Shipwrights Regatta 2022

The Directional Helmet goes to Tiny Dancer. Music, laughter, a trumpet, and a trailing rum bottle seemed to take precedence over sailing “a proper course”. Flying the flag of Camaroon, they took third to last place overall by a nose over Tarani.

The Golden Trident for the saltiest boat or crew goes to Opus. This black hulled, gaff rigged beauty with tanbark sails stood out as the essence of salty.

The Hook is given to Nais, a black hulled folk boat. Indeed, if they’d had it for this race the may have been able hook on to Tiny Dancer or Tarani to fight it out at the end, but alas they were far enough behind that the race committee finished them at the last turning mark. Well done Nais for sticking it out and winning the prestigious Hook award.

Wack-o-Matic for the best use of misspend energy goes to Surge. Registered for the racing class they started with cruising class B and would have finished somewhere down in the standings in that class, but the race committee decided to just call it a late start and gave them 4th in the racing class. They were also spotted mis-spending energy avoiding other boats in questionable rounding of the windward mark on the first lap.

The Wire Cruising boat trophy goes to the first boat in the cruising class, and that was Amelie. Due to a lapse in memory the presenter forgot to give it out at the awards party! Sorry Amelie, your victory in the cruising class was well deserved, congratulations.

The Peg Leg is given to the first place boat, and that was Sir Isaac. Skipper John Bailey, however, said that the victory would not have been possible without the help of the able crew of Pacific Swift (the big schooner from Victoria, currently on the hard in PT). So the peg leg goes to those five souls with the hope that they will be back next year and one of them will wear the peg leg. Sir Isaac will also get its name engraved on the Perpetual Trophy (again).

The Van Hope Community Spirt Award goes to Salish Rescue (salishrescue.org). This organization is dedicated to helping improve on-the-water safety in the Puget Sound region.  Since 2004, Salish Rescue has offered hands-on, on-the-water search and rescue skills training for both youth and adults. They provided a speedy orange RIB (named Red Duck), with skipper Tess at the helm, to help with the race and to keep an eye out for any boats that might need help. Community spirit indeed.

A last minute addition to the awards lineup the was The Wet Butt Award. It was given out in the past, but had been forgotten over time. It was resurrected for this race and awarded to the two PT11’s: Li’l B, and Creirwy. This might also be called the “Bail for your life” award as the crews of these two eleven foot dinghies were seen doing in challenging conditions. You can also be assured that their butts were wet.

Shipwrights Regatta Report by Josh Wheeler