Dan and Piper keeping it flat upwind in Santa Cruz breeze. Photo by John Navas

Piper Dunlap reports in on the 5o5 North Americans in Santa Cruz

Port Townsend sailors, Sugar Flanagan, Sean Rankins, Spencer Snapp, Dan Ginther, and Piper Dunlap all made the pilgrimage to Santa Cruz, CA last weekend to compete in the 2014 505 Dinghy North American Championship Regatta. This was the first time that each of these sailors has competed at this level in the class, and they all came home tired, sore, a little humbled, but satisfied having raced against the best in the land in the classic challenging conditions that Santa Cruz is famous for – ocean swell and 10 to 30 knots of breeze.

Big breeze generally takes its toll though, and Santa Cruz was no exception. There was a lot of boat repair going on ashore. Sugar and Spencer sheared their beautiful spruce rudder off at the lower pintel while practicing in 25 plus before the regatta, but were able to affect repairs and procure a new foil from famed 505 builder, Larry Tuttle, in time for the first race. Dan and Piper had to retire from Race 5 because they broke their tiller extension during a high wind spinnaker gybe which quickly evolved into a capsize. Or was it a capsize that resulted in a broken extension? No one knows for sure!
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