This year’s Hobie Division 4 Area Championships were sailed in August on, as usual, Lake Quinault. We’re finally getting around to publishing them.
We didn’t get around to creating a full report on this event, but you can see the results here. A couple interesting things are apparent from the results. Big boat sailor John Hoag is crewing for his daughter Jennifer (they were second in their class) and Dieter Creitz took a break from all the other boats he’s good at to show he’s good at Hobies too.
But the key to this fleet isn’t in the results. It’s clear from these photos - the key is community. It is a fun-loving well organized group that absolutely knows where to hold bush regattas.
Thanks to Jan Anderson for the photos. Here are the rest. And here’s Jan’s description of the event: “It’s always a pleasure to reconnect with the Hobie community, our multi-hull (heck, sailing) family of choice, in a consistently stunning venue, with super sailing, nice breeze and weather, an unbelievable spread of food, terrific raffle prizes, and this year, even a full blown wedding! Enjoy these images - we sure enjoyed gathering them!”
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.
For those who bemoan the decline of dinghy racing in the Northwest (I know I do in my darker moments), take this from this past weekend’s Turkey Bowl Regatta in Seattle: There were seven classes, eight if you count the lone FJ on the water. Depending on the class, 5-10 races were sailed.
Most importantly, a lot of the faces on the water were young.
Here are some of Jan Anderson’s photos. The rest are here.
Optis downwind
Surveying
Opti Racer
Seattle Laser Fleet Captain Mark Ross
Sailing it flat and fast.
Laser Radial Start
505s
505s
Libby and Jonathan McKee
Tasars
Close Racing in RS Aeros
Scott Malone
It’s about intensity.
Kaitlyn van Nostrand, coach of the Mount Baker Rowing & Sailing Center, and who also coaches in New Zealand, was impressed. “It was the best run Turkey Bowl regatta I have been to! This was my 4th year coaching this event. The race committee did 3-minute starts and wow, the races went off fast with seven fleets.”
“It was a great showing by the 505s, RS Aeros and Lasers. Coaches did their best to stay out of the way of sailors racing. Big current on Saturday ebbing, so no general recalls. Great dinner on Saturday night too. A job very well done by CYC! Our parents felt welcomed, kids sailed and had a blast. “
Mt. Baker was represented with 9 boats, 10 sailors. SYC was there with their youth fleet and eight Opti kids managed the bigger breeze on Sunday. The Royal Van laser team showed up and said it was a great event.
Laser models: 4.7, Radial, Standard.
Perhaps the most significant turnout was 7-boat Laser 4.7 fleet. This class, which is extremely popular in Europe, features a smaller rig with a different mast bottom section and a much smaller sail. It gives kids and small adults (approx 110-130 lbs.) high performance and provides a good stepping stone to other Lasers and dinghies. With used Lasers widely available, it’s an affordable and accessible racing platform, and with coaches embracing it as well, it is becoming a great tool for growing youth sailing. Alex Zaputil won the 4.7 class this time around.
With a total of 21 boats on the water, the RS Aero class was the biggest and arguably most competitive. Dalton Bergan won by a large margin, chased by John Renehan and Andy Mack. Hanne Weaver trounced the 18-boat Laser Radial fleet, Ian Elliott got by Ali Fuat Yuvali in a hard-fought Laser contest, Jay Renehan won in the Tasars and Miles Johannessen won in the 505s and Dieter Creitz won in the Optimist class. Results.
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.
OK - It’s not Puget Sound or the Strait of Georgia, but we’ll peek at some great Bay sailing any time. Especially when it involves our sponsor West Coast Sailing and their nifty RS 21. By the way, there were three of the 21s at Annapolis doing some dubious but still interesting racing next to the US Sailboat Show venue.
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.
Every year Bellingham Yacht Club puts the great Dale Jepson One Design Regatta (DJOD), and this year it will be really special for Lasers. The 2019 Laser Pacific Coast Championships will be held as part of the event but on a separate course.
Laser Standard, Radial and 4.2 classes will be run on a championship trapezoidal course overseen by PRO Blaine Pedlow. A separate course will run on the bay for other dinghies racing in the annual DJOD which sees and large 505 fleet. The organizers would love to see the Aeros show up too!
With the ongoing interest in the Lasers as an Olympic class, and the burgeoning 4.7 class, this should be a great regatta. Bellingham can deliver some great September sailing, and BYC is a hugely welcoming club.
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.
There was a national championship in Seattle last weekend, the Mallory Cup. It was the doublehanded high school championship, and it was a big deal sailed from Sail Sand Point on Lake Washington. If we get more info or photos from the regatta, we’ll run ’em. In the meantime, here’s a scene setter and a brief recap courtesy of the Interscholastic Sailing Association.
We haven’t been able to locate any sailing photos yet, but this photo by Sandy Skeel of the mothership Maris Pearl tending to the fleet of 420s on Lake Washington.
Saturday, May 11:
The 2019 ISSA Fleet Race National
Championship (Mallory Trophy) was hosted out of Sail Sand Point in
Seattle, WA this weekend. Thank you to our PRO Jonathan McKee, regatta
chair Nino Johnson, and the many other volunteers who donated their time
to help run this regatta.
Saturday began with clear, sunny skies,
warm temperatures, and a shifty ESE breeze 5 knot that averaged around 5
knots. Courses were adjusted to variable winds. Around 3pm the wind
lightened considerably, causing a postponement of race 4B until a 8 knot
SW wind filled in. Course was moved to account for new wind, then moved
again for race 5B as the wind moved further south. Wind died around
5:45pm, at the end of race 5B, and the decision was made to postpone
further races and then eventually call racing for the day. 10 races
total were completed on Saturday, 5 in each division. Four protests were
heard, 3 resulting in DSQs and 1 being dismissed.
After racing,
sailors, coaches, and volunteers were treated to a banquet dinner and
raffle that couldn’t be beat. Thanks to Seth Muir and Erin Timms for
putting on the dinner, and to guest speaker Helena Scutt for providing
an inspirational talk geared towards these top young athletes.
Sunday, May 12:
Sunday
was the beginning of a new weather pattern, with overcast skies and
cooler temperature. The wind was decidedly southerly, and at 8:30am the
decision was made to have the course south, around Sand Point, and into
better breeze. Coaches and substitute sailors were loaded onto the Maris
Pearl, a tugboat that served as a rotation dock, and moved to the day’s
new course location. Races were sailed in an 8-10 knot S breeze until
around 1pm when the clouds began to lift and the wind died down. The
course was moved back to the location of the previous day to take
advantage of a shifting 5-7 knot ESE breeze. Around 3:40pm the wind
lightened considerably and moved south, causing an abandonment of race
15A and the postponement of 15B. As per the SIs, no races were to be
started after 4pm, so Sunday ended with a total of 18 completed races, 9
in each division. One redress hearing was heard, but was dismissed.
After
a total of 28 races, 14 in A division and 14 in B division, Point Loma
High School took home first place, followed by Severn School in second
place, and Christchurch School in third. Congratulations to those
sailors and to all of the sailors that made it to the 2019 ISSA Fleet
Race National Championships! Thank you to our PRO, regatta chair, race
committee, and judges, as well as all of the parents, coaches, sailors
and volunteers who helped make this a great regatta!
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.
The report on the Battle of Four put on by World Sailing to choose a singlehander for the 2024 Olympics is in. Read it here.
Lasers in Seattle
The decision apparently still hasn’t been made on which boat to choose for the Games, but the evaluation panel came up with the conclusion that the RS Aero and Laser are the ones to consider.
I’m going to sit down with a beer to read the report in full to see their procedures and specific conclusions. Good to know that our active fleets in the Northwest are the frontrunners.
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 has arrived in Chile for the South American Optimist Championship and is enjoying the pre-race camaraderie that goes with an international regatta. You can see from the photos what this kind of event means to kids. You can also see how serious and competitive the teams are with the measuring in process and keeping the team focused. Here’s the report from Dieter’s dad Nate (who got to race on a Soto 40!):
We are having a great time In Chile. Team USA just headed out for their final practice. Dieter is truly enjoying himself and making new friends. It’s been great to see our friends from around the globe and his teammates from Bermuda who helped him get here. We haven’t spent much time with him as he is with his team and coaches staying together.
Racing begins tomorrow and opening ceremonies are tonight with a parade through town which will be quite a show. It’s very impressive how IODA operates and the infrastructure in place for this event. Big tents, food everywhere and lots of sponsors showcasing products. Lots of flags & banners blowing in the wind. The measurement process yesterday was long and grueling. The team sat down with the committee and were briefed on the process. Dieter’s sail numbers were incorrect and had to be redone and his daggerboard was too heavy and had to be sanded down. It was surprising the deviation of equipment manufactured here in South America and how many items did not measure correctly. Boats & foils we use back home are manufactured much more consistently.
Beginning tomorrow parents are not allowed into the sailors boatyard. Parents are also not allowed access to the cabins where our team is housed.
Yesterday I sailed three races on a Soto 40 with a Chilean crew who spoke Spanish the entire race! There are feral dogs everywhere who are well fed, friendly & happy.
Thanks to Nate we’ll keep track of this one. Young sailors out there - get inspired!
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 Sailing just finished evaluating the Laser, Devoti Zero, Melges 14 and RS Aero in Valencia, Spain as part of the decision which one will be the singlehanded class used in the 2024 Olympics. Don’t know which was chosen yet.
RS Aeros and Devotis
I’ll just say up front I don’t have a lot of faith in World
Sailing or the Olympic Committee. Both bodies have seen their images tarnished
by dubious decisions in recent years. I can’t help but wonder if all this
testing is window dressing for a decision which has already been made. I don’t
have any evidence, just a hunch.
I’ll add that being chosen as an Olympic class is not the end-all. The future of any class lies more with its class association and builders than it does with World Sailing or the Olympic designation. The Laser became the go-to singlehanded boat long before Olympic designation. The Olympics didn’t make the Laser a success.
Melges 14s
And there are plenty of examples of Olympic designations that never vaulted a class’s numbers. The Tempest, Flying Dutchman, Yngling, Soling, 470, Euro, 5.5 Meter and Dragon are all fine boats with active fleets. But did the Olympics create active fleets throughout the world? The Star seems to shrug off Olympic designation as it might a nice jacket. OK to wear, OK to put on a hanger. I see more interest in the Finn class outside the Olympics than inside it, so I doubt its ouster will have much effect.
Devoti
While my point isn’t exactly, “who cares?,” I must say that for those of us ordinary folk sailing any of the four singlehanders in the running, it’s not worth getting too excited about. Chances are good that all four of those classes will live on based on their own merits. Young sailors planning on Olympic campaigns will be going to where the competition is, regardless of which boat it is. This isn’t going to affect local fleets that much.
That said, I’m following World Sailing’s sea trials with interest. From a non-sailor’s standpoint, none of these boats are going to seem remarkably different from the others. Sail a mixed fleet of Lasers and Aeros, the Lasers are going to get their asses handed to them. Watch a fleet of Aeros go at it, then a fleet of Lasers, and it’s not going to seem all that much different.
So I guess the testing was to see which boat best tests a sailor’s skill. There are lots of considerations here revolving around the size of the sailor. The Laser Radial has been immensely unpopular with many women because of the size it requires to be competitive (~150 lbs). The newer boats with squaretop sails and bendier carbon rigs naturally depower a lot easier. I still wonder how, on a breezy day, a 125 lb woman depowering is going to fare against a 150 lb. woman totally powered up. On the men’s side of things, that combination will theoretically allow a wider range of sailor sizes. Dinghies have been, are and will be weight sensitive.
For me, the most important issues are worldwide availability, durability and builder support. The Olympics have the potential to popularize sailing. Laser would be the obvious choice with these criteria, except for the builder support. The primary builder, Laser Performance, has done an atrocious job of supporting sailors with parts. Its feuds with designer Bruce Kirby and the International Laser Class Association are epic. So the Laser’s main drawback doesn’t have much to do with its speed.
The upshot is, I’m watching this all with interest, but I’m not going to get too upset no matter the result. It’s just the Olympics. The more important question is: who’s bringing the sandwiches after Sunday’s frostbite racing.
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.
The Laser in its smaller sail configurations remains the class of choice around the world for youth sailors aging (or sizing) out of Optis. In Europe the big regattas draw hundreds of boats.
This year the Youth World Championships for both classes are going to be at Kingston, Ontario sailing in the challenging fresh waters of Lake Ontario. The Radials will sail the last week in July and and the 4.7s will go August 16-23rd.
There’s a limit on competitors (240 in each class), and a qualification and application process, so if you’re planning on going it’s a good idea to get started early. Registrations are open now. Here are the links: Radials, 4.7s.
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.
If you ever wonder why Kiwis are so damn good in virtually all kinds of sailing including foiling, Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympics, look no further than the just-concluded OK Dinghy Worlds.
Close racing at the OK Dinghy Worlds.
This design predates the Laser by a lot, and was originally supposed to be a training boat for the Finn. It’s a great boat, and there’s substantial freedom in the setup so in a lot of ways the boat is constantly upgraded and improved and very modern. Many of the hulls are quite old and wood. See the article by Noj Henderson in February edition of 48 North for a lot more about the class including its history in the Pacific Northwest.
You don’t see the Kiwis wringing their hands about whether or not it’s the fastest or best singlehander out there, or if it’s going to be the Olympic boat or not, they just get out there and race at a high level. 110 of them! The PNW can claim two of the competitors, Noj and my old shipmate Eric Rone. And they both sailed under the NZL, not the USA, flag. Makes sense. They just got out there and raced!
The other thing, the Kiwis as a whole value sailing. The regatta had videos, photos and all kinds of coverage daily. The video shows the 100+ boat starts, something that’s not seen very much any more. And the mark roundings, which appeared epic but orderly. Check it out, especially the offhand humility of the leaders interview. “Yeah, well, I really didn’t have that great a speed….” OK….sure.
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.
