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04-06-2002, 09:18 PM
Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta - 4/06/02
Scattered Clouds, 10 - 20 kts.
Wow, what a great turnout for the Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock Benefit today. There must have been over seventy boats out and it was nice to see a good turnout of cruisers and day sailors as well as the regular racing crowd. The day wasn't without casualties however as a number of boats suffered torn sails, failed rigging and injured crew.
The forecast was for a strong southerly, but the conditions on the course were gusty and sporadic with shifts from southerly to westerly and puffs up to 20kts. The committee did a good job getting the race off with so many classes in reverse order, though it was a little tough to be so close to the Shilshole breakwater. Most boats followed the traditional southerly route by hugging the east side and Magnolia Bluff up to West Point. The earlier boats were able to pretty much head straight across to the west side, but by the time we got there a huge shift to the west had set in and most everyone ended up short tacking up the middle.
The last couple miles to the Rock was where most of the damage occurred, as there were some strong westerly gusts and most everyone was trying to hang on to the genoas and #1's to save a sail change. We saw a thirty footer (didn't recognize the boat) lose its mast and Whistling Swan and Penetration suffered shredded headsails.
Thankfully, there wasn't much of a pile up (literally) on the Rock itself, but the gusty conditions played havoc with boats setting spinnakers and there were a number of spinouts. Capriccio (Santana 30/30) had a bad spill and broke a pole while Magrudor (sp?) retired after an accidental jibe injured a crewmember.
The wind came down quite a bit after the majority of the boats had rounded the Rock and there were a number of wind holes that opened up on the east side. We were lucky and stayed wide of Shilshole on the way to the leeward mark, but there was still quite a pile up on Meadow Pt. where a number of boats had difficulty getting chutes down. One poor boat (no names) ended up getting dragged backwards with spinnaker wrapped around the backstay --oh, like no one's done that either. :-)
In our division, Pagent was able to work the shifts well and finished first. Shoot the Moon had a great upwind leg, but didn't put up a spinnaker until much later. Tahlequah passed us near the leeward mark, but wasn't able to put enough distance to correct over us. Counter Balance and the Soverals seemed to suffer in the choppy conditions and were well behind -- thankfully. We had a small consolation from beating Spirit after a tangle at the start.
The main event was really seeing the new Marten 65' ICON out for the race. Bob Perry has made a stunning design and the boat was awesome to watch: http://www.iconsailing.com/the_boat.html
Overall, there was wind, no rain and a great turnout. This year's race had some very demanding conditions and good amount of damaged gear, but we never saw any wind above 20 kts. so these were mostly a result of pushing the limits. Definitely an exciting two and a half hours!
-Skip
Scattered Clouds, 10 - 20 kts.
Wow, what a great turnout for the Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock Benefit today. There must have been over seventy boats out and it was nice to see a good turnout of cruisers and day sailors as well as the regular racing crowd. The day wasn't without casualties however as a number of boats suffered torn sails, failed rigging and injured crew.
The forecast was for a strong southerly, but the conditions on the course were gusty and sporadic with shifts from southerly to westerly and puffs up to 20kts. The committee did a good job getting the race off with so many classes in reverse order, though it was a little tough to be so close to the Shilshole breakwater. Most boats followed the traditional southerly route by hugging the east side and Magnolia Bluff up to West Point. The earlier boats were able to pretty much head straight across to the west side, but by the time we got there a huge shift to the west had set in and most everyone ended up short tacking up the middle.
The last couple miles to the Rock was where most of the damage occurred, as there were some strong westerly gusts and most everyone was trying to hang on to the genoas and #1's to save a sail change. We saw a thirty footer (didn't recognize the boat) lose its mast and Whistling Swan and Penetration suffered shredded headsails.
Thankfully, there wasn't much of a pile up (literally) on the Rock itself, but the gusty conditions played havoc with boats setting spinnakers and there were a number of spinouts. Capriccio (Santana 30/30) had a bad spill and broke a pole while Magrudor (sp?) retired after an accidental jibe injured a crewmember.
The wind came down quite a bit after the majority of the boats had rounded the Rock and there were a number of wind holes that opened up on the east side. We were lucky and stayed wide of Shilshole on the way to the leeward mark, but there was still quite a pile up on Meadow Pt. where a number of boats had difficulty getting chutes down. One poor boat (no names) ended up getting dragged backwards with spinnaker wrapped around the backstay --oh, like no one's done that either. :-)
In our division, Pagent was able to work the shifts well and finished first. Shoot the Moon had a great upwind leg, but didn't put up a spinnaker until much later. Tahlequah passed us near the leeward mark, but wasn't able to put enough distance to correct over us. Counter Balance and the Soverals seemed to suffer in the choppy conditions and were well behind -- thankfully. We had a small consolation from beating Spirit after a tangle at the start.
The main event was really seeing the new Marten 65' ICON out for the race. Bob Perry has made a stunning design and the boat was awesome to watch: http://www.iconsailing.com/the_boat.html
Overall, there was wind, no rain and a great turnout. This year's race had some very demanding conditions and good amount of damaged gear, but we never saw any wind above 20 kts. so these were mostly a result of pushing the limits. Definitely an exciting two and a half hours!
-Skip