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Every year the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle puts on a regatta to honor the great Norm Blanchard. Every year the committee boat endures a series of line starts where the classic wooden boats involved bear away as soon as another boat is within Frisbee distance. I guess if I poured thousands of hours/dollars in to the building, restoration, and or maintenance of a wooden boat I wouldn’t want anyone closer than I could hit with a good sand wedge either. To relieve their boredom and bring some spice to the starting line the Center for Wooden boats each year invites the “Classic Plastic” class, and if you live in Seattle the only real classic plastic is a San Juan from the Clark Boat company of Renton. And if you want the Juans to show up in numbers the only Juan to invite is the San Juan 21.

This year was a great showing for the 21s with 8 boats from Fleet #1 competing in the 2 day regatta. Unfortunately for the rest of the fleet Wooglin provided a complete and utter thrashing of the remaining boats. As far as I know there was not a mark in 4 races over 2 days which Chris Popich didn’t round first. (Of course Limpet was not often near the front boats so some of the leaders might want to verify this fact) After 3 straight victories the only way for anyone other than Chris to win the overall title would have been if Wooglin had a DNS in race 4. In short the only effective strategy would have been to attempt a sinking during the start sequence. Luckily Charmed Juan was not aware of this fact or things might have gotten ugly. As it was Charmed Juan was as close as anyone got to knocking off Wooglin in race 4. However, a well timed jibe from Wooglin caught Charmed Juan in a penalty and preserved the perfect 4peat.

All I can say is that it must have been very boring for Wooglin and her crew to spend so much time out by themselves with no one to chase. We should all feel very sorry for them, because the racing in the rest of the fleet was very fun and more important… competitive. In the end there was only 4 points separating the 3rd through 6th place finishers, and 6 boats (other than Wooglin) had a 4th place or higher finish over the Regatta.

Here is the play by play:
Day 1: Day one was dominated by amazingly gusty and shifty winds. Here are the NOAA wind numbers for the day at SEATAC.

THE SEATTLE WFO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER 29 2007…

VALID TODAY AS OF 0600 PM LOCAL TIME.

WIND (MPH)
RESULTANT WIND SPEED 8 RESULTANT WIND DIRECTION S (180)
HIGHEST WIND SPEED 17 HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION S (170)
HIGHEST GUST SPEED 21 HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION S (160)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 8.9

A 21MPH gust is not that big, but it can sure catch you off guard when the prevailing wind speed is 8MPH, and it is accompanied by a 30+ degree shift in direction. Truth be told I have a strong belief that Lake Union saw gusts over 25KTS on Saturday. This is backed up by claims from some of the spinnaker boats of approaching 9KT speeds on the down wind legs of the course

Everyone in the fleet was sailing with half boards or full boards in the companion way…and it was a good thing, as there were very few boats which didn’t spend at least some time taking on water over the leeward rail. Limpet and Habagat got particularly hammered on the first day though it is not clear at this point if it was due to particularly poor handling or particularly poor karma.

Scout did a little hammering of his own before the races even started. About 20 minutes before the first race a little wooden boat was crossing his bow as he was diligently watching the committee boat. A shout of “DON’T HIT ME” preceded the sharp cracking of wood by about 200 milliseconds. Scout was very sorry, and thankfully no one was hurt. Unfortunately the little boat lost a shroud and was towed back to the CWB.

As if wind and boats was not enough chaos the 240+ ft ultra luxury yacht Laurel decided to come out and practice maneuvers in the center of the lake, and as usual the Kenmore floatplanes roared through the fleet with regularity. I remember vividly watching one de Havilland Beaver taking off down wind (in 20+ knots) strait at Two for Juan. I think he might have cleared the mast by 10 ft.

Race 1: The first race of the day kicked off a little late and followed a roughly box course around the lake. First mark was the Red Nun #2 at the S.W. corner of the lake. Followed by roundings at the SE, NE, & NW corners before a final beat to the finish. The fleet seemed to be a little off the timing on the first start and there were several stragelers. Charmed Juan chased Wooglin but came up 26 seconds short to find what would become a familiar second place finish. The committee boat then had to wait over 2 and a half minutes for Scout to cross a strong third with PSG Juan tight on their heels. The final 4 boats crossed the line within 22 seconds of each other (Habagat, Limpet, Rascal, & Two for Juan) However, Habagat was running a spinnaker so gave up a little time in the correction. The final “corrected” results were Wooglin, Charmed Juan, Scout, PSG Juan, Limpet, Rascal, Two for Juan, and Habagat.

Race 2: The second race followed the same course as the first race. However, the start was much more competitive with all 8 boats near exactly on the line at the right time, with no more than inches separating boats. The committee boat cheered their approval! Then the real fun started as gust after gust forced the leeward boats to head to wind and generate a chain reaction in the rest of the fleet. Sensing the impending disaster the fleet broke up as people tacked away and looked for room to handle the boat in the crazy winds. Even with room things were not a sure bet. Limpet was near the front boats on a port tack when an unseen gust completely leveled me. I couldn’t clear the main sheet and while I fought with the block water was pouring into the cockpit from the Starboard rail. Of course the jib had not been released either and when the boat eventually did turn to weather the jib immediately back winded, knocking the boat over in the opposite direction, I was still hanging to the main sheet for dear life as water rushed in over the Port rail now. When I finally got the main released the water in the cockpit was over the level of the seats. I stopped to bail for a few second before continuing in last place. It took two mark roundings before all the water drained.
I wasn’t the only one to get pounded in the second race as boat after boat got tossed about. There were many position changes as one boat or another found them at the mercy of the gusts. The final results across the line were Wooglin, Charmed Juan, Two for Juan, Rascal, Habagat, Limpet, Scout, & PSG Juan. After correcting time for spinnaker boats Limpet and Habagat traded positions.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say that I was bruised, sore, and thoroughly drained after a difficult day of sailing. I was very, very happy to see a nice warm, dry bed on Saturday night.

Day 2: Day two was dominated by a endless heavy downpore which dropped over and inch of rain while we were on the course. Here are the NOAA Numbers. I think over half of the wooden boat fleet DNS after looking at the dismal weather forecast. But you better believe that all 8 San Juan 21s from Fleet 1 were there regardless of the weather.

Race 3: This turned into a pivotal race which started in a moderate and building breeze. The course was similar to the day before but skipped the mark on the NE corner of the lake. The Jybe mark in the SE was also set much closer to the Red Nun #2 weather mark. This made the top of the course close to a beam reach.

The start was better spread with some boats choosing the starboard side of the course and others taking the port. Wooglin ran out to her usual lead, but Rascal, Limpet, & PSG Juan were in close pursuit. These top four boats rounded the mark with some wind and headed for the jibe mark just as a major lull engulfed the windward mark. This created some distance between the front 4 and back 4 boats. However, 3 of the back boats were spinnaker boats, and ran up chutes for the beam reach. A major wind shift swung the wind to the SE and carried the boats with chutes below the mark. They had to haul down and some even tacked back to the mark. This created a major gap between boats. Wooglin had her standard 2 minute victory, followed by 3 boats finishing within 35 second of each other, then another 3-6 minutes for the rest of the fleet to cross. Final results were: Wooglin, Rascal, Limpet, Two for Juan, Scout, PSG Juan, Charmed Juan, & Habagat.

Race 4: The final race of the regatta was shortened to a simple windward, leeward, and finish course. The action at the front o the pack looked very tight, with Charmed Juan and Wooglin neck n neck on the downwind leg. Wooglin took to the western side of the lake while Charmed Juan kept to the center of the lake. They both jibed about the same time and headed to the leeward mark. As they came together Charmed Juan had established an overlap to windward, and was setting up for a hard push to the finish when Wooglins performed a jibe and their spinnaker pole fouled Charmed Juans spinnaker forcing her into penalty turns. Wooglin sailed to a leisurely 4th straight victory. Two for Juan put in a strong performance and finished first of the non spinnaker boats, but Rascal was just 16 seconds behind, and a 4th place finish was enough to lock up 3rd place overall in the Regatta. The final boats across the line were Scout, Habagat, Limpet, and PSG Juan.

After the race we all sat in soggy heaps and sucked down beers in the CWB main room. Soon came the Honors where Chris Claimed the title an a burgee which must be flown at all regattas as a warning to others that this is the boat to target in the start.

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