2009 Team Racing District Championship

Sail Sand Point - Seattle
May 1-3, 2009

Seven Varsity Teams and Eight Junior Varsity teams made the trip to Seattle for the 2009 NWISA Team Racing Championship.  What started as a slow regatta eventually ended with a total of 30 varsity races and 19 JV races sailed on Lake Washington in Seattle.

Friday afternoon, sailors enjoyed a beautiful day of practice with plenty of sun, temps in the mid 70's and a 10 kt Southerly.

Saturday sailors rigged three fleets of Sail Sand Point FJ's in a promising 5 kt southerly.  By the time of the first warning at 10:20 the wind was dying and getting quite shifty on the Digital N course.  The race committee was able to complete 3 races before postponing ashore.  After enjoying a BBQ lunch the RC attempted racing again.  They were able to complete 2 more races before the wind was again too unstable to race.  Sailors were held ashore until a light Easterly filled in around 5:00.  Five more races were sailed in shifty winds on a triangle course.  A rain squall brought some breeze but it was only around for two of the evening races.  Racing for the day was called around 7:00.

Sunday was a new day.  A 2-5 kt southerly stuck around for most of the day.  The RC was quite busy keeping the Digital N square and dealing with numerous wind shifts.  The first round robin was completed around 12:30 and the fleet was split into a top four bottom three for the final nine races of the series.  The varsity division completed their rotation at 2:00.  The JV division was unable to complete an entire round robin by the 3:00 cut off time so results are based on win/loss percentages.

A huge thanks goes out to our judges Dick Rose and Charlie Macaulay who kept the races moving with limited umpiring in the varsity fleet.  All the volunteers on the RC had their work cut out for them but did an amazing job with the conditions they were handed by Mother Nature.  And of course thanks Sail Sand Point for hosting the event.

Congratulations to Bainbridge Island High School who will represent the NW at the Baker Trophy at Stanford later this month.  Good luck!!

See results and win/loss brackets attached for Varsity and Junior Varsity.

2009 Doublehand District Championship
Orcas wins, North Kitsap takes second for the Mallory qualifier.
Newcomers, Girls of St. Mary's and Lincoln take one-two in JV and both teams placed in the top-5 in Varsity, as well.

2009 Dogfish Bay Regatta

Spring made a brief appearance with sunshine, warm temperatures and drat, light air at this years Dogfish.  Thirteen races Saturday and skunked on Sunday. Thanks to Brendan Fahey, Alex Jones, Kyle Eaton and Dick Rose for the Sunday chalk talk. Thank you Central Kitsap and Bainbridge for bringing your beautiful Vanguards and FJs.  It was great to see all the well qualified and trained former high school sailors who turned out to man the mark and safety boats. - pics

2009 Islands Cup Regatta at Roche Harbor
 
The weekend started with a practice on Friday afternoon.  Breeze held at about 7k with sunny skies.
 
Saturday started with rain and no wind.  One race was started then abandoned at noon.  After waiting on the dock for three hours, six races were run in light and shifting conditions.
 
Sunday dawned with breezy conditons.  There were a few problems with launching and sailing to the course but most sailors reveled in the 12k to 15k shifty westerly.  The first 8 races used most of the space of Roche Harbor, running up the south side of Pearl Island.  By noon the breeze shifted to the north and started to die off.  Four more races were run using a shorter course near the marina.  By 2:00pm, racing concluded and the competitors helped pack up gear.
 
Special thanks to Sail Orcas for loan of their boats, Roche Harbor Resort for opening their facility to us for our use, and to the parents of the Friday Harbor High School Sailing team for organizing the great food.
 
Pictures from the weekend will be posted in the Gallery soon - no, wait! they're already there!