Jan and Skip Anderson don’t aren’t always lucky enough to pick the right day to photograph on a 2-day regatta, but sometimes they hit the nail on the head, as they did for CYC’s PSSR last weekend in Seattle. Maybe they read Bruce’s forecast. The event, which features as many buoy races as is reasonable given the conditions, rewards refined crew work and tactical course management.
Here are some of Jan’s shots. Click to enlarge, and by all means go to her site to buy some!
Even CYC’s Race Fleet Captain Matt Wood struggled when reporting Saturday’s racing: “Saturday posed significant challenges for both the competitors and the Race Committees, as the highly vaunted Puget Sound Convergence zone made a strong appearance. Racing started in southerlies which began backing to SW then West before dying and allowing a Northerly to fill in later in the day. Unfortunately races changed into reaching parades as 90 degree shifts plagued both courses.”
They may have been parades, but several races were sailed and, hey, we don’t sail because conditions are always postcard-perfect.
Sunday was another story. It was breeze-on from the north, bright sunshine and there were even some waves to play with.
The big boat ORC fleet was a complete no-show, and the PHRF turnout was sparse. The decline of handicap fleets in this event continues, but there were four healthy one-design classes (J/105, Melges 24, J/80 and San Juan 24). The J/24s sailed the weekend before and the Moore 24s were a no-show for the CYC event.
As usual in a multi-race series, there were no real surprises in the winners circles. Shrek made a return to the racecourse but had to accept second place to the well-tuned Absolutely in the “big boat” class. The Sierra 26s Uno and Dos were walking away from PHRF Class 2 after the first day and handily finished the job on Sunday. Jerry Diercks, David Brede, Bryan Rhodes and Ken Johnson (on a tie-breaker) won their respective one-design classes. Results here.
A clear bright spot on the Seattle racing scene is the J/80 fleet. The design is one of the early sport boats with minimal cabin space and an asymmetrical spinnaker standard. Seven J/80s completed all the races, and it came down to the last race to determine the winner. Clearly, there’s more to this fleet than just wins and losses. Bryan Rhodes of the J/80 Crazy Ivan reports after his great duel with John Sezer’s Reckless:
I don’t have my boat in the (Sail Northwest owner-club boat setup) club, nor does John, but we are the two exceptions. It’s a great program for owners and has been a big boost to growing the local fleet. For example, there’s Lek Dimarucot, who owns Underdog. He started racing on Monday nights on one of the club boats and then purchased Underdog and put it in the club.
As for the J/80 fleet, I’m the fleet president and joined the J/80 North American Class Association board last fall. It’s been helpful to meet with other board members and learn what they are doing to grow interest in the J/80. We are implementing many of the things that have worked for other fleets – getting together after racing on Monday and Wednesday nights, having an annual Fleet Series with a set schedule of events, and staging larger events in the J/80 West Coast Championship that was raced during PSSR. It’s added a social aspect to the racing and fits into the active Northwest lifestyle that so many live in the Seattle area to enjoy.
PSSR was a great event despite the fluky winds on Saturday. We had five boats take a first place in seven races. The starting line was a lot shorter than some of the recent events, which, combined with the strong ebbs, made for some interesting starts. The regatta came down to the last race and we barely edged out John on Reckless by a few seconds. I wasn’t sure we had won the race until I asked the race committee. In that race he rounded the first leeward mark in 4th or 5th place but made a huge gain on the next windward lap. He’s a tremendous competitor.
-Bryan Rhodes
Thanks, Bryan, for taking the time to send in the tale of the J/80s. Your efforts to make the J/80s a fleet and not just a bunch of boats is clearly paying off.
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.