OK – this is old news but Jan Anderson was kind enough to share her pictures, so you should see them! The venerable PITCH regatta was sailed Labor Day Weekend, and we haven’t done a post about it – ’til now. Notable about this regatta was that only 16 boats sailed, 11 of them in the PHRF classes. The other class was the Martin 242 class. It seems a shame. Bellingham YC puts so much effort into making a welcoming atmosphere and providing great race management.
Here’s Jan’s tongue-in-cheek recap:
“Huge fleet, hard core racing, really big breeze, lots of splash and action at every mark, challenging waves, sunshine galore amidst glorious cloud patterns for backdrops, and Mount Baker overlooking it all – what a terrific combination for a GREAT regatta! Just not this weekend, regretfully. Hopefully you’ll enjoy these photos anyway!”
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.
PITCH has nearly always tossed something the sailors’ way. Great big fleets once upon a time (Pacific International -IOR- Ton CHampionship), great racing, great -sometimes really great- breeze, great parties. Those who made it to Bellingham this past weekend got to enjoy that outstanding Bellingham hospitality and two days of great racing. While the fleets aren’t nearly as big, there’s still a good time to be had in Bellingham Labor Day weekend. And check out the menu of the regatta feast. Thanks to Mike Powell for once again writing about the event, even though his attention was pretty well locked on the telltales on his own J/33 Keet much of the time, and when they weren’t he heard a chorus of “Focus!!”
By Mike Powell
Twenty five boats came to Bellingham Bay for the 2018 KarMART USA BYC PITCH Regatta. They were split into 5 fleets including a Martin 242 one design fleet. Conditions on Saturday started with fantastic breeze in the mid to upper teens for the first two races and slowly eased as the day went on to light wind as the early fog burnt off and the sun came out to close the day. Sunday was similar with less early wind but always with a racing breeze and enough consistent shifts that paying attention to the compass was a good idea. Race committee lead by Charley Rathkopf got off 8 races for each fleet with a short line for small fleets the starts were tight and exciting.
The most hotly contested fleet was Class 5 between Stephanie Schwenk’s Wild Rumpus and Erik Yaremko’s S2 9.1 Flying Circus matching identical scores at the end of the regatta with Rumpus taking the win with the most recent 1st place finish. The other fleets sorted themselves out with strongest boats taking picket fences or close to while the other positions moved up and down the leader board as the weekend went on.
Saturday saw the the fast fleet of Wicked Wahine, Absolutely and Bat Out Of Hell sent off on a medium distance race around Eliza Island after a couple of buoy races. Like so many island races, they ran into glassy conditions on the backside and ran out of time to finish the race. Everyone else raced windward/Leeward courses and rarely waited long to start the next race. The party, as always, was on form with help from my favorite local pub, Stones Throw Brewing plus burgers, Tr-Tip and Monica’s famous Mole’ Chicken being on the menu over three nights of socializing at the Bellingham Yacht Club. Thanks to all the racers that made the effort to come to the Bay and race and great work by the BYC volunteers running the event, cooking and keeping a square course, thank you one and all!
