(Oak Harbor, WA)- After nearly four decades, Whidbey Island Race Week
delivered one of the nicest three days of sailing the Pacific Northwest
has seen for awhile- three straight days of sun and breeze. This year’s
event has attracted a fleet of sixty-one boats; twenty-eight of them are
J/Crews- 46% of the regatta! There were one-design classes for J/80s
and J/105s, with the rest sailing in various PHRF handicap classes. Here
are the reports from those three glorious days of sailing.
Day One
Just two days before “the Whidbey” started, the weather did not look so
promising. However, the first day of the 37th edition off Oak Harbor
made for many happy memories before the fleet moves over to Point
Roberts for the 2020 race week edition.
After an opening evening of renewing cross-border friendships, while
dancing to live music on the lawn of the Oak Harbor Yacht Club, and a
night of crispy winds and an unexpected rainfall, Charley Rathkopf’s
Race Committee led the fleet of 61 US and Canadian boats south into what
most sailors were hoping was the last day of an unusually cool and
cloudy July.
The two one-design classes of J/105s and J/80s and J/PHRF sailors
enjoyed the day’s courses that tested the crews’ fortitude and patience
thanks to dying breezes and a 10-foot tidal exchange. Wednesday’s
uncertain waters and wind caused skippers to greet the week with
conservative starts and no “over-earlies”. The J/109 Lodos reveled in
Wednesday’s southerly breeze though rued the calm waters that ensued as
the wind slowly achingly and shifted to the west before finally
evaporating for the day.
Day Two
What better way to stave off Saturday’s inevitable tears with a
fun-filled blast from the past. Thursday’s 1980’s Reggae theme brought
out a colorful cacophony of garb, from retro polo’s to tie-dye tees,
plus boom boxes and wigs galore, including mullets, fro’s and
dreadlocks. Even the weather seemed to join in and add to the
light-hearted mood of the day.
Under intensely blue and cloudless skies, the cool morning soon grew
into a warm afternoon. And right on schedule, Penn Cove’s forecasted
westerly filled in by the “noon o’clock” first gun.
With a waning flood, most of the day’s first of three starts had at
least one OCS. But, that minor inconvenience didn’t seem to deter some
of those who were a bit too hasty to take a bite out of the on-course
side.
Stuart Burnell’s J/109 TANTIVY, for example, turned their OCS, and a
subsequent foul plus 360, into a tactical advantage and maneuvered to a
third place finish, showing that a solid background of hard-earned
experience can turn a negative into a positive.
Others weren’t as fortunate. For example, Buckey’s J/105 INSUBORDINATION
managed to make contact with the committee boat’s fenders at the start.
After that, and a series of other unfortunate events, they retired from
the day’s third and final race, skulking back to the Oak Harbor marina
with their tail between their legs and a whopping 12 points added to
their score card.
Regardless, if Charley and his committee can pull out more multiple-race
days like Thursday’s, INSUBORDINATION may be able to throw out that
last-place finish. It’s not inconceivable that they’ll make a comeback,
as they have several race week veterans, and winners, aboard, including
Pat Denny (owner) and Gary Harr (skipper) of that infamous black boat-
the J/29 HERE & NOW.
Mike Kalahar’s Port Angeles-based LITONYA darted around the course on Thursday to earn another bullet in the wily J/80 class.
No strangers to race week, John Aitcheson and his veteran crew aboard
the J/105 MOOSE UNKNOWN took home first place honors for Thursday’s
three races with two bullets and a second. With just 5 points going into
Friday’s racing, they are poised to take home the overall trophy. It’s
just the halfway point of the regatta. However, the J/105 fleet is one
of the most hotly contested one-design classes on the Salish Sea, so
they’ll have to fight hard to keep their lead.
Day Three
The bovine aroma off Blowers Bluff signaled the arrival of a solid
westerly breeze (a bit like Mackinac Island’s famous aroma of fudge and
horse manure wafting across the Straits!). On such a day, the air
becomes very clear with no haze on the horizon. One crew excitedly
announced, “the mountain is out!” While passing through the channel from
Oak Harbor into Saratoga Passage, she was exclaiming that Mt. Baker had
emerged over the eastern horizon.
Knowing with confidence that if that marine layer burns off over the
Straits beyond Penn Cove’s west head, the breeze will indeed fill in
nicely. As a result, that meant the smart money would try port tacking
the fleet to hitch the elevator ride up the cove to finish line at North
Beach. For that final leg, sailors were salivating, anticipating
getting to Coupeville’s Red Barn, the garlic shrimp, and ice cream at
Kapaw’s. Others, of course, were wishing there was more time for beer
and fish’n’ chips at Toby’s.
Jerry Diercks’ crew on DELIRIUM was maybe a bit delirious in the
beginning of the regatta, starting off quite slowly with a 3-4-8 tally
in the eleven-boat J/105 class. However, in the next six races they came
on strong like a locomotive gathering steam downhill, smoking the
closely-fought class with three 1sts, two 2nds and a 3rd to win with 17
net pts after a single discard. Second was Chris Phoenix’s JADED with
20 pts. Then, just two points back doing the “reverse fade” of the
DELIRIUM tally was John Aitchison’s MOOSE UNKNOWN, a fun-loving Canadian
crew. While the “Mooser’s” opened up with a stunning three bullets in a
row, they slowly faded to black, closing the regatta with a 5-3-5-8 in
their last four races to drop down to the bronze medal. The balance of
the top five included Erik Kristen’s MORE JUBILEE in 4th and Buckey’s
INSUBORDINATION in 5th place.
Never looking back after day one in the seven-boat J/80 class was David
Schutte’s TAJ MAHAL. After leading day one, Schutte’s crew keep up the
pressure on the fleet and won with just 12 pts net, counting only podium
finishes in their scoreline that included five 1sts! Second was Bryan
Rhodes’ CRAZY IVAN and third place was earned by Mike Kalahar’s LITONYA.
The six-boat PHRF 1 Class saw Bruce Chan’s J/111 65 RED ROSES II take
the silver, missing the gold by a mere point. Then, in PHRF 2 class,
David & Vernice Cohen’s J/90 EYE EYE took the bronze. Rounding out
the top five were Stu Burnell’s J/109 TANTIVY in 4th an Brian White’s
J/35 GRACE E in 5th position. Two other J/109s finished behind them,
with Tolga Cezik’s LODOS in 6th and Mike Campbell’s LAPA in 7th. In PHRF
3 class, it was Stephanie Arnold’s J/33 DASH that took 4th place.
Finally, in PHRF 5 class, Christine Nelson’s J/29 SLICK took the
silver. For
more Whidbey Island Race Week sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.
(Oswego, NY)- The Oswego YC in upstate New York is hosting the 2019
Great Lakes J/24 Championship for a star-studded fleet of eighteen
boats. The sailors are looking forward to sailing on one of the
prettiest parts of eastern Lake Ontraio. The region is famous for
having extensive summer activities for family’s and friends that have
been visiting for generations. And, it has dozens of beautiful vineyard to visit and savor a variety of wines..
