noting that the Bruce Kirby quarter-ton design from the early 1970s has held up well and continues to provide excellent racing and cruising capabilities. “This is just a fun fleet with good sailors having a great time. And you can find good boats for sale well under $5,000 – a great bargain. ” The Oak Harbor Yacht Club and
the growing local Oak Harbor San Juan 24 Fleet hosted the event, the first SJ 24 North Americans held in Oak Harbor. The morning started well for local
Tight downwind sailing. Photo by Ken Johnson. San Juan 24 North Americans Sixteen venerable San Juan 24s
from all over Puget Sound met in Oak Harbor, on June 11-12, to participate in the 2011 SJ 24 North Americans. Add together great hospitality, challenging wind conditions, strong currents, a fine race committee, numerous crab pots and
beautiful scenery with one-design racing in old boats and the result is all the best there is in sailing. “It is great fun when all the boats
are the same speed, even if slow,” said Ken Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer of the SJ 24 North American Class Association,
L-R: “Return's” David Fukahara, Gary Reifel, Mark Bradner and David Valentine show off their shotgun shells for their four bullets. Photo by Ken Johnson.
boat Skamokawa, skippered by Mitch Rinella with two impressive wins in the first two races by significant margins. Mark Bradner’s Return, from Seattle, took a 2nd in the first race and 5th in the second. Meanwhile defending SJ 24 North American Champion, Gil Lund's Snappy Tom, had a 5th and 2nd, both boats matching Shannon Buy’s Magic Juan from Oak Harbor with a 4th and 3rd to tie for second place after the first two races. For the rest of Saturday, the wind
lightened to about 6-8 knots by the fourth race and then rebuilt to about 10 knots, and seemed to flow best down the middle of the course, with a good starboard tack lift the last 200 yards before the windward mark. The deep dive to the north immediately after the start became less a desired tactic as the day went on. The racing quickly turned into a two-boat regatta, with Return easily winning the remaining three races by wide margins with impressive upwind speed and Skamokawa putting together two seconds and a third, also by wide margins. A fine dinner was hosted by the
Oak Harbor Yacht Club Saturday night, two computers projected photographs from the day’s racing and the Race Committee commentating on the day’s results and handing out the shot gun shells for each race’s winning boat. Highlights of the day included a brave “cross-the-entire-fleet-on-port tack” by Chris Phoenix’s Sweet Jesus, passing several boats by less than a foot or two, and a tangle at the pin-end of a gate rounding when Bellingham’s Merlin barged in where other boats feared to tread. Sunday promised match racing
between Return and Skamokawa, for the Championship, but the wind failed to show! Penn Cove’s usual westerly died
48° NORTH, AUGUST 2011 PAGE 58
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