Turkey Bowl Regatta - sailish.com

Dinghies, Kids Rule Turkey Bowl

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing November 19, 2025November 19, 2025Turkey Bowl Regatta 0 Comment

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.

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.

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 Hoehne

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.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 30 Nov, 1,2,and 3 December and Winter Vashon

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing November 30, 2025November 30, 2025Puget Sound Marine Weather, Turkey Bowl Regatta, Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

While tomorrow’s race won’t be quite as cold as some of the past Winter Vashon races, it will still be fairly cool out there so dress accordingly and don’t skimp on the warm beverages. The good news is that when the breeze does come up you should be on the downwind leg to the finish.

The surface chart for today shows a low-pressure system off our coast heading off to the southeast. This will make the coast sometime this evening after which an offshore flow will develop over the central and western Strait of JdF. Over the eastern end of the Strait and the rest of the Salish Sea, this will become a northerly flow with the area in the central part of Admiralty Inlet seeing the strongest northerly maybe in the 15-20 knot range. It will take a while for this to fill down the Sound and into the race area.

Click any image to enlarge.

November 30 500MB

November 30 Surface Analysis

December 1 Surface Forecast

December 2 Surface Forecast

December 3 500MB

December 3 Surface Forecast

December 4 Surface Forecast

Typically this pattern will result in a light (4-8 knot) northerly in Colvos. Following the nice southerly we’ve got today, this will keep the ebb going in Colvos for tomorrow which will help get you up to the top mark. There will be rivers of stronger current in Colvos and those will tend to be in the center of Colvos Passage. You will really want to watch your COG and SOG as well as the other boats in order to find the axis of the current. Since it is a reverse start there will also be rewards for those who can keep their air clear and not fall into any of the dead zones on either shore.

Hopefully the northerly will fill to the north end of Vashon by around noon. This should be in the 10-12 knot range and I do mean northerly, not northwesterly so you’ll probably set up to sail the port gybe to Pt Robinson. This will also coincide with the start of the ebb so if you run into anti-water gybe back to the west, just don’t sail too close to Vashon and gybe back when you can make Pt Robinson.

From Robinson south to the finish you will want to stay off the Vashon shore because it will be light in there so even if you have to sail in some ebb, it’s better to stay out in the breeze. Unlike the spring and summer Vashon races, the wind you have at Pt Robinson will probably hold all the way to the finish.

Keep your fingers crossed and have a great race.

Bruce Hedrick

Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)

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