News

ANNAPOLIS, MD (September 26, 2021) — Eight teams representing their respective US Sailing Areas from regions around the country vied for the Lloyd Phoenix Trophy this week in Annapolis, at the 2021 U.S. Offshore Sailing Championship. Skipper Steve Travis, from Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle, and his crew came out on top after two days of racing, scoring 10.5 points overall after three distance races and one buoy race.

Read more here:  Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle Team Excels to Win U.S. Offshore Sailing Championship - US Sailing

Saturday's race saw the fleet parading out to the race course on Shilshole Bay led by Adventuress in sunshine. As often happens in the Pacific Northwest, this soon changed to showers and then to a steady rain followed by a downpour. The wind also provided plenty of challenges for the racers, at times gusting to 25 knots, at other times leaving the boats adrift with sails slack, and the skippers wishing for some wind. A big thank you to the Corinthian Yacht Club Race Committee for providing the excellent course, making sure everyone enjoyed the race and that all the racers got back to the marina to in time to enjoy the post-race Covid-responsible gathering. All were drenched and wet to the bone but smiling.  In particular, from CYC, we want to thank Matt Wood, Bob Combie, Karen Sheide, and Marsha and Grant.

All the teams - virtual and on-the-water - have until Sunday, September 26th to continue to raise money, to earn points through Wind in Your Sails Challenges and to finish strong.

So far, Adventuress has raised $84,000 of its $125,000 goal - but we haven't crossed the finish line yet! You can donate here: The Adventuress Cup - A Race for the Salish Sea (onecause.com)

Lastly, if you were unable to attend, a Youtube livestream can be found here: Adventuress Cup 2021 Livestream - YouTube

This year’s CYC Seattle Pink Boat Regatta was a huge success, raising more than $67,000 for breast cancer research. Twenty-two boats participated across 3 classes for a great day of racing and partying with close friends afterwards. The event was held outside, instead of in the clubhouse, to minimize risk of Covid transmission.

Big thanks to CYC volunteer race committee Matthew Wood, Charlie Rathkopf, Charlie Herberer, Kaitlen Gibson and volunteer bartenders Laurie McRae and Tom Kelley. We look forward to another great event next year!

By Kenneth Johnson - 

The Lake Fall Regatta held on Saturday September 11 capped the 2021 Lake Racing Season.  Light shifty slowly-dying winds challenged the excellent Race Committee (PRO Troy Childs ably assisted by Catherine Picha) and the skippers and crews of the participating J-24s, San Juan 24s and Thistles.

Racing started at 11 am in a 6-7 knot wind that shifted erratically from south-east to south –  forecasted (unfortunately all too correct) to slowly die to 1-2 knots by early afternoon,  causing the final races to be mercifully shortened.  Somehow the small three boat J-24 fleet got in three races, with Staff Commodore Jakob Lichtenberg on “Hair of the Dog” consistently finishing first.  No such consistency for the other two fleets. In the 7 boat San Juan 24 fleet, CYC Director Mark Bradner on “Return” and Staff Commodore Ken Johnson’s “Grauer Geist” split their two races, each winning fairly easily after a good start by Return in race 1 and Grauer Geist in race 2 and building large leads by the first weather mark.  As the wind began to die in the shortened second race, Return (which was last around the prior mark) and Mike Irish’s “Manhattan Transfer” traded leads in the last 200 yards before the shortened upwind finish, with Return getting the last wisp of wind to finish 2^nd by “2 or 3 inches” and thus earn a deserved win for the regatta. 

The 9 boat Thistle fleet saw the most inconsistency, with Graham Vaughan combing a 1^st and 5^th on “Zugzwang” to edge out Marc Daudon’s “Fleetfoot2”’s combined 4^th and 3^rd place finishes to win the regatta.  “Heart of CYC” capital raising chair Wayne Balsiger’s first on “Rainbow” in the second race could not overcome his 7^th place finish in race 1, and he finished 3^rd for the regatta.

For the 2021 season, both the Tuesday night J-24 racers and the Wednesday night fleets of SJ 24s, Thunderbirds and Thistles got to race on 17 of the 20 scheduled race nights, with the lack of wind (and one errant power boat that careened into the docked Race Committee boat) winning just three of the nights.  For the J-24s, with up to 23 boats racing, Kevin Downey on “Sine Nomine” bookended the year with wins in the Spring and Fall series, Lucas Lafitte on “Big Tuna” took the Interim series and Scott Milne on “Tremendous Slouch” won the Summer series.

For the 4 boat fleet Thunderbirds on Wednesday night, Craig Burnell’s “Predator” won each of the four series.  Almost as consistently, Director Mark Bradner’s “Return” took first in the Spring, Interim and Summer series in 8 boat San Juan 24 fleet before being dethroned by Staff Commodore’s Ken Johnson’s “Grauer Geist” in the Fall series.  Johnson commented that Grauer’s success was greatly assisted by him being with family on the East Coast for most of the series with his crew, led by Treasurer Remmert Wolter helming, sailing the boat in his absence.  The 16 boat Thistle Fleet saw Graham Vaughan’s “Zugzwang” finish strongly by taking the Summer and Fall series; JD Reddaway on “Hakana Matata” won the Spring series, with “TTFN,” jointly owned by Neal Freeland and Brooke Stabbert, taking the Interim series.

All in all, a successful season with participating building during the year as more crews became vaccinated and comfortable in racing.  Thanks to some in the J-24 fleet, we got to see the successful introduction of robo-marks (which had their fits at the beginning but became very helpful by the end of the season).  And much appreciation to Fleet Captain-Racing Matt Wood’s continued support, PRO Troy Child success in finding fair courses in the challenges of Lake sailing at its best, great work by the unheralded whaler drivers and finally but not the least to the Race Committee volunteers.

Continuing their participation in the Northwest Youth Racing Circuit, sponsored by the Sailing Foundation, the CYC Juniors had a strong showing at the John Adam’s Memorial (JAM) Regatta over near Bainbridge Island with 6 Optis and 5 FJs show up for the event.

 

This year, the organizers separated the fleets into two courses. Alpha Course was off the north end of the island. The Bravo Course was sailed inside the protection of Eagle Harbor just off the maintenance facilities of the Washington State Ferries. The wind gods were not with the Race Coordinators. The forecast was not favorable for getting much racing done all weekend. Forecasts during the week shows “zero” for both courses most of the time.

 

The Alpha Course is where the Opti Fleet Champs of our Juniors were to participate. There were 27 boats were registered in the Opti Champ Fleet. We had Nathan Bereson, Esmeralda Klinemeier, Andrew Lin, Garrick Pease, Samantha Schreiber, and Ben Yuret on course representing CYC. Sam Airhhart was coaching the team. The Alpha course had an extreme lack of wind and called it a day after only completing two races on Saturday. After the first day of racing, Barret Milne (co SYC/CYC sailor) was leading with two bullets with Andrew Lin close behind with two seconds in very light, shifty conditions. The next day, Alpha course had just a bit more wind and were able to complete 3 more races allowing for one throw-out in the series. Barret had a “bad day” and Andrew kept up his second place consistency with only one 4^th place finish (his throw-out). With this great effort, Andrew won the blue age division as well as the Opti Class Overall! Barret came in second overall/blue division. Ben Yuret achieved a 3^rd place finish in the white age division. Congratulations Andrew, Barret and Ben!

(Andrew Nelson with the bullhorn and to the left Andrew Lin / CYC / 1^st holding blue trophy blanket and sporting the “JAMmies” and Barret Milne / SYC/CYC / 2^nd holding red trophy blanket to Andrew’s left, and next to Barrett is Nat Bereson/CYC, who won second in the white fleet that day. Ben Yuret / CYC far left hold a grey trophy blanket for getting 3^rd in his division.)

 

Meanwhile, the Bravo Course had the FJ (double-handed) part of CYC’s JV and Varsity Racing Teams. There were 21 boats participating in the FJ fleet. Representing CYC were Jacob Jones and Francesca Dougherty, Nathaniel Pease and Henry Thomas, Max Hanson and Mia McNabb, Anna Cezik and Phoebe Howe, and Zev Fort and Penelope Faulhaber. Geoff Pease and Kris Thomas were coaching and assisting. Unlike the Alpha Course, Eagle Harbor has its own “wind generator” and had somewhere between zero and 8 knots both days providing challenging, oscillating conditions that all the sailors needed to watch closely and use all their skills to traverse. The fleet had an amazing 7 races on Saturday. After that day’s racing, Jacob/Francesca were in 2^nd place with Nathan/Henry trailing them in third by one point after throw-outs. The next day the wind shifted slightly to the north and the race committee was able to get 5 more challenging races in. Lots of excitement as first place finishers changed a lot breaking the dominance that PMYC has their first day. Jacob/Francesca, Max/Mai and, in the last race, Nathan/Henry all had a first place finishes during the series! In the end, the leaders from PMYC – with a picket fence of firsts from the first day – held onto first place with net 17 pts. Jacob/Francesca were 8 points behind with 25 pts. And Nathan/Henry came in third place with 30 pts. Congratulations to Jacob/Francesca and Nathan/Henry!

(From left to right: Nathan Pease and Henry Thomas / CYC / 3^rd, Lauren Heinzelman and Elliott Chalcraft / PMYC / 1^st, Francesca Dougherty and Jacob Jones / CYC / 2^nd)

 

Feedback from the teams was that JAM is an “awesome event.” They loved the music playing during the Regatta – a play list that the competitor’s chose while registering. They loved the awards of blankets. And, they loved “jammies” (instead of a normal tee-shirt) as the swag from the event. They will be back next year!

 

Here is a link to the results: Johnny Adams Memorial (JAM) Regatta 2021 (theclubspot.com).

(They are a team – this is all CYC FJs “hanging on” after completing one of the races on Saturday. They did this after every race.)

By: Chris McMuldrochh: Al Johnson organized a really fun 14 boat Commodore Gibson weekend race to and from Port Ludlow for us.  This year we had way more boats finishing both races than in recent years!  And we had fabulous sunshine (with fog precursors in the morning each day).  Thank you Tom and Carrie aboard "Island Mist" for being our committee boat again.  Your start time coaching for the pursuit starts over VHS was a huge help to us.  Al moved the start line from Meadow Point to Apple Tree Cove Point on Saturday, as there was no wind and a ton of boats fishing at Meadow Point.  From Kingston we had Ok wind, little wind, and for "Wind Dancer: on the Whidbey Island side lots of wind - up to 14 knots and 7.5 knots over the ground :) until the finish where lots of boats fought the ebb tide with only light air. Saturday in the late afternoon we enjoyed a spaced out social recap of the day under the big tent at the resort.  Sunday's down wind start had a strong start, reaching from Foul Weather Bluff to Point No Point. From there it was all spinnakers flying.  Wind Dancer fell into the Kingston wind hole, while the smart money headed earlier for Point Wells, and had excellent runs down to Meadow Point.  Wind Dancer fought hard to cross the sound in zero wind, but managed to catch the breeze on the East side, and stay ahead of "Vinca" who was hot on our heels all the way to Meadow Point.  Congratulations to Al on "Charlotte" for showing us the way, and winning both days!  

This year's boats were: Island Mist, Maggie May, Blur, Sea Geek, Outlaw, Wind Dancer, Vinca, Gratitude, Dulcinea, Puffin, Charlotte, Lolo, Those Guys, and Second Sun - who did 23 hours in the previous 2 days from way North of Nanaimo BC to Port Ludlow!

Earlier this August, Erik Anderson, Sebastian Dougherty, Francesca Dougherty, and Catie Vandervort (along with coach Annie Sorensen and Nancy and Dave Vandervort) travelled to Marblehead, Massachusetts to compete in the 100^th anniversary of the US Sailing Sears Quadruplehanded Championship against 10 tops teams from around the country. This year the event was hosted by Eastern Yacht Club and sailed in RS21s- a new, light, and fast keelboat. Catie Vandervort, tactician and main trimmer, had the following to say:

“This event introduced me to so many new aspects of sailing, and I’m so grateful for the experience- both racing, and all the on-and off-water memories shared with my team.

We were given a clinic day to figure out the boats before racing started as most teams competing had never sailed the RS21 before. Our team had been practicing in J70s on Orcas Island throughout the summer, and we were glad to have practice and some coaching on specific aspects of the RS21. The RS21, for example, had a fixed mainsheet instead of a traveller, the control lines for the spinnaker and backstay were in very different places, and we got to play with a jib downhaul for the first time.

After the clinic we experienced some of Eastern Yacht Club’s opening ceremony traditions- like a burgee march, a cannon firing, and flag hoisting, and were treated to a presentation from guest speaker Rich Wilson, a two-time Vendee Globe competitor (he also gave us all his book!)

The next two days of racing were filled with lots of highs and lows, and tons of learning. It was an evenly matched fleet which provided extremely competitive starts and some of the most challenging racing any member of our team had experienced. We ended up in 6^th place overall (our top finish was a 2^nd) and grew so much in not just our boat fluency and roles in the RS21, but our ability to communicate effectively and keep a positive, stable attitude during the sometimes-frustrating racing. We discovered new ways to support each other in sailing and in life, and my teammates are some of the most amazing people I know.

It was incredibly fun exploring Massachusetts outside of racing, making friends with other teams, and getting to race at such a beautiful venue. I’m so thankful I was able to be part of this team and I appreciate the support of the CYC and greater PNW sailing community in helping us prepare for this event.”

Most of us have seen the schooner Adventuress gracing the waters of the Salish Sea more than once as we’ve cruised, raced, or simply hung out on our boats. But, do you know what her mission is? [CLICK HERE] to read more about the Adventuress and the upcoming Adventuress Cup!

Although formally canceled due to logistics concerns, thank you CYC club member, Sean Busby, who summarized the member-organized Moonlight Race (see the summary below).  The CYC will  work hard next year to make it an integral, and larger, part of the 2022 Lake season.  

From Sean - The 2021 Moonlight Regatta included three San Juan 24s and two J-24s. The five boats and crews participated in a single class distance race for bragging rights and beautiful views.  The competitors in the event were Fancy, Sweet Jesus, Crazie Cadie (Lake Union), Wild Rumpus and Irrational.

The race began with a meager Southern breeze making for a challenging downwind spinnaker start in light air of 2 to 5 knots. Sweet Jesus hoisted their spinnaker early and built up some speed at the start line and took a substantial early lead on the course.  Crazie Cadie had missed the start and was coming in from the North so she jumped into the pack to join the fun.  It is an “unofficial” race after all!

Shifty winds and big waves from large power boats slowed the fleet as the sailing fleet fought their way up the lake.  Some talented spinnaker trimming kept all of the boats moving and thankfully the wind picked up along with the racing as the boats clumped closer together.

Fancy decided to take a unique route up the Western end of the lake while the two J24 boats and Crazie Cadie chased Sweet Jesus up the Eastern shore along Mercer Island.  Before the fleet could see Bill Gates house, Irrational had glided ahead of Sweet Jesus teaching them a lesson in walking on water.  The fleet approached the 520 bridge and Crazie Cadie expertly navigated the 520 underpass as they buried Sweet Jesus and set their sites on chasing Irrational.  Beyond the bridge, the wind picked up with big gusts from the Southwest which tossed a few of the boats around while the crews scrambled to adjust. Wild Rumpus sailed well through the conditions and started to catch Sweet Jesus and Crazie Cadie while Fancy was not far behind, all boats being within a minute of each other.

As the boats made their way to the rounding mark, the wind took a dramatic shift and clocked due Northwest.  Irrational did not have their jib rigged so the one-man crew tied down the tiller and stumbled up to the foredeck to hank the jib.  Fortunately, no sandals were lost, nor a drop of beer spilled as Irrational pulled it off and managed to get around the mark with a nice lead!  Meanwhile, Crazie Cadie fought off a final prayer from Sweet Jesus as the two boats rounded the mark in close succession.  Wild Rumpus had passed both SJ24s but then appeared to overstand at the rounding mark dropping them back into fourth place.  Fancy continued to catch up with the fleet and was now closer to the other SJ24s and Wild Rumpus.

On the windward leg headed back to the 520 bridge Wild Rumpus made their move and passed Sweet Jesus, catching up with Crazie Cadie.  Irrational continued to build on their lead as none of the boats could match the single-handed skipper on this night. 

The final stretch through the finish sailed like a victory parade as the wind steadied and became a consistent 8-10 knots.  Fancy put up a fight and came within 10 boat lengths of Sweet Jesus, but otherwise the boats held their places.

It is unknown whether Crazie Cadie or Wild Rumpus finished the course in second place.  The respective skippers and crews were not available after the race to finalize the results, but Crazie Cadie had not completed the start to the race so they were ruled a DNC.  Crazie Cadie still deserves an honorable mention as they sailed brilliantly.  The race committee are a tough bunch and require lavish bribes for a favorable ruling.  The final finish order is as follows; Irrational, Wild Rumpus, Sweet Jesus, Fancy, Crazie Cadie. 

The 2021 Moonlight Regatta is in the books.  Congratulations to Bill Vlases and his impressive single-handed campaign of Irrational for a deserving win. Many people contributed time and effort to successfully coordinate and execute this informal Moonlight Regatta. A hat's off thank you to all the skippers for rounding up crew for the event. Thank you to Jeff Kendall for creating the NOR and SI while also providing awards to the top three finishers.  And finally, a special thanks to the crew of Crazie Cadie for making the trip from Lake Union.

A few of the CYC Junior Varsity Sailing Team travelled to the Bellingham Yacht Club (BYC) Youth Regatta the weekend of Aug 7^th & 8^th. Garrick “Gary” Pease (Opti), Ben Yuret (Opti), Andrew Lin (Opti) and Nathan Pease and Henry Thomas (FJ) made the journey along with Geoff Pease PRO’ing his first non-CYC event with LOTS of help. Thanks to the help of many volunteers - some grabbed at the last second - the event when off without any problems. Thanks to additional CYC volunteers Wanda Creitz, Kris Thomas, and Adam Yuret for pitching in!

The first day had a great breeze (up to 12 knots) from the South which is the typical wind direction for the shallow (~30ft) Bellingham Bay. With the tide going out, the surf was a little rough in the morning. By the end of the day, wind conditions were ideal. There were 5 fleets – Opti, FJ, Laser 4.7, Laser Radials and C420 fleets. Each fleet was able to get 5 races in except the Opti’s – there were pretty tired by the end of their last race and when in early to avoid the dock rush. Being a “big brother” Nathan Pease missed two of the 5 races that morning. He helped his brother after he submerged his Opti for the first race of the day. At the end of the day, his FJ was still in 3^rd place after having TWO bullets and a second in the three races they did complete. Andrew was having mixed results in the Opti fleet with Ben and Gary having a “bad day” (in Gary’s own words).

The next day had a lower breeze so the chop was less than the previous morning staying in the upper single digits – great for dingy sailing! Nathan and Henry continued their low scores with their worst being 4^th. In the seventh race of the regatta, Henry was seen lay across the bow of the FJ. The race committee was like “I guess that is one way to get the weight forward.” It turns out that the jib’s tack had come undone and Henry was holding it down. They lost first place and finished second. One of the coach boats helped them fix it before the next race. Gary had a better day and sailed in all the race while Andrew held his own.

The results were that Nathan and Henry's performance resulted in a 2^nd (of 10) place finish even after missing two of the races (one throw-out). Andrew placed 3^rd (of 7) in the Opti “Blue” Fleet. Great job for the JV Sailing Team!

Written by Geoff Pease