CYC PUGET SOUND
SAILING CHAMPIONSHIP 2020
Puget Sound sailors were treated to classic fall conditions for Corinthian Yacht Club’s PSSC (combined small and big boat) regatta on October 10 and 11. Saturday morning started with overcast skies and breeze out of the south-southeast around 8-14 knots. This year, CYC's October throwdown adhered to crew restrictions of four or fewer crew on boats under 30 feet, and five or fewer on boats 30 feet and larger. Neither these restrictions, nor some inclement forecasts, kept PNW racers from coming out in droves. The small boats on the south course saw an impressive 74 boats across eight classes. Meanwhile, the larger boats up north had 43 boats across six classes.
J/105, Corvo, leads competitors around the windward mark in blustery conditions. 48º NORTH
Four friends and I were racing on the J/111, Valkyrie. The boat is owned by Cathy VanAntwerp, who is new to the Seattle racing scene. We were fortunate to have Nick Leede join us for the weekend as driver. He recently purchased the Farr 39 Tachyon and was unable to race his boat due to the crew limit. Rounding out our crew for the weekend was Dan Westra, and Galen Collins. This was the first time this particular crew had raced together on Valkyrie and the chemistry was great. Valkyrie raced in Class One on the north circle. Other Class One racers were the XP 44 Maverick, Aerodyne 43 Freja, and the Farr 30 Nefarious. With a 36-second class rating band, there was lots of fun and competitive racing. On Valkyrie, we recognized that, with two larger boats on the start line, we needed to have clear air starts at hull speed. Going into race one we noticed in the pre-start the breeze had a lot of east in it. Being able to sail quite high on port tack, we made an early decision to start on port tack at the pin. The start gun fired and we blasted off the line on port, our competition was all at the boat end. Nefarious closed the door on Freja and Maverick causing them to tack around outside of the start line. We led the whole race and collected line honors — a satisfying start to the weekend. Race two got off to a similar start with Nefarious joining us at the pin end this time. A little jockeying with Nefarious made for a sporty start, but we were both able to get a clean start on port tack again. Maverick and Freja were at the other end of the line and played chase to the smaller, port-tack starters for the rest
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NOVEMBER 2020
