minutes. That adage pretty well sums up the conditions the 27 crews faced at the 2010 San Juan 21 North American Championships held on Canyon Ferry Lake near Helena, June 10-13. Boats from all over the western U.S., Canada, and Florida gathered at Kim’s Marina


A


s the saying goes, if you don’t like the weather in Montana, wait fi ve


Randle’s sideways spinnaker set earned a few grins from competitors, but in true sailing spirit they fl ew the lopsided chute all the way to the leeward mark. From the fi rst race in the spinnaker


fl eet, the top three boats showed their pace with defending champion Mark Vander Schalie’s Kermit, Christopher Lemke of Canada on Anitra III, and Bob


tapped, and the sailors were happy. That evening the hungry crews were treated to a catered dinner from Chili O’Briens and guitars by the fi re with musicians Alan Bock and Bill Pritchard. Day two greeted the fleet with


clearing skies but more variable winds. The multitude of shifts and holes kept racing tight and caused many lead changes in both fl eets. The races went down to the wire with many boats crossing the fi nish line overlapped with each other. By noon the winds began to die and racing ended. The early fi nish gave sailors the


SJ 21 North Americans Canyon Ferry Lake, Montana


Left to Right: Tom Kyle, Christopher Lemke, Mary McCollum, Bob Abelin, Oscar Barney and Marc Vander Schalie.


and Resort to see what kind of racing Montana had to offer. This was the fi rst time a major international regional regatta has been held on Canyon Ferry Lake and only the second time in 20 years that a San Juan event was held in Montana. Due to a large storm front moving


through the area, the practice race scheduled for Thursday afternoon never materialized. But the light rains didn’t dampen any spirits as most of the sailors chose to party in the rain all night rather than seeking shelter under the large events tent. Day one of racing started early with


an 8:00 a.m. skippers meeting and the fi rst start was scheduled for 9:30. Luckily the rain had stopped in the early morning hours and as the clouds began to break a dusting of fresh new snow was revealed on the mountains around the lake. Brisk 5-10kt winds from the northwest propelled the vintage sloops across the lake with considerable variability in pressure and wind direction around the course. Racing began in earnest but it


became clear that some sailors still needed some coffee. Sean and Jessica


48° NORTH, AUGUST 2010 PAGE 54


Abelin, on Blue Pearlk took the top spot. Alan Bock on Bullseye and the Randle’s on Osprey were also in the hunt. Cracklin Rosie surprised everyone by port-starting at the pin and crossing the fl eet. In the white sails fleet Oscar


Barney on Muskrat was dominating the competition followed by fellow Coos Bay sailor Tom Kyle and Wes Voughn and Marry McCollum from Washington. Veteran SJ 21 sailor Jim Lekander from Montana and SJ 21 Class National Commodore Jon Richards also showed good speed. The RC got off two more races in


the morning winds with the Blue Pearl taking two victories in the spinnaker fl eet and Muskrat in the white sails fl eet showing pace that would be hard to beat.


At lunch time the race committee


chose to take a break to let the sailors and committee boats return to the marina for a warm-up. After the short reprieve the boats were back on the water, but the wind gods had other ideas and the RC called off racing at 2:30 due to the unstable dying breeze. But the sun was threatening to shine, temperatures were moderating, the local microbrews were


Pl Yacht


All-Sails Fleet 1 Blue Pearl 2 Kermit


3 Anitra III 4 BullsEye


7 Toady Juan 8 Wooglin


9 Sierra Star 10 Ack! 11 Pivot


12 Gunghys Den 13 Golden Girl 14 Joyride


Working-Sails Fleet 1 Muskrat 2 Pilot Car


3 Yellow Jacket 4 Wizard


5 Belle-Fast


8 Wind Bender 9 No Excuse 10 Coir Jaot 11 Sea Otter


12 Magic Juand 13 Krysia Ry


chance to break down boats before the awards were presented by CFYC Commodore Lance Vickory. Regatta winners Bob Abelin and Oscar Barney were then treated to a well deserved and refreshing dunk into the chilly springtime water of Canyon Ferry. San Juan 21 Fleet Five and the


Canyon Ferry Yacht Club would like to thank all of the competitors and we hope that we can entice you all back to the Big Sky Country for more great racing.


– Bob Abelin Skipper Bob Abelin


Marc Vander Schalie Christopher Lemke Bock/Vickory


5 Cracklin Rosie Jonathan Emmons 6 Osprey


Sean & Jessica Randle Tom Mills


Chris Popich Bill Parsons


John T. Preston Randy Pawlowski Kirk Thorburn Rob Hamilton Darren Berdine


Oscar Barney Thomas Kyle


Mary McCollum Jim Lekander Jon Richards


6 High Plains Drifter Chad Fitzgerald 7 Piranha


Clay White Terry Abelin


Michael W. Dukes Timothy Lynch Robert Morton David Desch Bill Pritchard


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90