September, 2018
I hope you have all had a chance to get out and do some cruising and racing this summer! The weather has been fantastic, except perhaps for a lot of smoke from BC wildfires.
Lori and I have purchased a new boat, a PDQ 36 catamaran, which we brought up from Florida last winter. We have been fixing her up for northwest cruising all spring. Last month we tried her out with a cruise in the San Juans for a couple of weeks. She is a great cruising boat, even if she is not the fastest racing machine on the planet.
| Our PDQ 36 “on the hard” at La Conner for some engine work, fiberglass repair, blister removal/barrier coat and bottom paint. With new sails and a few other modifications, she is now ready to go cruising.
Next will be a new name and decals! |
Ok, now back to racing: It has been nearly six months since our club has sponsored a race, and this coming Saturday the will be our first one of the fall. The 2018 TransPuget Benefit Race will be held this Saturday, September 15. Although I have not seen the list of participants yet, I am hoping we can do better than last year, when only 13 boats made it out, and only two of those were from Shilshole Bay. Details and entry forms are on the website:
http://shilsholebayyachtclub.org/racing/transpuget-benefit/
Remember – I need to know if you plan to participate so I can set the class breaks. That means I need to know by this coming Wednesday at the absolute latest!
Again this year, all proceeds from the race will be donated to the Footloose Sailing Association. Last year we donated over $1000 to their cause, and I hope we can continue to support this fine charity that helps get disabled folks out sailing on the water.
We have had great support from our local boatyards and chandleries, and will have haul-outs and other fine gifts to raffle off at the after race gathering. We still do not have a regular meeting place, so we will meet at Ray’s Boathouse (upstairs in the bar area) for award presentations and the gift raffle. I hope to again have at least one haul-out per class, as well as many other gifts for second and third place finishers.
This year our regular committee boat, “Olele,” is again going to come out and be our committee boat. As of this writing I have myself and two others volunteering for the race committee. If you are interested in joining us, please contact me as soon as possible. Maximum capacity is about 12 people, so there is room for a few more. Let me know if you would like to join us. (jenanm@aol.com)
After that, our regular racing monthly Snowbird series will begin on November 17 and then December 8. Next year’s remaining three Snowbirds will be determined after the SARC meetings in November.
So that is about it for the moment. Next report will include the results of the TransPuget, and hopefully some nice pictures.
Tom Madden
SBYC Race Chair