Here’s US Sailing’s Youth Racing News for the month. Unfortunately, no Pacific NWers on the Youth Worlds Roster. Many other features for you eager youth racers.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Dieter Creitz and Conrad Miller finished third in the RS Feva Worlds in Clearwater, Florida. (results) They had a blistering series and were in the hunt for the championship until the last, tremendously windy, day. Their remarkable effort broke the stranglehold the Brits had on the podium and there was only one other US team in the top half (13th). I’m planning on doing a detailed report when Dieter’s home. Our rising youth scene, Dieter and Conrad’s talents, and great support from Seattle Yacht Club and West Coast Sailing are all factors in this achievement. As I said, more later. In the meantime check out these stills and then a video from yesterday’s conditions:
(click on a photo to enlarge)
Dieter, George of West Coast Sailing and Conrad.
SYC Coach Cameron Hoard, Conrad Miller and Dieter Creitz.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
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.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Mary Anne Ward, Executive Director of Sail Sand Point Community boating center in Seattle, was one of several Northwesterners who recently attend the US Sailing Leadership Forum in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Mary Anne’s a fan (but not uncritical) of the organization. To those of us who don’t attend conferences, but are fierce proponents of sailing, it’s always interesting to hear what’s being and not being done at the national level.
Mary Anne Ward
Addiction Treatment?
Ward’s biggest takeaway came from encountering an old friend from New Jersey, Russ Lucas, who’d she had not seen in a while. In the interim, Lucas had struggled and triumphed with addiction, and came out of it feeling strongly that sailing was helpful and therapeutic in his recovery. This has prompted him to develop a program in New Jersey to help break addictions, and is seeing lot of success. Then, as if on cue, Ward was introduced by West Coast Sailing’s George Yioulos, to Ken Block who’s reaching out with a similar program in Park City, Utah in cooperation with the Veterans Administration. The VA has seen the success and is backing the effort.
Ward would love to integrate such a program here in the Seattle area at Sail Sand Point. “I’m super excited about it,” Ward says, and as we’ve noted in the past when she’s super excited about something she’s not easily dissuaded.
However, she was disappointed that US Sailing didn’t take up the cause more fully. I agree this is an area US Sailing needs to step up to the plate on. The therapeutic benefits of boating, in particular sailing, have been well documented and pass the common sense test with flying colors. Sailing gets someone out into nature and fills the senses and mind with something other than a need to take a drink or pop a pill. It’s definitely a way to redefine our sport to those who think it’s “just” recreation.
The Rest of the Forum
These conferences are all about industry networking and sharing of thoughts, and Ward found that satisfying. “I found it very valuable,” she says. This was especially true in the awards ceremony, where different recipients used their moment on stage to share the stories of their successes.
There wasn’t, Ward reports, nearly enough focus on community sailing, the one area in which the sport is seeing growth. “They talked a lot about the path to the Olympics, which of course I fully support, but they didn’t spend enough time on community sailing centers where these athletes are going to get their start.” The breakout session was over lunch and without a strong agenda.
Another area where Ward sees there’s room for improvement, is discussion of using racing to promote sailing. Too often racing isn’t clearly identified as a lead-in for lifelong sailing. “Oh, that’s different, that’s racing and not everybody likes racing” is often the attitude. Ward, a racer herself, sees racing as an important way for people to get started and develop a love for sailing.
There are a number of short videos here that will give a feel for the conference. From what I can tell, the vids are glossy, short and don’t have a lot of meat. Here’s one on kiteboarding. There are many others, including on on the America’s Cup, you may want to check out.
As a sailing evangelist, and a member, I often wonder what US Sailing does. The successful community sailing centers I’ve seen accomplish things primarily on their own with relatively little support from US Sailing. And while US Sailing does manage the US Olympic team, the stories I always hear are about athletes spending an inordinate amount of time on fundraising and logistics instead of sailing. And US Sailing has abdicated its responsibility of picking and promoting a handicapping system, instead taking a neutral stance while sailors wallow in rating uncertainty.
Sail Sand Point
Sail Sand Point, in the meantime, is going strong. Ward reports that the summer’s classes for 8-11 year olds are basically full. Other classes are filling fast There are the big high school Divisional Championships this week at SSP, and that will be followed by middle school sailors the week after. Adult sailing starts in early April, and outreach starts in May.
Ward sees one of SSP’s primary roles is to bring sailing to disadvantaged kids for at least a one-day experience. SSP already works with 47 different groups, and hopes to expand that. “Our long term goal is to target some of these kids, the ones that get really excited during their visit – to become volunteers and instructors.” When additional housing is built at Magnuson Park, there may be as many as 500 kids on site.
Note: The High School Divisionals will be a big event this weekend. If you’re not out sailing yourself or doing Blakely Rock, it would be a great chance to check out the amazing high school sailing scene.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Dieter Creitz at the Sunshine State Optimist Championships
There are a lot of reasons to highlight 10-year-old (soon to be 11) Dieter Creitz. Sure, he’s a really talented sailor. And he shares his love of the sport with other kids. As a parent, I can only imagine how cool it is to have him an enthusiastic and integral part of his family’s Olson 25 Three Ring Circus. He hasn’t let all his success go to his head, and loves to do other sports as well.
But most of all, he exudes happiness around the water. It’s great to be around. If we could just bottle that….
Right now Creitz is in the middle of a very busy racing season. He just won the White division of the Sunshine State Optimist Championship sailed from the US Sailing Center in Martin County. For all of you who thumb your nose at the boxy, underpowered and overpriced Opti, consider this – over 200 kids from all over the U.S. came to this event, many trying to qualify to go to the upcoming International Events including the Optimist Meeting on Lake Garda which will have 1000-1200 competitors.
Creitz, in fact, was getting a little bored with the Opti, but the Sunshine State Champs appears to have cured that. He’s excited to be going back to Florida for the United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) for the US Team Trials in April. According to his dad Nate, Creitz is up against “professional” sailors. With program budgets exceeding $100K and multiple coaches for some kids, professional is a pretty apt description. This goes way beyond Mommy Boats, which can be bad enough.
But before the team trials, Creitz is headed to Florida with crew Conrad Miller to sail in the RS Feva World Championships. With sponsorship from West Coast Sailing, this team will be waving the PNW and West Coast Sailing flags for this up and coming youth class. The kids are even blogging about it here. Creitz loves going fast, and the RS Feva delivers, as you can see in this short video.
The Sunshine State Optimist Regatta
Creitz is no stranger to big regattas, and it’s a good thing because the logistics of them weren’t easy at this regatta. With over 200 boats, there were four fleets. There was a round-robin between the fleets, so everyone got to sail against everyone else at least some of the time. There were three races per day. There was no gold/silver fleet, the scores are simply tabulated. But within the entire fleet results, kids are scored in their respective age group fleets: White for 10 and under, Blue for 11-12 and Red for 13-14 year olds. Creitz handily won the white division (and was 51st overall) by 29 points over the second place boats.
Nate was just about giddy to watch as his son Dieter applied so many skills to the fleet racing that he’d been learning over the years. “Getting off the line in an Opti race is everything. It was so cool to see him open up the tool bag and use these tools to get off the line. It was the best regatta he’s ever sailed.” Dieter found the fleet a lot more challenging than he’s used to around here. And a key to his success in Florida – hiking harder!
But of course there’s more to the story than just starting and the results. Creitz and his dad arrived in Florida early for two days of practice with the Canadian team before the two-day regatta. And it blew 25 knots every day. Several of the “pro” kids could look forward to unending weeks of training following the regatta.
But our Dieter Creitz needed to make it back to the Pacific Northwest. For skiing. After all, he’s a member of the NW Freeride freeskiing team. Yes, Creitz does jumps and stunts with skis. He’s got the 360 down and is working on the 540. It’s no surprise that a Northwest kid both skis and sails, but to do both so well is a real accomplishment. Asked if he likes skiing or sailing, he says skiing. “I guess I like it better because I only get to do it part of the year. You can sail all year long.”
It all started….
Dieter grew up sailing with his dad and mom Wanda. Dad Nate is a very active sailor and was in his youth, having sailed the US Youth Champs several times and finishing as high as fourth.
One big key to Dieter’s sailing was the “big boat,” the Creitz Olson 25 Three Ring Circus. Anyone racing around Seattle has seen Dieter’s bright smile aboard Three Ring Circus for the last decade. Lately Nate has pared the crew to just the family, having his son drive (seems logical to me!) while he trims and Wanda does bow.
The upcoming Race to the Straits will be the first father and son effort. Dieter has done several, of course, starting when he was six months old. But at this point it seems only fair that he be considered a full half of a doublehanded team. And Wanda? “Well, she knew this day was coming,” Nate explains.
Not surprisingly, Dieter finds himself on other boats occasionally, including the TP52s Glory and Smoke. His days of grinding and calling tactics may still be ahead of him, but Dieter still finds things to do. “I help on the bow and with the hoists,” he explains. And of course he finds himself as the “squirrel” on takedowns, helping get the spinnaker down the forehatch.
Through it all, Dieter’s love of sailing continues. His thoughts on sailing to a non-sailing 10 year old: “It’s a good way to open up, be free, get to travel and hang out with friends.”
And the future?
When a kid like Creitz makes his mark so clearly on the race course, the question has to come up “What next? Olympics?” Nate Creitz knows that possibility is out there, but like his son he has his head on straight and feet on the ground. “We’ll see what he wants to do,” he says. Nate’s not pushing, and doesn’t see any $100K “program” for Dieter. (“I’m not in that tax bracket.”) but he’ll do everything possible to enable Dieter’s dreams as they come. It’s safe to say that Nate and Wanda’s supportive, not pushy, approach to Dieter is a big reason why Dieter’s smiling at regattas.
The PNW sailing community has rallied with support for Dieter. Seattle Yacht Club and West Coast Sailing have both teamed up with support for Dieter. The rest of us can and should just root him on.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
What a tremendous weekend for sailboat racing. High school racing, of course.
(Yea, the Blakely Rock Race report will follow shortly. But this high school sailing thing is really a big deal and is key to the future of our sport. If you ever have a chance to hang out and witness one of these regatta scenes, you really owe it to yourself to do so.)
Regional high school regattas were sailed in Kingston, Anacortes and the Willamette Sailing Club, in Oregon. Congratulations to all the young sailors, and especially to the teams Friday Harbor, North Kitsap and Lincoln High Schools. We have some excellent drone footage courtesy of Dave Wagner. I’m pretty sure some young skippers are going to pore over that 20+ minutes of footage from a tactical standpoint. Andrew Nelson reports from Kingston, where the South Regionals were sailed.
NWISA North Regionals
Report by Steve Orsini: The NWISA North Regionals on March 3 was held in Anacortes on what every one agreed was a stunning day for sailing. The stunning weather was matched by a stunning turnout: 93 sailors signed in and raced in a fleet of 23 FJs in a steady 7-11 knot northerly on the broad, sun sparkled waters of Fidalgo Bay. The Regatta was co-hosted by NWISA, Anacortes Parks and Recreation and the Anacortes Yacht Club(AYC). AYC provided the chase boats, dock masters with the course set by PRO Fred Abelman. At the end of 12, two island teams battled for the lead with Friday Harbor taking first, followed by Orcas and third went to Franklin from Seattle. Through the diligent efforts of Dave Wagner, AYC sailor and drone aficionado you get a cat bird seat on this regatta on YouTube at: NWISA North Regionals. Enjoy.
By Andrew Nelson, Youth Sailing Director, The Sailing Foundation
The South Regionals in Kingston were a big hit. We had 11 boats on the water representing 7 different schools. Weather was perfect with 7-12 knots of wind out of the north and sunny skies all day. This was the first time there’s been a high school regatta in Kingston, and the community was really excited to host. Sail Kingston Cove is now supporting the Kingston High School team, so we hope we can come back to this venue. The SKC volunteers and Port of Kingston did a great job putting on the event. The racing between the top couple of teams was really close, with North Kitsap edging out Central Kitsap for the top spot. PRO Chris Brown, assisted by his wife Jessica, fired off 8 races in each fleet (16 total). The sailors returned to the dock just before 5pm good and tired from a very full day of racing in mostly hiking conditions.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Seattle Yacht Club and several ambitious parents put together yet another regatta trek for some lucky young Laser sailors. This year’s Laser Midwinters East were held in Clearwater, Florida. I’m hoping to get a first-hand report about the sailing conditions in a few days. But it seems clear from this picture that there were some happy sailors!
From Kara Carlson:
The SYC team had a great time!!
We got lucky with the weather 80s and sunny.
As a group, we rented a house and had the sailors staying with 3 moms cooking and doing laundry 😉
We had an SYC team dinner and had Hanne Weaver and her mom over on Tuesday night for our special chicken and fajita night (We even found a butcher shop in Clearwater). Teenagers eat a lot!!
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
It’s that time of the year when US Sailing hands out awards and honors. This time around, two of our own PNW sailors received acknowledgment from the governing body. Here’s US Sailing’s announcement and the specifics on the community sailing work done by these two!
Community Sailing and National One-Design Award Winners
Announced by US Sailing
BRISTOL, R.I. (January 29, 2018) – US Sailing is proud to announce the 2017 Community Sailing and National One-Design Award winners for their contributions to the sport of sailing in the United States. To celebrate the accomplishments of these individuals and organizations responsible for advancing sailing forward in their respective areas of focus and within their communities, US Sailing will recognize them on Thursday, February 1, 2018 at the Awards Celebration to be held at the Sailing Leadership Forum in St. Pete Beach, Florida, hosted by the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort.
US Sailing will issue a second announcement following the Awards Celebration for the award winners who will be recognized live at the awards celebration.
The following 2017 Community Sailing and One-Design Award winners are:
Andrew Alletag (Tewksbury, Mass.) of Community Boating, Inc. in Boston, Mass. received the Jim Kilroy Outstanding Outreach & Inclusion Award.
Erik Skeel (Woodinville, Wash.) of Sail Sand Point in Seattle, Wash. received the award for Excellence in Instruction.
Jamie Jones (Westerville, Ohio) of the Hoover Sailing Club received the award for Outstanding Organizational Leader.
Joan Storkman (Gig Harbor, Wash.) was named Volunteer of the Year for her ongoing dedication as a volunteer at Gig Harbor Junior Sail Program.
Wayzata Community Sailing Center (Wayzata, Minn.) received the award for More than Ten Years of Hallmark Performance for their continued commitment to community sailing.
Sail Nauticus (Norfolk, Va.) received the award for Creative Innovations in Programming.
Delavan Lake Yacht Club (Delavan, Wis.) received a the National One-Design Regatta Award for excellence in development, promotion and management of the year’s most outstanding one-design regatta.
Jon VanderMolen (Richland, Mich.) and Don Parfet (Richland, Mich.) received the National One-Design Creativity Award for their inaugural Vintage Gold Cup.
San Diego Yacht Club (Calif.) received the National One-Design Club Award recognizing administrative excellence, fleet growth, creative programming, regatta support and member contributions.
Erik Skeel (with Laura Smit) at the singlehanded college nationals.
Erik Skeel – Excellence in Instruction
Erik Skeel (Woodinville, Wash.) of Sail Sand Point in Seattle, Wash. has been recognized for his superb leadership and extraordinary instruction. Providing highly technical feedback to sailors, his greatest strength is his leadership in group settings.
As a sophomore member of the University of Washington Sailing Team, Skeel’s enthusiasm and knowledge, regardless of his role on the boat, has made a positive impact on his teammates. As a summer camp instructor, he shares his love of sailing and amicable personality with everyone around him.
He is a truly remarkable instructor and valued member of Sail Sand Point.
Joan Storkman – Volunteer of the Year
Joan Storkman (Gig Harbor, Wash.) is a tireless volunteer with the Gig Harbor Junior Sail Program in Washington. She has been there since its inception and, in less than 10 years, this program has grown from a very small all-volunteer operation, to a fully-fledged program employing seasonal staff, while operating eight months a year. This year, the Gig Harbor Yacht Club (GHYC) Junior Sail “Learn to Sail” summer program recorded its highest enrollment ever, with 160 local youth participating in their weekly sailing camps, thanks to Storkman’s hard work.
She recruited and leads the 12-member Board of Directors, and works countless hours to ensure that the GHYC Junior Sail a well-run, organized and high-morale community asset.
Storkman’s high-energy leadership, attention to detail, as well as her endless team motivation and expressions of gratitude to all the volunteers and instructors has positioned the GHYC Junior Sail to be a successful program with a fantastic future.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
World Cup Series Miami is happening this week, and it’s where all the Olympic hopefuls congregate to start racking up wins and gaining experience in all the relevant classes. I’ve gathered some training videos – a couple of them VERY short clips – of PNW women that are there competing. Looks challenging for 4 seconds. Imagine a whole day of racing. First up is Kate Shaner and Charlotte Mack doing some heavy air training in her 49erFX. Then comes a video of Helena Scutt (with skipper Bora Gulari) in a polished pr video sailing a Nacra 19 on foils. Finally, we have a few seconds of Hanne Weaver working the waves in her Laser Radial in some big wind. I’m hoping to get some first-hand accounts of how the series is going. And for the young sailors at home, here are some hometown heroes to root for and learn from!
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
It’s not a Northwest story, or even a U.S. story, but I wish it were. The British-based Yachting Journalists Association just named its Yachtsman and Young Sailor of the Year Awards. Alex Thompson was named Yachtsman of the Year, and anyone who follows singlehanded round the world racing or pays attention to Hugo Boss advertising, is already familiar with the charismatic British sailor.
Lesser known is Montel Fagan-Jordan, Young Sailor of the Year. His story is truly impressive, and I hope that someday I get the opportunity to meet and interview him. He represents the Grieg City Academy, where 50 different “first languages” are spoken and 70% are considered “disadvantaged.” Fagan-Jordan gave around 50 talks to raise money for the purchase and outfitting of the old Frers-designed Scaramouche. He and his shipmates learned to sail that old IOR beast, and did it well enough to finish in the top half of the Fastnet Race. Along the way they had help from Whitbread Round the World Race veteran Lawrie Smith and the local marine industry pitched in with equipment. But Fagan-Jordan was the driving force.
Yachting Monthly (from which I borrowed some of these photos) did an excellent piece on Fagan-Jordan and the Grieg City Academy effort. If you want an uplifting story,read on. At this time particularly, when the U.S. president (and ostensibly 1/3rd of the country) revels in insulting the underprivileged in word and deed and insulating wealthy Americans from the poor, it’s good to see that in some parts of the world individuals like Fagan-Jordan can achieve great things in something like sailing, and that their communities are happy to rally around them.
Following is the Yachting Journalist Association press release.
YJA Young Sailor of the Year, 2017
The 2017 YJA Young Sailor of the Year Award goes to 17-year-old Montel Fagan-Jordan from Tottenham, London in recognition of his leadership in first raising the money to restore the 1980s classic American Admiral’s Cup yacht Scaramouche, then leading a crew of fellow students from the Greig Academy in Tottenham to compete in last year’s 605 mile Fastnet Race.
Nominated by his school teacher, Jon Holt says of Montel: “This was unique yachting project in which a multi-cultural crew spent three years undertaking more than 50 fund-raising talks to buy and restore the famous Gérman Frers designed yacht. Montel is able to helm almost any yacht. Not only was he the driving force behind Scaramouche — raising most of the money himself, but then developed as the helmsman, after receiving tuition from David Beford and Lawrie Smith. In 2017 he entered the Etchells 22 class Gertrude Cup and finished 4th overall before steering the Lloyds X55 class yacht Lutine during Cowes Week. He steered Scaramouche for most of the Fastnet Race.
Given that Scaramaouche is an old yacht, which rolls madly, his ability to hold a course for four hours in the dark, surfing down wind without broaching was amazing. Scaramouche may have finished 142 out of 368, but as a school team in an old yacht, they more than proved their point.”
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
