5o5s and Schooners kick off the 2010 Shipwright's Regatta
38 boats registered for the 19th Annual Wooden Boat Foundations Shipwrights Regatta, and even more showed up on the race course. It was a glorious February day with May weather: sunshine and enough warmth to get by with only 2 layers of clothing. AND there was wind. Not too much and not so little that you couldn’t get around the race course.
The day started with Sunrise coffee at the Skippers Meeting followed by a last minute rush to sign up for the race. Four classes were delineated: Racers (A class), Cruisers (B Class), small boats (C class), and the 505 fleet of 5. The race got underway by noon, after a short delay to let the wind settle on a direction.
Two committee boats formed the start line: Comet and Azure. Two other boats, the Martha J, captained by Don D’Allesandro, and a runabout operated by Eric, set marks and provided a safety net for the smaller boats. The A class went around the large triangle course twice, the B Fleet time was taken for once around when it became apparent that many would not complete the twice -around course in the time allotted.
The C fleet had a shortened course, and the 505’s were tight enough to make up their own course on the fly. No major mishaps or breakdowns were reported, and everyone politely gave way to the tug towing a large log boom that sliced down the middle of the course.
Here are the results from this years regatta:
1st A class to finish: Pegasus
1st B class to finish: Keith Holen on Lasinda
1st C class to finish: Exploration 18, Dwight Nicholson
1st Gaffer to finish: Ronald Schmidt on Truant
1st female skipper to finish: Lisa Vizzini on The Wizard
1st wooden boat to finish: James Daubenberger on Swift
1st 505 to finish: Piper Dunlap and Dan Ginther on Dew Flicker
1st dog to finish: Ruby on Singawing
The traditional and perpetual awards for this years Shipwrights Regatta went to the following:
Van Hope Award for the most youth on board: split between Matt Mortesen on Singawing and Keith Holen on Lasinda
The Hook for the last boat to finish: Matt McCleary on Ceridwen
Pegleg-first boat to finish: Dan Newland on Pegasus
Wack-o-Matic for mis-spent energy: Chris Grace on Lotus (who sat becalmed 3 feet from the finish line long enough for Sumatra, the OTHER Concordia yawl, to make up a mile and scoot past to finish ahead.)
Golden Trident for the saltiest: John Stone on Cutty Sark
We could not have done it without the hard work of the Race Committee and Race Committee directors Myron and Dave, or the support of the generous Port Townsend businesses who gave so many prizes in a not-so-great economic year. A special thanks to the Port of Port Townsend and to Sea Marine, who both gave free haulouts!