Varied racing in tight fleets in a beautiful venue on Mother’s Day Weekend.
Windermere Regatta 2021 was held on Mother’s Day weekend for the first time ever. With a rebound in sailing regattas after a sparse 2020, the calendar is full of amazing events, and that was the last open weekend. The good news is that your mom wants you to have fun and be happy!
Twenty-five boats registered (and nearly that many showed up) for a great weekend of sailing. The racing cut out early enough on Sunday afternoon to still take mom to the Early Bird Dinner special. Charley Rathkopf ran the races with more volunteer offers than we could fit on the boats. We sailed in the typical Windermere location, northeast of Guemes Island. While all of Anacortes is scenic, this area is particularly beautiful. And it just so happens to be the new home of Race Week in late June.
Saturday started out looking great. With sunshine and a brisk southerly, it looked like we were in for an amazing day! Sadly, it didn’t take long for the breeze to clock around and fade into a whole lot of shifty nothing from every direction. In the end, the event on Saturday featured races that only a mother could love. Each division had close scores because it seemed that everyone had their turn getting hung out to dry, as well as their moment of glory or just plain luck. Saturday night out on the town was a great chance to catch up with friends in the local establishments, and an equal chance for the local establishments to remember how fun it is to be full of sailors. Behave as if your mother is watching!
Sunday morning started slow, with a chance for many boats to earn karma points by towing a cute J/70 to the starting area. Before too long, the breeze came in from the northwest and it stayed solid at 10 knots from the same direction all day. The sailing was athletic, at least on my boat with the big genoa at the top end. The trimmer’s biceps hurt like a mother by the end of the day! Truth be told, even the driver’s arms ached. We got in four solid races and our bodies were thankful for the early cut off time. We all enjoyed a beautiful run back to the marina — which on my Santa Cruz 27, Wild Rumpus, included flying the super terrific rainbow blooper.
Back at Anacortes Yacht Club, we gathered for awards on the lawn. Personalized boat buckets with sail ties and champagne on ice went to the winners, which was a majority of the racers.
In PHRF 1, eight boats came out to do battle. This was the chattiest fleet on the water, with much excitement at every start — the motherlode of starting mayhem! It must have been close competition because almost every boat threw out an 8th place finish in the results. The top spot in PHRF 1 for the weekend went to Vince Townrow on the J/105, Kinetic.
In the J/70 fleet, it may have been close on Saturday, but when the wind filled in it was William Loe’s Dime with a solid row of 1’s on the board for a well-deserved win. Seven of them came out to play, and it was great fun to watch them when we had a moment to look around.
PHRF 2 featured three longtime competitors, and on day one Avalon, UffDa and Rumpus finished in a three-way tie. By the end of Sunday, it was Greg and Barb Siewert’s S2 7.9 Avalon in first. Well sailed and well earned!
PHRF 3 featured the revenge of the 200+ rated boats. Dave Steckman came from Oak Harbor with his San Juan 24 Juan Solo to use his Jedi powers to defeat the wily Wind Warriors for the weekend. Included in the fleet was James Mahan, who successfully completed his first regatta EVER in his Jeanneau 349 Sea Glass. Congratulations James! Two boats raced double handed and enjoyed their own starts and courses. Knowing how exhausted I felt for at least a day after the regatta, I can only imagine what it was like — well done!
Call your mother! She’d love to hear about your weekend adventures.
The North Sound Party Circuit continues on. Join us for future events. This weekend, on May 22, Bellingham Yacht Club is hosting their Round Lummi Race, and June 19th will be Orcas Island Yacht Club’s Round Orcas Race, just before everyone returns to Anacortes for Race Week. Thank you to participants and volunteers! Together we are keeping sailing great.
