Lido 14 District 6 Championship Regatta

August 4^th & 5th, 2007

Hosted by Fleet 78 ~ Anacortes Washington

Fleet 78 hosted the Northwest District 6 Lido 14 Championships for the second year in a row.  The venue was Fidalgo Bay, just to the east of Anacortes, Washington’s Cap Sante Marina.  The bay has the advantages of a big expanse of water not heavily affected by the currents which are a major factor in boating in the San Juan Islands.  The Anacortes Yacht Club again assisted Fleet 78 by providing its clubhouse, the race committee from Warren Walz’s comfortable power boat Echo II  and the Club’s mark boat.  Commodore Vic Childs, an admitted video geek, filmed the races.

The two day Districts  dawned on Saturday with a dubious marine layer which snuck in during the previous evening westerly.  Typical of this August time frame, the sun had burned through by 11:00 am clearing the sky for Mt. Baker to pose majestically east of  Fidalgo Bay’s blue waters.  The first race was started in what appeared to be a settled northwesterly of about 6 knots but not long after the 2:00 p.m. start the wind suddenly shifted 90 degrees to the north.  The AYC race committee rightly abandoned this race.  Fortunately, the wind shift proved temporary with the northwesterly settling in again at 5-6 knots with four races being run in the warm afternoon sunlight on rippled but flat water. 

Competition was excellent in the ten boat fleet with close action throughout.  Garrett Johns with his brother Ryan had a series of good starts, great up wind boat speed keeping the close competitors from Portland, Oregon, Ron and Nicole Runyan second.  Jim Sterner and daughter Carolyn were often threatening.   Steve and Ginger Orsini sailed consistently but did not manage a first on the day.  At the end of day one, Johns was leading with 7 points, Runyans were second with 8 and Orsinis third with 9.  Sterners were in fourth.

Day two’s racing began at 11:00 hours with the northwesterly dialed in at a steady 8 knots under a deep blue sky and yes- sunlight.  The race committee set a twice around course with the goal of longer races yet wrapping up the regatta in good time to get the long drive road warriors on their way early before the hordes attending the Anacortes Arts and Crafts Festival left town.  The ten boat fleet was enhanced by one more boat guest skippered by Mega Byte Nationals winner Ted Houck from Oak Harbor.   He and son Corey sailed well and upped the competition and fun in the fleet. 

Again racing was close.  Chris and Andie Lofgren just had gotten their boat back on the water for this regatta after a long overhaul.  They moved up well in the fleet as did Peter and Jack Rasco who came in third in the first race evidencing good boat speed and solid tactics.  Matt and Maggie Nolan of Seattle had their second day’s results marred by a broken tiller.  (Fleet 78 is considering creating the perpetual Broken Wooden Tiller Award.)

Garrett and Ryan Johns appeared to be on a repeat of day one leading the pack on three of the four legs, but the Orsinis chose not to shadow Johns on the second downwind leg sticking with a rhumb line to the leeward mark.  Assisted by a westerly shift and good downwind performance, they rounded first. The final windward leg saw a fierce tacking duel with Orsinis just managing to cover and achieving a first place finish that had eluded them all Saturday. 

On the second race of the day, Fred Abelman and Carol Miner found a big westerly shift on the left corner and came charging down the port layline to win the first windward leg, followed by the Runyans and the Orsinis.  The Runyans and Orsinis had a fine downwind duel for the inside with Orsinis just rounding ahead but both were still behind Abelman with Lofgrens right in the mix at the rounding.  The big westerly shift did not return even though Abelman went hard left to find it.  Orsinis managed to get to the weather mark first on the second upwind leg and held off the fleet again with good downwind speed.  Johns forced into anything but follow-the-leader rounded the easterly end of the restricted start line which did not bring him back to the lead. When the smoke cleared on the second race Orsini’s found themselves in first for the second time, with Sterner in second, Johns in third, and Runyans in fourth. 

When the math was completed (with a throw-out), Orsinis had won the Districts with consistent marks on day one and the two firsts on day two accumulating 11 points.  Johns only one point off the pace with 12 captured second,  Runyans third, and Sterners fourth.  Peter Rasco and son Jack where a very respectable and trophy qualifying fifth- not bad for their first season racing Lido 14s. 

Even though coming in second on the water, the first place award for organization of the event goes to Garrett Johns and wife Tracy.   Garrett put in the organizational heavy lifting from NOR, to purchasing food, securing the excellent photo awards, and locating a now well-smoked cook for the infamous Torpedo grill.  At the end, he made sure the visitors got their boats out of the water expeditiously at the Cap Sante Marina’s public hoists which often can be congested with commercial fishing boats.  Although the brownies, with a chocolate density of a death star, were gone after dinner on Saturday night, enough apple pie and vanilla ice cream remained to sustain the crews through the awards ceremony and obligatory photo session.  For the second time, it was an award winning Districts for all.

Regatta Invitation & Documents

All members of the Lido 14 Class Association are invited to participate in the 2007 Lido 14 District 6 Championship Regatta this August 4^th and 5th (Saturday and Sunday) hosted by Fleet 78 in Anacortes Washington.  Yachts entered in the regatta will be expected to have a measurement certificate and all skippers, crew, and ballast will be weighed in at check-in.  The regatta will be held in Anacortes in the beautiful San Juan Islands. About 1 ½ hours north of Seattle, the venue has easy access to the club with several spectator vantage points as well as great views of the islands and Mt. Baker.

Please download and print the accompanying Notice of Race and Entry Form.

Lodging

Camping is available right at the marina in front the Anacortes Yacht Club building through the Port of Anacortes. NO reservations are needed for camping however a fee does apply. The area has grass area for tent camping as well as a gravel parking area for RV’s with no hookups. The camping area is near the marina restroom and showers.  Anacortes has several Hotel/Motels within a few blocks of the Marina. Reservations are recommended since the summer months tend to attract the tourist crowd to town. Visit www.anacortes-chamber.com/ for more information on hotels and motels.

 

Launch and mooring

Cap Sante Marina does NOT have a ramp for launching. There are, however, 2 hoists that we will be using. We will be assisting in the hoist launching of Lidos on Saturday prior to the Skippers meeting (see Schedule of Events in Notice of Race).  Please make sure your boat is set up to hoist launch.

 

Moorage will be provided for competitors or boats can be stored on trailers for those who wish to hoist their boats back out of the water Saturday evening.