PSSR Blessed With Lots of Racing!(Seattle, WA)- Over the past two weekends, the annual Puget Sound Spring Regatta (PSSR) was hosted by the Corinthian YC Seattle for both offshore PHRF racers as well as one-design classes of J/109s, J/105s, J/24s and J/80s. In fact, for the J/80s was their first J/80 Westerns ever.
After seven races, nine-boat J/80 fleet enjoyed tight racing. In fact, so tight, it was a two-way tie-breaker for first place and was nearly a three-way tie-breaker! Bryan Rhodes’ CRAZY IVAN and John Sezer’s RECKLESS both ended up with 13 pts net, with the countback advantage going to those “wild & crazy guys” on the IVAN. Just three points back was Mike Gridley’s RAVEN with 16 pts net. Rounding out the top five were David Schutte’s TAJ MAHAL and Lek Dimarucot’s UNDERDOG in 4th and 5th, respectively.
The
ten-boat J/24 fleet sailed the first weekend. Saturday was raining and
the breeze was 5-7 kts early and built to 9-14 kts from the south
running against a strong flood tide. Fortunately, on Sunday, the rain
was gone and the breeze had switched to a northerly, 8-10 kts early,
building to 15-24 kts in the afternoon. Establishing their hegemony
over the fleet early, Jako Lichtenberg’s HAIR OF THE DOG won the first
two races and added five more 1sts in eleven races to win by a
convincing margin. However, behind them it was a huge battle all
weekend for the next two spots on the podium between Bill Taylor’s ATOM
ANT and Carl Sheath’s TUNDRA ROSE. Neither gave an inch all weekend and
in races the “hairy dogs” didn’t win, one of these guys did! By
winning the last race, Taylor’s “ants” took it by one point over Carl’s
“rosebuds”. Fourth was Chris Archer’s CHALLENGER.
The
J/105s had an excellent turnout of seven teams from across the various
Puget Sound clubs. Following on their successes in 2017, Jerry Diercks’
crew on DELIRIUM truly did go wild once they found out their last race
1st place earned them the top of the podium over the 2017 J/105 Seattle
Boat of the Year- Erik Kristen’s MORE JUBILEE- the difference was just
one point. Third was John Aitchison’s MOOSE UNKNOWN, fourth Jim Geros’
LAST TANGO and fifth Chris Phoenix’s JADED.In the world of PHRF handicap racing, the J/crews acquitted themselves quite nicely. In PHRF 2 Class, Jerry Woodfield’s J/109 SHADA took the bronze while Natalie Pryde’s J/92S SHIVA finished 6th and Tola Cezik’s J/109 LODOS was 7th. Assuming the usual position of first place in PHRF 5 Class was none other than Pat Denny’s beautifully restored J/29 HERE & NOW, eviscerating their class with five bullets in seven races and having to toss out a 2nd! And, that was against top-ranked teams on Ross 930s, Farr 1020, and an Olson 911! A spanking it was! For more Puget Sound Spring Series and J/80 Westerns sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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