Racing Sheet

BY DOUG HANSEN

Keeping the Corinthian Spirit Alive

There is no getting away from the plain fact that the 2020 sailboat racing season has been like none other before. After a slow start, the ingenuity and flexibility of the sailing community has shone through in flying colors. All throughout the Salish Sea, sailing clubs are working with their members to sort out the best way to continue to enjoy our amazing sport. Everything from socially distant cruising rallies to shorthanded distance racing right up to crew limitation short course to weeknight series are keeping sailboat racing alive. Corinthian Yacht Club of Tacoma took on weekend racing with the Vashon Challenge hosted on August 22. Held every year since 2004, the race has become a homegrown favorite for the South Sound as a double-and single-handed race consisting of a lap of Vashon Island. The race has an ambitious time limit of ten hours, but all the same, eight boats came out on the water to try their hand at the mid-summer race. The light air affair made it a tough go, but nearly the whole fleet ghosted their way through the waters and had a fantastic day on the water with smiles all around. The Antrim 27 Goes To 11 took home the win in the double-handed division, while the Olson 30 Special Purpose took the single-handed and overall corrected time win for the day. Sloop Tavern Yacht Club is keeping the flame lit by hosting the final series of their now legendary Ballard Cup Monday night racing and welcoming all comers. Crew limited to five sailors keeps things distant but competitive with over 70 boats taking to the water each week. If it weren’t for the short-handed crews, abundance of masks, and lack of rowdy bar flies after racing you would never guess it was any other summer. As the spray from the last series of races settled, hometown hero and one of the masterminds behind Ballard Sails, Alex Simanis, and his crew on Poke and Destroy took home the series overall win. Looking to what the future might hold these days is a bit like trying to pick a lottery number. But without plans, then nothing would happen, and things are forging forward into the fall. Normally one of the busier times of year for racers, this year looks to be right on track, albeit with a few modern caveats. Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle is slated to host the annual Puget Sound Sailing Championship, known simply as PSSC on October 10th and 11th. The event is to adhere to the club’s new crew limitations where boats under thirty feet are limited to three crew, under forty feet to four crew, and over forty feet are to sail with five crew. This year’s event is truncated somewhat, CYC is inviting all fleets to come out for only one weekend of racing rather than the traditional split with big and small boat weekends along with cancellation of shoreside activities. This is a great time to get out on the water on smaller boats and expect to see a large dinghy contingent and well-represented J/105 and J/80 fleets take to the water. On somewhat of a literal housekeeping note, the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle’s clubhouse is currently out of the water undergoing its 25-year service along with some aesthetic touchups to bring us into the next decade. The club is weathering the viral storm extremely well with reduced junior sailing classes, along with limited crew weeknight racing. Membership in the club has increased over the past months and with some very disaster-proof plans being laid down, things are looking bright for what continues to be the cornerstone of Northwest racing. Corinthian Yacht Club of Edmonds is pushing forward with their one-day event of Foulweather Bluff, welcoming larger boats to a rip around the North Sound on October 3rd. The traditional course takes the fleet from Edmonds to Foulweather Bluff with options to shorten the course as wind and tide allows. This is slated to be one of the first races in the Seattle area for several of the larger racing boats, and excitement is building as there has been limited safe opportunities for these boats to sail together over the summer. The Corinthian Spirit is alive and well, and the club is making the right moves it needs to in order to adapt and overcome the new obstacles and challenges. This past summer showed the resilience of sailing—both as a sport and as a community.