Shipwrights Regatta 2021

Over 50 boats crossed the start line in the 30th Shipwrights Regatta! On a beautiful day with good wind, it was a blast.

The drawing has been held and the haul-out winners are:

For the haul and hang from Sea Marine: Hakoom

For the haul out from the Port of Port Townsend: Flapdoodle

Many thanks to the POPT and Sea Marine for supporting this event!

Comments From the Race Committee

Having spent the week observing how accurate weather forecasts have become, we were ready to cope with light unsettled winds around Noon on Saturday.  A growing concern was the unexpected flood of registrations. Finally, at 59 boats it was more than double the average participation of past Shipwright’s Regattas. 

At the Skippers meeting, held in the Boat Haven parking lot, socially distanced and masked, it was announced that the Cruising Class would be split into two classes, 30 ft. and above (21 boats) and under 30 ft (20 boats).

After leaving the breakwater the Race Committee found the forecast to be correct. The wind was <2 to 3 Kts from NE through SW. It is traditional for the Committee Boat to anchor off the NWMC as Shipwrights’ is a WBF founded event. However, the water at that end of the bay was glassy so it became indecision time. Finally the hook was dropped about a mile SE of the  Boat Haven breakwater. The wind died some more, the postponement flag went up at noon.

It turned out to beneficial to have this extra time to check in so many boats.

After about 10 minutes under the postponement flag, a breeze quickly built to 3 knots but still hadn’t settled on a steady direction. In a bid to doing something, the Mark Boat set up the course. The Wing Mark was set first with the wind about 60 degM. The leeward mark set with the wind at about 80 deg and the Wndward Mark, the most important, was set with the wind about 70 deg. Great care was used to make the Start line square to the, then, wind from 75deg.M. When the course was complete the wind was growing to 5 kts

The RACING start was uneventful .There was a postponement during the Thunderbird start due to an incident on the CB involving horns and flags. Also at this point the wind veered to 90+ degM and continued to increase to 7 kts (it would reach 11 kts by the end of the race). The Start line should have been re-squared but who knew that, given its earlier wandering, the wind would stay in that direction for the rest of the race?

The Thunderbirds got a clean start. CRUISING-B had one boat OCS that did not respond to the recall. Fortunately for them, in the crush of boats, they were not identified. The CRUISING – C start was uneventful.

The RACING and Thunderbird classes, on their second lap passed safely through the CRUISING Fleets on their way to the Windward Mark.

As boat were finishing the Race Committee’s most consequential error, forgetting to shorten the finish line, became apparent. Most boats finished at the pin end of the line and even with binoculars it was difficult to read names. The boats crossed in clusters and the Committee had trouble identifying and recording every boat.

All the confusion was worked out in the end to conclude a great Shipwright’s and initiate the 2021 season.