Race Recap

[bluepearl]

For anyone who missed it, here is the race recap. This was published in 48N last summer.

As the saying goes, if you don’t like the weather in Montana, wait five 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. Boats from all over the western U.S., Canada, and Florida gathered at Kim’s Marina and Resort to see what kind of racing Montana had to offer. This was the first 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 first 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 a 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 Randle’s sideways spinnaker set earned a few grins from competitors, but in true sailing spirit they flew the lopsided chute all the way to the leeward mark.

From the first race in the spinnaker fleet, the top three boats showed their pace with defending champion Mark Vander Schalie’s Kermit, Christopher Lemke of Canada on Anitra III, and Bob Abelin on the Blue Pearl taking the top three spots. 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 fleet. 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 fleet and Muskrat in the white sails fleet 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 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 fire 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 fleets. The races went down to the wire with many boats crossing the finish line overlapped with each other. By noon the winds began to die and racing was ended. The early finish gave sailors the 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