San Juan 24

By Ken Johnson

As crews from Seattle to Bellingham gathered in Oak Harbor on June 28 for the 2019 San Juan 24 North American Class Association Championships there was great pleasure in greeting friends from previous championship regattas and concern about the light wind forecasts for the coming weekend.

As Byron Skubi, the experienced PRO running the racing, said the Friday night wind forecast for the weekend was “terrible.”  A variety of wind forecasting sites showed winds on Saturday ranging from 2-3 knots perhaps getting to 4-5 knots late in the afternoon and only marginally better for Sunday. 

As boats motored out Saturday morning on the 40-minute trip from Oak Harbor to Penn Cove, the light winds on Saratoga Passage and the flat glass on Penn Cove were not promising. Bu a dark line observed on the far west end of the Cove which slowly moved eastward and finally reached and then passed the Race Committee boat located just off of Coupeville.

Not to worry – the wind filled in with 5-6 knots westerly and Byron sounded the first warning signal on time promptly at 11:00. The wind was fairly consistent building to close to 10-11 knots in the afternoon before settling back to 6-7 knots. Byron ran eight, count them, eight great races on Saturday – windward-leeward courses, some long, some short, with both windward and downwind finishes. David Steckman of Oak Harbor, the Regatta organizer, got the racing off to a great start by dominating the first race on his renamed Juan Solo, followed by Mike Klep’s Bruce from Bellingham and Mike Irish’s Manhattan Transfer from Seattle.   Pre-race favorite Return was over early at the favored pin end and its delayed restart after ducking most of the fleet resulted in a 7^th place finish.

But Return bounced back handily, winning the next 3 races to regain the lead, with Juan Solo and my Grauer Geist keeping close with top 4 finishes in each race.  Racing got closer as Return had another over-early call and finished 5^th in the fifth race and got trapped on the far left side of the course in the 6^th race resulting in a 4^th place finish before grabbing a 1^st and 2^nd place result in the last two races of the day.  Meanwhile Grauer rebounded with two firsts and a second, and Juan Solo kept close with its consistent top 4 finishes. 

At the end of Saturday, after 8 races (one throw-out permitted with 6 races completed), Return had a 2 point lead over Grauer Geist with Juan Solo just one point further back.  Jeff Kendal’s Fancy lurked in 4^th place while Bruce, after two second places in the first two races, had fallen to 5^th overall as it suffered both a OCS in the third race and a DSQ in race 7. 

Proving the forecasts wrong again, a nice wind came in again on Sunday, and Return quickly took advantage to clinch its Championship win with two firsts and one second in the first three of four races held that day, followed by a safe second in the last race.  Meanwhile Juan Solo and Grauer Geist were battling it out for second place – after winning the third race Grauer just had to finish just one boat behind Juan Solo in the last race to match her second place finish in the 2018 regatta.   However, she lost track of Juan Solo at the start and had to go left while Juan Solo and Return headed to the right hand favorable Penn Cove current on the north side – at the windward mark, Juan Solo had a boat length lead on Return with Grauer another length back.  The first two boats headed to the southern shore, where there is supposed to be a favorable eastward current.  We followed on Grauer about half-way to the shore and, believing it had a favorable downwind angle to the long leeward mark, was the first to gybe.  Nothing like being in the middle, and forced to watch boats on the south shore sail by and, at the same time, boats further behind at the windward mark that gybed toward the northern shore  also found stronger wind and sailed by!  Juan Solo held on to win the last race and second place as Grauer sailed to its worst finish, which became our regatta throw-out.

The racing was close and competitive. Of the 12 boats in the regatta, 4 had at least one first place, and 7 boats had at least one top-three finish.  A single mistake on the course pushed all the boats back in the fleet.  Even the top three boats had 6^th and 7^th place finishes.

At the awards ceremony Mark Bradner noted that he had been sailing with the same crew for 15 years, and that crew consistency was instrumental in Return’s win:  Gary Reifel on foredeck, David Valentine on main and David Fukuhara on sheets.  Return previously won the SJ 24 NACA championship in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Boats had to be conscious of building tide both days (the low was about an hour or so before racing started).  It was easy (too easy for some of us) to get pushed to the starting line early, causing many loud calls to “Stay Up, Stay Up” as boats tried to jockey to keep from crossing the starting line early.  The Race Committee called boats over-early in most races, but in only the third race did it signal a General Recall (of course many skippers said they had had great starts and it was other boats that were over early).  The Race Committee wasted no time in hosting the black flag and a conservative restart followed.

With many boats lumped close together after the start, the wind just lifts over all the boats. Boats that did well got to clear air quickly, even if it meant ducking boats, irrespective of where on the Cove they sailed.  And skippers also had to skippers had to balance the wind and the current.  As the current built, the counter-clockwise Penn Cove current is said to favor the northern side (the right-hand side going upwind in the westerly) and the south side of the Cove going downwind – but until the current really set in going up the left hand side or the middle, wherever there was clear air, paid off.  And going too far to the north side commonly resulted in boats overstanding the weather mark, letting boats coming in on port sail a shorter distance and tack underneath them.

All in all, and despite having just 12 boats participating, the 2019 regatta was great fun with challenging competition and racing, proving again that when all the boats sail about the same speed it doesn’t really matter how fast they are going.  The pleasure of one-design racing!

On Friday night the Class elected its 2020 officers:  Dave Steckman of Oak Harbor as Commodore, Mark Bradner of Seattle as Vice Commodore and Jeff Kendall of Seattle as Fleet Measurer.  The Class also decided to hold the 2020 North Americans on Shillshole Bay in Seattle on June 26-28, 2020, and to have a small group review the class specifications to see if any should be modified (most have been in effect since the mid-1970s).

The excellent Oak Harbor Yacht Club hosted the regatta.   Thanks to Club Manager Joe Catanio for the excellent food and drink each night and OHYC Commodore Ferd Johns for welcoming all of us. 

Dennis and Marjie Wade Clark joined us for dinner Saturday night, and Dennis gave an engaging talk about the origins and history of the San Juan 24, followed by questions regarding the boat’s design.  Marjie was the winning skipper of the first SJ 24 North American regatta, sailed on Bellingham Bay with over 50 boats participating!  To date she is the only female skipper to win the regatta; her father designed and built the wire sculpture of the boat that graces the SJ 24 NACA trophy.  Chuck Skewes of Ullman Sails noted that he got his start in the sailing industry working for Dennis as an apprentice sailmaker in the mid-1980s.  Chuck also described his “year as a professional skipper” and commented on sail trim issues he observed from the Race Committee boat.

Ullman Sails was the principal sponsor of the Regatta and contributed money, prizes and support.  Other main sponsors:  Oak Harbor YC and Indigo Slate (t-shirt design and cash), followed by Jan’s Marine Photography, Samson Ropes, Swinomish Casino & Lodge and Oak Harbor Marina.

Wayne Balsiger of Seattle chaired the protest committee, aided by Bill Weinsheimer and Chad Holcomb, both of Oak Harbor. In addition to PRO Byron Skubi, others on the Race Committee Boat were Chuck Skewes from Ullman Sails, Larry Munns, Jane Mays and Avis Berney. The mark boats were manned by Craig Cooley, Russ Wood, Ron DeRu, Dale Hendrickson, Rick Almberg, Joel Servatius, Ben Servatius, Chad Holcomb, Max Van Dam, Peter Hillberry and Steve Sears.  Many thanks to all these volunteers who make a regatta successful!

2019 SJ 24 North American Championship Results

     Boat                                 Skipper                       Fleet                Points

1.  Return                           Mark Bradner           Seattle                  21

  2.  Juan Solo                       David Steckman        Oak Harbor      27

  3.  Grauer Geist                Kenneth Johnson      Seattle                   29

4.  Fancy                               Jeff Kendall                Seattle                   46

5.  Bruce                               Mike Kleps                 Bellingham       52

6.  Manhattan Transfer   Mike Irish                   Seattle                     69

7.  Toto                              Allan Wilson            Oak Harbor 77                            

8.  Sweet Jesus                   Sean Busby                Seattle                      79

9.  Obi Juan                        Steve Hucke               Oak Harbor      88

10.  Snappy Tom                Gil Lund                      Seattle                      88

11.  Swift                             Bill Brown                  Oak Harbor     121

12.  Miss Mayhem              Melissa Davies           Seattle                    125

I challenge anyone to find a more cost-efficient way to have competitive fun keel boat racing around here than in a San Juan 24. (OK, you Cal 20 sailors have a case but you guys don’t fly chutes…..)   The SJ24 fleet is active, organized and competitive. And say what you want about that vintage IOR quarter tonners, they can have competitive racing when it blows or when there’s just a breath of wind. And you can actually sleep on them! Here’s the report from Ken Johnson on the North Americans a couple of weeks ago. Long live the San Juan 24! -KH

Ekono Juan from Orcas Island Takes Third Straight San Juan 24 North American Championship

Grauer Geist of Seattle and Renaissance of Oak Harbor Are Second and Third

By Ken Johnson

Fifteen San Juan 24s from around the Salish Sea lined up in Penn Cove on July 14^th and 15^th for the Fleet’s North American Championship but one, Ekono Juan from Orcas Island, dominated the event with 8 bullets in 11 races to claim its third consecutive championship. Despite Ekono Juan’s wins, the races were closely matched – six other boats claimed at least one second place, and often the race committee had to closely watch three or four boats crossing the finish line overlapped. One-design racing at its best.

Sailing with Ryan Forbes on Ekono Juan were Ian Wareham (helm), Chris Kaufman and Justin Blevins.

Jan Anderson photos. Click photo to enlarge. Full gallery. 

We finished second for the regatta with Grauer Geist, with consistent top four finishes in all but one race, followed by Dave Steckman’s Renaissance which finished the second half of the regatta strongly with two firsts, two seconds and two thirds, to claim third. Bruce, from Bellingham and skippered by Mike Kleps, which was 2^nd in 2017, was 4th and Mark Bradner’s Return from Seattle, a previous North American champion, followed closely in 5^th. Consistent good starts, sharp upwind tactics and downwind speed proved the difference among the top boats.

One challenge for the weekend were the significant tides – the low each day was between 12 noon and 1 pm, a negative two feet, an hour or two into the racing, matched between high tides of over 10 feet – thus the famous (“infamous”?) Penn Cove counter-clockwise current grew increasingly stronger during each afternoon’s racing. The westerly, with occasionally northerly components, came in just before 11 am on Saturday (the time of the first warning) and delayed racing a bit on Sunday – the early winds were not settled, providing a challenging series of lifts and headers irrespective of what tack one was on. Nevertheless, the race committee, heading by Byron Skubi of Oak Harbor as PRO, ran a series of excellent windward-leeward (some short, some long) races, quietly moving the marks between races to adjust for the ever-changing conditions.

Seven races were run on Saturday, exhausting the fleet, followed by a more moderate four on Sunday. The second race on Saturday proved a harbinger of the weekend – Grauer Geist had a good lead going around the last weather mark but sailed into a light wind spot before gybing for the downwind finish. Ekono Juan gybed earlier and ran a puff down the course ever-closing on Grauer Geist – just before the finish, with both boats on port, Grauer took Ekono Juan up and up until both boats were almost past the finish line, but Ekono Juan handled the tight reach-to-reach gybe back better to finish a foot or two ahead of Grauer.

Starts became increasingly tighter, with two general recalls before the fourth race, aided by the ever-stronger up-course current, resulting in the round-the-ends flag being posted to slow down the fleet. The race committee was not so patient on Sunday, and the one (and only) general recall was immediately followed by hoisting the I-Flag.

It wasn’t until the fifth race of Saturday, after four firsts, that Ekono Juan had a rare buried start and Dave Steckman’s Renaissance broke through to win handily the race – she rode the south shore current to the east to the deep set leeward marks to build a commanding lead. In the next race Ekono Juan’s no. 1 jib suffered a big tear after the start and she raced without a head sail for a considerable period while the crew found the no. 2 jib. Grauer claimed its only win of the regatta, with Renaissance and Bruce close behind. Ekono Juan put up its no. 2 sail and of course the wind built a bit for the last race of the day, and she claimed her 5^th first place.

Going into Sunday’s race, Ekono Juan had a 4 point lead over Grauer, and with its one throw-out used up in last place finish in race six, she had actually little margin for error – one more buried start or bad first leg could give an opening for the trailing boats – but she claimed three firsts in the four Sunday races that overcame a 6^th place in the next to last race and was the deserving champion.

The excellent Oak Harbor Yacht Club hosted the regatta, with dinners each night and coffee and sweets in the mornings before racing. Thanks to Club Manager Joe Catanio for the excellent food and drink and OHYC Commodore Larry Munns for welcoming all of us.

Dick Rose gave an excellent talk Saturday night explaining the complicated process that results in changes in the racing rule book; we are fortunate that careful people around the world take considerable time and effort to consider the rules and handle the multitude of suggestions that come in world-wide from the internet.

Ullman Sails was the principal sponsor of the regatta and contributed money, prizes and support. Other sponsors: Oak Harbor YC and North Coast Electric Company, followed by Dunato’s Boatyard, Jan’s Marine Photography, Whidbey Coffee, Samson Ropes, Swinomish Casino & Lodge and Oak Harbor Marina.

Jared Hickman chaired the protest committee, aided by Steve Hood from Bellingham and Liesl Mordhordst from Seattle. In addition to PRO Byron Skubi, others on the race committee included Larry Munns, Jane Mays and Avis Berney.

Penn Cove is an excellent racing venue, with challenging winds and tides, with gleaming mountains to the west and east, and Oak Harbor a welcoming place for sailors to assemble each year and participate in a competitive and fun regatta.

 

Full results:

1. Ekono Juan, Orcas Island               Ryan Forbes               20
2. Grauer Geist, Seattle                      Ken Johnson              27
3. Renaissance, Oak Harbor               David Steckman        33
4. Bruce, Bellingham                           Mike Kleps                 39
5. Return, Seattle                                Mark Bradner             41
6. Conflict, Bellingham                        Andrew Fitzgerald    56
7. Manhattan Transfer, Seattle           Mike Irish                   75
8. Fancy,  Seattle                                 Jeff Kendall                76
9. Sweet Jesus Seattle                        Sean Busby                84
10. Cake or Death Lake Union               Kyle Roethie              91
11. Snappy Tom, Seattle                       Gil Lund                      94
12. Wiki Wiki, Seattle                            Zach Warren               121
13. Separator, Oak Harbor                    Steve Hucke               122
14. Malice, Seattle                               Joe McNulty               126
15. Toto, Oak Harbor                            Alan Wilson                141