are extremely happy. They should be, they’re racing across the Pacific on a sunny day! And they’re winning. Several hours into the race they were standing first in Division 4. But it didn’t exactly start out that way. What looked like the perfect pin-end start on a heavily favored line turned out to be an over-early, or OCS for those who like acronyms. Or at least that’s what the video commentators Chris Love and Katie Nastro seemed to think. I couldn’t confirm that on the tracker. In fact, I couldn’t duplicate anybody re-starting, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Check out the video, taken from the birds-eye (drone) perspective. Triumph is second up from the pin, coming on wiht speed.

Hedrick has them keeping north of most of the boats, and that seems to be paying off.

This evening’s tracker

 

No word from Jamie Stewart aboard Raisin’ Cane, but she is 1/10th of a mile astern of her sistership Resolute, which is leading Division 3.