PTSA Summer Catspaw Series Kicks Off Friday the 12th

PTSA’s Summer Catspaw Series starts Friday, June 12th. Photo by Craig Wester
PTSA’s Summer Catspaw Series starts Friday, June 12th. Photo by Craig Wester
The sun sets on the 2014 PTSA sailing season. Image lifted from the http://bethandcodylivethedream.blogspot.com/ site.
Hope you had your share of Port Townsend Sailing Association fun on the water in 2014. Only a couple of months until the Shipwrights starts up the 2015 season, and don’t forget the year end awards party and dinner on Thursday, November 13th.
Please note, PTSA has a new mailing address:
Port Townsend Sailing Association
1240 W. Sims Way # 284
Port Townsend, WA 98368
One our Bay’s quickest and loveliest boats, Steve Scharf’s SIROCCO.
by Larry Fisher
It’s often said that all boats are for sale, yet it was hard to believe the rumors we started to hear a few months ago. Could it possibly be true that Steve Scharf was preparing to part with Sirocco? For even in a town blessed with more than its share of special boats, Sirocco was a standout: beautiful, fast, meticulously maintained, and possessed of an esprit de corps that the rest of the fleet could only envy.
But after 10 years Steve has sold Sirocco to a wooden boat enthusiast in the south of France, where she will grace the vintage racing scene out of Marseilles. A fairy tale ending to a local love story? Well, sort of, Steve explains.
“I got his email out of the blue,” Steve says. “I was thinking about selling, but I wanted to do the first PTSA series, the Classic Mariners Regatta. But he wants the boat now.”
Steve says he was motivated to sell partly by the high cost of keeping Sirocco in top shape–like any high maintenance love she demands a lot of attention. But he also cited the changing shape of the Port Townsend fleet, which no longer features vintage racing boats of similar length and performance to Sirocco. “This is no longer a real wooden boat racing town,” he says. “Sirocco has no one to play with.”
It won’t be a party without you because they won’t be there.
Dave Burrows and our hard working race committee have released the 2014 season race documents. As always there are a number of changes and clarifications. Now’s the time to take a look.
Among other changes the following was added for Weather Cancellations –
“WEATHER CANCELLATION
If the NOAA forecast contains Gale Warnings for Admiralty Inlet covering race time that race is automatically cancelled. Small Craft Warnings will be considered on a case by case basis. If the race is cancelled an “A” flag will be displayed on the picnic table in front of the Yard Office at the Boat Haven.”
Updated 2014 Sailing Instructions (PDF)
Don Haviland, July 14, 1948 – January 7, 2014
We lost Don Haviland in January, after a two year battle with cancer. Don was an active member of our sailing community over the past decade, racing, cruising, working for PTSA and the Moorage Tenant’s Union. It was common to see Don and wife Karen Lee out in the bay on their Rhodes-designed sloop, CUBANA.
Don was treasurer of the original PTSA board and contributed a lot to its formation and function. He took the job very seriously and kept us “in the black” and up to date. He helped with the other records, the race courses and buoy placement as well. He loved wooden boats and wanted to see more of them on the bay.
Sailing since he was a child, Don raced his Blanchard out of Leschi on Lake Washington in the 80’s and 90’s and participated in several Swiftsure races – skippering his own boat or crewing for others. His stewardship and restoration of CUBANA underlined his care and concern for the continuing well-being of the wooden boats he loved.
A professional skier as well as avid sailor, he often said that a perfect day means skiing in the morning and sailing through the afternoon. A mid-summer gathering of family and friends will celebrate his life and legacy.
The family asks that memorial donations be sent to the PT High School sailing team. You can send a check to the Maritime Center and enter PTHSST in the memo field. Maritime Center address is 431 Water St, Port Townsend, WA 98368.
We will miss seeing you out there, Don!
Just a heads up regarding the Dog Days Races, they are run “Barcott” style, no scores kept.
We have no race committee for these races so whoever has a horn onboard gets to start the race.
The next series, the Fall NiteCap, will have race committee with scores kept and posted, etc.
Enjoy our beautiful bay…
Satch