Member News
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General Meeting
August 12, 2026 6:00 PM
The Muse Whiskey Bar & Coffee Shop
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- 6:00pm
Social Hour
- 7:00pm
Speaker and Food
Please Bring Your Appetizers To Share
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August Member Meeting & Speaker Series Glenn Birkvold, SV Yum Yum
If you have been around MSA for any amount of time, chances are you know Glenn Birkvold from SV Yum Yum. This August 12th, Glenn takes center stage as our featured speaker and trust us. You do not want to miss this one.
Glenn and Barbara are taking us along on their voyage to Palmyra Atoll, one of the most remote and pristine places on the planet. Sitting at 5.87 North, 162.08 West in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Palmyra Atoll is a National Wildlife Refuge and one of the last untouched coral reef ecosystems in the world. It is the kind of destination most sailors only dream about, and Glenn and Barbara actually went there.
Come hear the story, see the destination, and maybe, just maybe, let it light a fire under your own sailing ambitions.
Social Hour kicks off at 6:00pm with the presentation beginning at 7:00pm. See you there.
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Dues Dues Dues... If you still need to pay your dues you can come to the meeting and pay with Cash, Check or Card. Check in with the Treasurer Paulette. |
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MUSIC AT THE MARINA Port of Everett
Today Thursday, August 6th
Stop by the MSA Booth at South Dock!
Come say hi and check out what we've got going on. We'll have freebies for everyone who stops by, raffle tickets for a chance to win some sweet merchandise.
We can't wait to see you there!
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UPCOMING EVENTS FOR August
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MSA’s Log Dodge races have been at least 165 years in the making. True story! In 1861, the first permanent American settler arrived in what is now North Everett and settled on a 160-acre homestead. Loggers followed over the next several years. A logging camp was set up on the Snohomish River and the town’s first sawmill was built in 1863. Though Everett began with a variety of industries, the lumber and shingle mills soon dominated the waterfront, and Everett became a premier mill town, known as the City of Smokestacks. Our sailing club now carries the Milltown name. The Log Dodge series is a nod to the logging industry. Floating raw timber down the Snohomish River was the most efficient way to transport logs to the mills located at the river’s end and along the edge of Port Gardner Bay. We have far fewer logs to dodge these days and the mills are long gone. The founding members of MSA must have found value in referencing the humble beginnings of the city in which the club is located. I think that’s pretty neat.
Fair winds,
Stacey Lauer, SV Sérénité |
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Did you know the Sound is full of racing!! Check out Seattle Area Racing Calander to get all the racing. |
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Whidbey Summer Classic Regatta
The 2026 Whidbey Summer Classic Regatta at Penn Cove on Whidbey Island was three days of competitive racing hosted by Oak Harbor Yacht Club. One of our own was in the mix, Parthian Shot, the J/29, competed in PHRF 1 alongside some fast company including the J/105 Panic and J/111 Flash.
The regatta threw everything at the fleet, sporty winds on day one, a rare easterly and the event's first ever mid-distance race on day two, and perfect Penn Cove conditions on day three. In PHRF 1, the podium went to Panic in first, Melges 24 Still Hitched in second, and Farr 30 Nefarious in third.
Full results at www.whidbeyclassic.com and the full race report is up at 48north.com.
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The 1st half of the Salish circuit is done now. At this point in the series MSA is well represented with 12 of 18 boats in the running. The top 2 spots belong to Gecko and Parthian Shot. Take a look at the standings (link added to the Salish Circuit page) you will see stars next to 7 boats; these have raced in both events to date. In order to be in the running to be circuit champion you need to compete in a minimum of 2 events. There is still time to be counted. The next race the Northern Century out of Anacortes over the Labor Day weekend followed by Foul Weather Bluff in October. |
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Log Dodge Races — Only 3 Left!
Log Dodge is racing at its best: fun first, competition second. Awards are based on corrected time and participation, with participation counting big, so every crew's got a shot. Just make sure you stick around for the social after to collect it. That's also where we skip the formal protests and instead swap stories about what didn't go quite to plan. Good-natured lessons in becoming better, safer sailors.
Need crew? Summer series is the perfect time to bring someone new aboard and show them how fun racing can be. Don't leave the dock short-handed. 11 people are on the crew list and looking for a ride. Including some on our Facebook public page. Reach out and see if they're a good fit! |
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Cruise To Poulsbo August 14th-16th
The name is a mail mix-up. The town almost had a totally different name. Early settler Iver Brynildsen Moe petitioned for a post office and suggested naming the town "Paulsbo" after his hometown in Halden, Norway. But officials in Washington, D.C. misspelled it, likely misreading his handwriting. "Poulsbo" stuck, and it's the only Poulsbo in the world.
Your hosts will be Liz Rutherford SV Caskadia and Pepper Wooters La Calavera
Look forward to Scandinavian Treats, Boat Bingo, Jenga Tournament and some Sweet Swag Prizes. |
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Did you know MSA Won First Place!!!
Best Summer Sailstice RAFT UP goes to …
MSA Takes the Crown. Best Summer Sailstice Raft Up in the World
That's right. The world.
Summer Sailstice has officially awarded Milltown Sailing Association of Everett, WA First Place for Best Summer Sailstice Raft Up, and the credit goes to Leanna and Carl who organized the whole beautiful chaos. Eighteen boats rafted up, a floating mimosa bar kept the fleet in good spirits, blindfold dinghy races had crews steering on faith while chasing rubber duckies with a butterfly net, and the day closed out with the ceremonial burning of the Wicker Duck.
To Leanna, Carl, and every boat that showed up, you didn't just throw a raft up. You threw the best one on the planet.
Well done, MSA. Well done. |
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Question:
Boats PA and PB, two port-tack boats, are approaching a leeward mark to be left to port. When approximately one length from the zone, PA hails, “No over- lap...no Room!” PB responds, “We’re not there yet!” After both boats are in the zone, PB hails, “I got the overlap before you reached the zone... Room!” PA responds, “No, you didn’t...no Room!” PA did not give PB room to round the mark. PB protested PA.
You are on the protest committee; how would you decide this?
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June's Answer
Disallow A’s protest. When A reached the zone, the rights and obligations in rule 18.2(a), Giving Mark-Room, depend on whether the boats are “overlapped” at that time. The definition Clear Astern and Clear Ahead; Overlap states: “One boat is clear astern of another when her hull and equipment in normal position are behind a line abeam from the aftermost point of the other boat’s hull and equipment in normal position. The other boat is clear ahead. They overlap when neither is clear astern. However, they also overlap when a boat between them overlaps both.”
Because C was overlapped with B, and B was overlapped with A when A reached the zone, by definition, C was “overlapped” with A. Therefore, A was required to give both B and C mark-room under rule 18.2(a)(1), which she did.
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POINT OF SAIL GROUP DISCUSSION
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Race Week Bellingham: A Pacific Northwest Institution at a Crossroads
Since 1983, what began as Whidbey Island Race Week has been one of the Pacific Northwest's most beloved sailing events, earning the nickname "adult summer camp" for its combination of serious racing and legendary parties ashore. This year, Race Week Bellingham took place July 20 through 24 on Bellingham Bay, now in its second year at the new venue after decades on Whidbey Island and a stint in Anacortes.
But there is a bigger story behind the racing. Schelleen Rathkopf, the event's longtime race producer who has been at the helm for 25 years, recently announced that 2026 will be her last Race Week. And her candid words are worth paying attention to.
Like many racing events and yacht clubs, Race Week has seen a steady decline in participation over the past five years. Longtime competitors are aging out of the sport, there hasn't been an influx of young competitors who can afford the big boat and all that maintaining one requires, and skippers are having trouble finding crew willing to commit to a full week off in the summer when vacation time is limited and families aren't sailors.
The move to Bellingham in 2025 was partly an attempt to draw more fleets from Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. But that coincided with political tensions that led Canadian sailors to boycott travel to the US altogether, and that trend has continued into 2026.
Rathkopf's hope is that someone steps up and takes the torch, perhaps with fresh ideas, including possibly shortening the event to a three-day weekend format to lower the barrier to participation.
This hits close to home. The challenges Race Week is facing are the same ones our own community thinks about. How do we grow the next generation of sailors, how do we keep racing accessible, and how do we make sure the sport we love is still thriving in ten years?
So here is the question for the group, what do you think it takes to keep events like Race Week alive? And what can MSA do to be part of the solution?
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Because some moments remind us what this club is really about.
There are clubs where people come to sail. And then there is Milltown Sailing Association, where people come to belong.
On June 27th, that belonging showed up in the most profound and tender way. Members gathered on the water in Port Gardner Bay to sail alongside Pam Dittrich as she said her final goodbye to her husband and our beloved Skipper, Mark Dittrich.
Mark lost his battle with cancer on June 5th. He loved Possession Sound more than almost anything, and he wanted it to be his final resting place. So that is exactly where his MSA family took him.
Boats rafted up near Hat Island under a summer sky... not because anyone had to, but because that is what this community does. Members sailed out, dropped flowers on the water, waved from their bows, and stood together in the quiet grace of farewell. At 2:00 PM, Mark's ashes were scattered where he had always felt most at home.
The photo above is Pam, aboard Cielo Sin Fin, saying goodbye; flowers drifting across the water, friends surrounding her, the Sound stretching out ahead.
She wrote to us afterward: "Thank you for all the kind thoughts and memories you've shared with me over the last week. It warms my heart."
This month, our Member Spotlight doesn't belong to one person. It belongs to every single member who showed up: on the water, with a flower, with a wave, with a kind word, with their presence. You are the reason this club is something truly special.
Mark gave so much to MSA. On June 27th, MSA gave it all back.
A Celebration of Life will be held for Mark in August; date to be determined. We hope to see the whole fleet there.
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As the Tide Turns,
New Members Wash Ashore
Meet a New Member Brian M.
In his own words:
I found MSA early this year while planning my move to Everett from Southeast Texas. I work on ocean-going tugboats, six weeks on and six weeks off, so my home life moves at half speed.
I needed to find a sailing community. I was leaving my Endeavour 37 behind in Texas and wanted to build a friend network, learn the waters of the Sound, and pick up some local knowledge. I also wanted to avoid the costs and drama of a traditional yacht club. I believe I found you all on Google when I searched "sailing Everett."
In February I emailed the club looking to crew for the March races. I was quickly connected with a skipper who, sadly, had to drop out the day of the race. Within 30 minutes, Pepper had connected me with other boats and I was able to jump on board. Since then I have sailed on three different boats and attended two meetings. Everyone I have met has been friendly, welcoming, and helpful as I have asked questions about the club and sailing in the area.
One of my sons likes to join for races. The other two are more or less indifferent now that I no longer have my own boat, but we are working on that.
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Shout Outs & Recognition
Do you know someone who deserves a little recognition? Someone who went the extra tack to help out, stepped up when it mattered, or simply made someone's day on the water a little better? We want to hear about it.
Email us at information@milltownsailing.org to nominate someone for Featured Member of the Month, or just to give a shout out to someone who deserves credit where credit is due. No gesture is too small, if it meant something to you, it means something to us.
Let's make sure the people who show
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Previous Months
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