It was a great day to be out racing, plenty of wind, cool temperatures, no rain. In all 19 boats competed 6 were from MSA; Sunday, Gambit, Samurai, Gecko, Parthian Shot and Rising Sun. There were 3 races 2 were in a triangle circuit windward then a reach with a downwind finish the final race was a simple windward leeward all starboard roundings. The race committee did a great job of moving the program along so that we finished the last race by 2:00 leaving time to meet up at the Salish Brewery for a beverage or 2 results and enough time to make our way back to Everett before dark.
The windward mark was set close to shore off of Sunset Ave where my wife Bernadette cheered us on and took this picture for the report. In division 1 (boats with rating 180 and above) Sunday took 2nd, Gambit 3rd and Samurai 5th. In division 2 Gecko took 3rd, Parthian 8th and Rising Sun 9th. In the final tally CYCE won the challenge with 2 1st, 1 2nd 2 4ths and a 5th place overall finishers.
Next year we will be hosting the event. It will be our chance to win the coveted flag back again. The results have been linked to our CYCE/MSA Challenge cup page. Some videos were made during the race with a drone. I will send out a link to the video's when I get it.
Parthian Shot is the 1st boat to complete the Possessing the Sound, MSA Challenge Course. Since he is the only one to do so this year, he is currently in 1st place for this course and 1st place for the series. There is time to get out there and complete the courses. I look forward to posting a lot more results soon.
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Mid Distance Race #3 Re-Cap
A near perfect sailing day. Sunshine and brisk winds. Race Committee was Rising Sun, led by Brad Lewis. Course was set IK for A&B fleet, I for C fleet. The wind at the start was a nice 8 -10 kts out of the NW. The race started as planned, at noon. A big start line with steady winds allowed for a clean start. The further we traveled toward Hat Island the flukier the wind got. Big gusts with even bigger shifts. Parthian Shot led the way into all the weird winds. We thought something was going wrong on Parthian as they made huge direction changes. Then we got to that wind ourselves and made the same crazy turns, we soon came to appreciate Parthian Shot showing us what was to come. The wind kept building, so much so, I decided to reef the main. It was a good call as the winds kept building, by the time we got to the K mark we had to really work the sails to keep the boat from getting knocked down even with the shortened sails. Once around K it was a downwind run back to B most stuck with white sails while Parthian Shot and Mei Li got their spinnakers flying. The wind settled down as we raced home. Everyone finished well within the time limit Congratulations to the winners; Parthian Shot in A Fleet, Mei-Li in B Fleet, and Yum Yum in C Fleet
Mid-Distance Race #4 REminder
This coming Saturday, May 3rd, is Race 4.
Skippers Meeting prior to the Race - Woods Coffee at 8:00 am.
Race starts at 10:00 am.
If you are looking to add crew, have a look at the Crew Management Page, it is filling up nicely.
See you all on Saturday!
Winter Series Re-Cap
Winter Series Race #5
The Winter Series for 2025 has concluded. The last race was a good one. Decent winds no rain. The RC (Dennis the younger and Ashley) did a nice job of picking a course starting perfectly on time. No one over early no fouls either.
The course for the race was AHB all to starboard. The ebb current went to max low at 12:30 there was plenty of current to make sure everyone got to A without any problems. From there the fleet split, half tacked N to the shallows of Tulalip while others stayed to the SW. It was fun meeting up on opposite tacks to measure which of us made the best choices on the way to H.
After rounding H it was up with Spinnakers for those who had them on the way down wind past B to the river entrance. A close reach up wind to the finish.
In A fleet Espresso was the 1st to finish and first in the race. In B fleet Mei Li took 1st place.
Overall results for the series after RC credit and throw outs Espresso took 1st overall and Jabez has 1st overall in B fleet.
Winter Series Race #4
Well, that was fun! Race 4 of our winter series had it all: wind current and boats headed off in all kinds of directions, all coming together at the H mark, and then a tacking dual home.
The RC had anticipated less than pleasant weather and chose a river start and finish. By the time the boats made their way to the start box, the rain had stopped. It stayed away for the duration of the race. The wind was gusty, generally SE, but was clocking Southerly. RC set 2 courses, GHYfor A fleet and HYfor B&C Fleets, with one start.
We started nicely at 12:00, with no one over early and no protest flags (even though there should have been). It was a nice reach down the river no tack needed and current pushing us along. We all made reached off out of the river with A fleet and some of B fleet going to G.
The B fleet boats that went directly to H met up with A fleet we all tried to make the mark rounding at the same time. My crew and I made that both a spectacle and a little more challenging. Our spinnaker take down did not go well but we were inside 3 of boat lengths a few boats had to give us room. I couldn't finish the turn with my spinnaker flying so I headed out for a bit to clean up the mess. I think most everyone was happy that I pushed Espresso out to make a really wide turn but in the end it didn't matter.
The wind eased a bit on the way home, the gusts were not as frequent but still plenty to get us all back to the finish. Espresso was 1st to finish and 1st in A Fleet, Jabez got 1st in B fleet correcting out over Mei Li and was lucky that Isola followed A fleet out to G mark.
Winter Series Race #3
Race 3 turned out to be a better sailing day than was forecasted. In all 7 stalwart crews set out pit themselves against whatever the weather was going to throw at them. It turned out to be a nice day for sailing, cold with nice 6 - 15kts of wind even a bit of sunshine.
Race committee prudently chose a river start and finish. The course was set as X close reach with the current and the same back against the current. A noon start was attempted but RC observed some chaos with boats being on the wrong side of the line fighting to get back to start. RC chose to raise the general recall flag make lots of horn noise and start again.
Once everyone was properly on the upriver side of the start line RC started the sequence again. This time everyone started as they should and the race was on. While Gecko and Espresso messed with each other on the way to X, Parthian took advantage and jumped from last to 1st with some fine tactical sailing. This is especially noteworthy since Steve was single handed.
The race was close for all 7 boats with less than 10 minutes of elapsed time between 1 and last boat to finish. Being the last to cross the line doesn't necessarily mean that you lost the race. On corrected time Samurai took 1st in B fleet and Espresso took line honors and 1st place in A fleet.
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Racing news
A near perfect sailing day. Sunshine and brisk winds. Race Committee was Rising Sun, led by Brad Lewis. Course was set IK for A&B fleet, I for C fleet. The wind at the start was a nice 8 -10 kts out of the NW. The race started as planned, at noon. A big start line with steady winds allowed for a clean start. The further we traveled toward Hat Island the flukier the wind got. Big gusts with even bigger shifts. Parthian Shot led the way into all the weird winds. We thought something was going wrong on Parthian as they made huge direction changes. Then we got to that wind ourselves and made the same crazy turns, we soon came to appreciate Parthian Shot showing us what was to come. The wind kept building, so much so, I decided to reef the main. It was a good call as the winds kept building, by the time we got to the K mark we had to really work the sails to keep the boat from getting knocked down even with the shortened sails.
Mid-Distance Race #4 REminder
