(Seattle, WA)- “This past weekend’s Sloop Tavern YC “Race to the Straits” was yet another not-to-be missed event- it is all singlehanded or doublehanded teams. Saturday’s leg to Port Townsend was a light wind, current-plagued challenge, with a lot of did not finishes. Sunday’s leg back was with plenty of breeze from the north, spinnakers flying and smiles all around,” said Kurt Hoehne from Sailish.com.
“Of all the great aspects of this race,” continued Hoehne, ”my favorite is that it draws a whole lot of boats that “don’t” race out to race. There are couples, dogs, kids, cruisers and sails of every imaginable and unimaginable condition. Win or lose, it always appears to be a good time. And, with the staggered start (figuring handicaps into the start time) it seems to make the whole thing about results more palatable. It is what racing should be. On Saturday, it was a day for concentration and a lot of tacks. One skipper estimated he did 60 tacks! On Sunday, the boats with big spinnakers and long waterlines reveled.”
A number of J/Teams love doing this event since it is so, sooo laid back. Winning the PHRF Class 4 Singlehanded Flying Sails Division was the J/35 GREAT WHITE sailed by Dan Wierman. Meanwhile, Kevin Callahan’s J/80 NAMASTE took third despite having to take a DNF in Saturday’s race. In PHRF Class 6 Doublehanded division, Scott Galbraith’s J/24 FLYER took fourth. Ulg Georg Gwildis’ J/30 IMPULSIVE also took a fourth in PHRF 8 Class. The two J/27s in PHRF 9 Class both podiumed, Dennis Clark’s LXIII getting silver while Leo Morales’ WIZARD took the bronze.
In the J/80 one-design class, seven doublehanded teams started but not many finished due to the light airs on Saturday. Ultimately, David Schutte’s TAJ MAHAL won, followed by Morris Lowitz’s UPROAR in second and Lek Dimarucot’s UNDERDOG in third.
Christine Nelson’s J/29 SLICK sailed fast, narrowly missing the PHRF 11 Doublehanded Class win by just six minutes after 12 hours of sailing time! She took the silver quite comfortably.
The six-boat J/105 doublehanded class always has pretty close racing, even on the point-to-point events. This time, it was John Aitchison’s MOOSE UNKNOWN that took class honors, followed by Matthew Gardner-Brown’s DULCINEA in second and Sara Billey’s PEER GYNET in third.
J/crews smoked the PHRF 15 Doublehanded class. Winning was Kirk Fraser’s J/109 ECLIPSE, with Tad Fairbank’s J/100 SELAH in second, Tyson Varosyan’s J/35 SOLUTION in third, Stu Burnell’s J/109 TANTIVY in fourth, and Tolga Cezik’s J/109 LODOS in seventh.
Finally, in PHRF 16 Doublehanded class it was Chris & Justin Wolfe’s J/120 SHEARWATER that placed 2nd while the Hinze/ Butler duo on the J/120 HINZITE took fourth position. Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson/ Janpix Follow the Sloop Tavern YC’s sailing events on Facebook here For more Sloop Tavern YC sailing information