Youth Sailing

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.

Octoberfest at Sail Sand Point

Kurt Hoehne Youth Sailing , 1 Comment

I don’t have a report from the Octoberfest Youth Regatta at Sail Sand Point, but I do have some photos courtesy of Jim Skeel. The results show big Laser Radial, Optimist and FJ fleets plus small (but surely enthusiastic) 420 and 29er fleets. While that concludes the summer youth racing schedule, it hardly concludes youth racing for the year! The high schoolers are just getting going (preview here) and next weekend is the USODA (national Optimist Association) Northwest Championships.

Click any image to enlarge. Jim Skeel’s Facebook Page is here.

2018-2019 High School Sailing Preview

Andrew Nelson High School Racing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
2018-2019 High School Sailing Preview

Andrew Nelson of The Sailing Foundation has kindly offered this preview up (with some bold predictions) for the upcoming high school racing season. Yep, even though some of the schools’ bureaucrats might not even know it, these schools have exceptional athletes in a program that allows boys and girls to compete with and against each other, often with the full and enthusiastic participation of their families. So, even if you don’t have a kid in high school, take a good look at the excitement being generated by the next generation of sailors. 

Last year’s NWISA Team
Race District Championship. Photo by Jim Skeel.

By Andrew Nelson

Kids are heading back to school and the fall high school sailing season is just around the corner. Fall includes a few smaller regional regattas, the singlehanded “Cressy” qualifier (our only Laser event), a new NWISA Girl’s Championship, a keelboat regatta, and a Fall Championship (mostly for bragging rights). All of this happens in the span of seven furious weeks between mid-September and early November.

My not so totally arbitrary “Top-5 Power Rankings” are below. We’ll see how my predictions hold up over time, and I hope there are some spoiler teams out there that prove me wrong!

#1 Olympia High School

OHS finished up a stellar spring season last year with a trip to the Mallory (HS Fleet Racing Nationals), while just barely missing out on also representing the NWISA conference at the Baker (Team Race Nationals). Although their B-Fleet skipper Max Miller graduated last spring, the core of their team remains intact. Look for senior Owen Timms to be out in front of A-Fleet this year. Sam Bonauto (2021) and Erin Pamplin (2020) will be duking it out for the second varsity skipper spot, and when the three skippers unite for team racing they’ll be a formidable squad. OHS has a deep roster which also includes plenty of talented returning crews. One thing we didn’t really see last year were consistent skipper/crew pairings. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oly move towards a more stable system of pairs as the season progresses.

Predictions: 1st Place- Team Racing, 1st Place- Cressy Qualifier (Laser), 2nd Place- Fleet Racing

#2 Orcas Island High School

OIHS cleaned up last year, earning a spot to both the Baker and Mallory spring championships. Like Olympia, they graduated a key member of their team, Maggie Toombs, last spring. However, they will have two veteran skippers leading the charge this year- Seniors Ronan Rankin and Dominick Wareham. They’ll be surrounded by a supporting cast of experienced crews including seniors Millie Kau and Emma Freedman. When it comes down to performing under pressure, there’s nothing like having a bunch of experience on your side. With more than half a dozen seniors set to graduate in 2019, this is the time for OIHS to cash in on their years of hard work and practice.

Predictions: 1st Place- Fleet Racing, 4th Place- Team Racing

#3 Bainbridge Island High School

BIHS is always a contender. Coach Susan Kaseler has more district championships under her belt than anyone else, and she’s been at it since before any of her current sailors were even born! By BIHS standards it might have been a bit of a down year last year, placing 4th in Team Racing and 5th in Fleet Racing at the NWISA Championships. A new generation will take their turn at the helm this year, including skippers Max Doan, Dane Petrakis, Zach Cooper, and Lindsay Campbell. They’ve all be sailing Lasers regularly this summer and are a fast group. I expect coach Susan will have some hard decisions to make about who to put in the varsity spot. This depth is a great problem to have and will make BIHS a tough opponent in team racing.

Predictions: 2nd Place- Team Racing, 2nd Place Cressy Qualifier (Laser), 3rd Place- Fleet Racing

#4 Capital High School

This team surprised me more than any other team last year. They were my “bracket buster” so to speak. I love it when teams prove me wrong and Capital did just that by placing 4th at Fleet Racing and 7th at Team Racing during the NWISA spring championships. Capital and Olympia both sail out of OYC, and Sarah Hanavan coaches both teams. Clearly this is an example of how the success of Olympia has rubbed off on Capital. Oly and Capital will have a chance to tune up against each other all year, and you can bet by April there will be some seriously competitive practices. Capital has a big crop of juniors and only graduated one sailor last year. This team will be in the hunt this year, and as we were reminded last spring, anything can happen at district championships. They’re going to get their shot either this year or next!

Predictions: 3rd Team Racing, 5th Fleet Racing

#5 Gig Harbor High School

I’m going out on a limb for GHHS. This team has had a lot of talent percolating and now the stars are aligning. Axel Stordahl, Dayne Hall, and Peter Ryalls have all been working very hard this summer and are constantly near the top of the FJ fleet. Crews Ripley Morris and Carlos Rivas have been a big part of this success, and have been very dedicated. They’ve also added depth to their roster and will now have more than enough eligible sailors to field a capable squad at team racing events. Like Oly and Capital, GHHS has had a chance to spar regularly with another very successful team, Charles Wright Academy, over the past few seasons. Recent (like really recent) CWA alumni, Alyosha Strum-Palerm, will be at practice again this fall, not as a sailor, but as the coach. Not so long ago another 19 year-old coach, Stasi Burzycki, led the North Kitsap High School team to nationals, surprising a lot of people in the process. We’ll see if Alyosha and GHHS can make a similar Cinderella run.

Predictions: 4th Place Fleet Racing, 5th Place Team Racing

 

If any of you high schoolers want to get a word in edgewise, send me your own predictions, race reports or team updates. Sailish is committed to covering youth sailing in the region, but we can use all the sea boots on the ground we can get. Oh, and for the teams not mentioned, prove Andrew wrong. He’ll love it!

 

 

 

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

Bellingham Yacht Club Youth Regatta

Mike Powell Uncategorized, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Bellingham Yacht Club Youth Regatta

Mike Powell is putting a lot of energy into sailing these days, from hanging on a 505 wire to racing offshore on leadbottoms and campaigning his own J/33. He’s also giving back to the sport running the youth program at Bellingham Yacht club. Finally, he’s an enormously skilled professional sports photographer (shooting 13 Olympic Games is on his resume’…). –KH

101 Youth Sailors, 76 racing dinghies in 6 different classes, 50 races completed, 6 support and RC boats, multiple coaches and ribs on water and a team of dedicated volunteers feeding everyone morning, noon and night. That’s what the Bellingham Yacht Club did Aug 11-12 for its annual Youth Regatta which is part of the North West Youth Racing Circuit and the best attended so far. It takes a lot of work starting months before the event takes place and doesn’t finish until the last pizza crumb is cleaned up and the results, stories and photos are posted. Thank you one an all for your efforts, rather than making a long list of names I’ll leave it there, you know who you are and your work is appreciated.

Click here to see the rest of Mike’s great photos. Click on any of these to enlarge.

The weekend gave us everything from high teens and big seas to calm and light but we always had race-able wind, the RC kept the starts moving and no one complained about there not being enough races. Watching over the fleet as rescue/photo and general boat about town gave me the best seat in the house to see how dedicated these youth racers are to the sport.Everyone on the water from the brand new to racing green fleeters to the 29er Skiff sailors put everything they had into their racing and it showed in fierce competition, big end of the day stories and joyful smiles, it was a pleasure to watch.

Results can be found here: https://www.regattatoolbox.com/results?eventID=TCpekqntlM

Bic O’pen it up to 15

Kurt Hoehne Community, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Bic O’pen it up to 15

The O’pen Bic looks like a miniscule Open 60, sails with performance somewhere in between an Opti and Laser 4.7, does not require bailing, seems indestructible and is, according to youthful experts, “easy.” In most books the boat itself, even with its roto-molded construction, would rate at least a 7+. But when it comes to fun for kids, the “unregatta” regattas the O’pen Bic class puts on are definitely a 10. Or even, as one young sailor points out in this video, a 15.

And when it comes to producing a promo video, Bic gets at least another 10 with this one the 2018 North Americans at the Buffalo Canoe Club. I haven’t seen so many smiling faces of any age at a regatta in a long time, if ever. You gotta love the Bridge of Doom. Watch for one of the sailors getting pinned down there.

While the sailing community tears at each other debating how to get more participation, this class is showing us one way to do it. Only a handful of the kids in this video are going on to make sailing a lifelong pastime, but the rest will have fond memories to pass on to others.

And remember, format innovation can be done at every level and in every class. And while a Bridge of Doom might not be the best idea for PHRFers, I’m sure they can think of something just as innovative and fun to spice up their events. Results link: Ooh, never mind, that’s not the point.

Pacific Northwest Laser Sailors Enjoy Epic North Americans in California

Jay Leon Laser Sailing, PNW sailors around the world, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Pacific Northwest Laser Sailors Enjoy Epic North Americans in California
Tight racing is good racing.

One of the great things about racing dinghies is going to international events to make new friends, learn a few new sailing tricks and see how you stack up. And the Laser class is one of the best for that. With 22 (by my count) Pacific Northwest sailors attending the Laser North Americans at Alamitos YC, a few of those tricks are sure to make it back into our fleets. While it’s clear that the PNW contingent was made up mostly strapping young lasses and lads, the “grown ups” have just as much fun. Maybe even more. My friend and fellow Laser Seattle Laser Fleet competitor Jay Leon didn’t quite win on the water, but his appreciation for the event should make anybody who wasn’t there jealous. That, plus these photos courtesy of the Tom Walker gallery, certainly did for me. Check out that gallery – even if you’re not into the moisture and aches of Laser sailing, those photos will get your blood flowing. -KH

The 2018 Laser North Americans – Time and Treasure Rewarded

By Jay Leon

I suspect I am like any sailboat racer, I don’t part with my time and treasure without expectations.  It’s not a super complicated formula.  Need wind.  If wind, need good competition.  If wind and competition, need a competent team to run the event.  That is all I ask.  Oh yeah, it would be nice if it didn’t rain, wasn’t too cold or hot, had no bugs or lightning, the people were welcoming, the logistics worked easily…

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Long Beach California delivered it all for the 2018 Laser North Americans.  Regatta chair, Ed Spotskey, took the stage on Thursday morning and told 161 Laser Sailors from 24 countries how much he and his ABYC team loved putting on big events. And Ed, along with PRO Mark Townsend, judge Ben Fels, and what seemed like a battalion of volunteers, lived up to it.

They put together 12 races for the 3 fleets over four days with only a handful of general recalls. Take a look at the results, there were only about a dozen boats called for U flag or black flag violations.  I talked to PRO Mark Townsend about how he accomplished this feat and it was clear he was intently focussed on making the event as fair as possible.  If it didn’t look like his team could accurately record all of the boats over the line, he would postpone.  An elegant solution to a long standing problem.  Also, if you are thinking about the Laser PCCs at CGRA, Mark Townsend will be the PRO.

Long Beach is known for a building sea breeze and so it did on the first day.  Starting at or just under 10, and building to the mid teens as it clocked to the right, it was classic Long Beach.  On the second day, the RC moved the to the course area just outside the breakwater.  The breeze skipped the building part and started right in where it left off the day before with over 15 during the first race and over 20 by the end of the day.  There were enough ten to fifteen degree shifts to keep everyone on their toes.  Day three was a repeat of day 1, and the final day was a bit lighter, only getting to full hiking conditions for the final race of the regatta.

I am sure it was competitive at the front of the full rig fleet.  Unfortunately, even though I was theoretically in the same races, my best view of the leaders was when the results were posted.  Charlie Buckingham, was on the top of the list after each day and ultimately won overall after posting 6 firsts, and he dropped a 4th and the last race — which he did not need to sail.  Chris Bernard never finished out of the top 3 in the first 8 races, and then tailed off a bit but saved second.  Bruno Fuentes from Brazil, finished in the top 3 for 7 races, and finished 3rd overall by just 4 points.  Buckingham and Bernard are both US Olympic team members and grew up sailing in Long Beach.  The two of them along with Fuentes, the Brazilian national laser champ,  finished in this same configuration the last time ABYC hosted the Laser North Americans in 2014.   

I suspect by Sunday the coaches, competitors, and fans were plenty impressed with the show Ed Spotskey and ABYC put on by Sunday.  However, any lingering doubt was dispatched, as 161 Lasers, and 35 coach boats, and all that gear were loaded and on the road by 8 PM — while a local rock and roll cover band played in the park next to the club.

I sat on the back of my car in the sun, listened to the music, and watched it all happen — just glad I had decided to be there.

Results

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

Easterly for Last Day of the Wind Regatta

Kurt Hoehne Columbia River Gorge, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Easterly for Last Day of the Wind Regatta

Once again the Columbia River Gorge Racing Association host its WIND Youth Regatta and clinics. By the way folks, this is the incubator of the fast oncoming generation of sailors. Andrew Nelson shared this brief video on Facebook today, as the wind at WIND came on as an unusual but very powerful easterly. Even folks who aren’t “on” Facebook deserve to see it. Great sailing!

 

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: