Whidbey Island Race Week News Thursday, July 13, 2017 Thursday, July 13, 2017 Whidbey Island Race Week

BRENDA VAN FOSSEN

M.D.

Above left, tending marks and setting lines under blue skies in 70+-degree weather

is all in a day’s work for the CYC race committee.. Be sure to tell ‘em thanks as you

pass by.

Above right, Bill and Cathy Walker’s pristine Ehu Kai sailed into Wednesday’s top spot

beneath Penn Cove’s Blowers Bluff. Hailing from Oak Harbor, the San Juan 24 not

only taps into local knowledge but double downs with an ace in the pocket,

sailing savant, Gary Stuntz.

Left, the Beneteau 25, Bodacious, grabbed gold, and a few more fans on Wednesday

thanks to her harmonious crew work and curvy eye-candy-licious lines.

Below, on the left, the students, on the right, the masters. In a delightful display of

generational Darwinism, the two Tahoe-based Melges 24s in the one-design Class 6,

prove that in the theater of life, it pays to teach one to fish rather than to toss them the

bones. At day’s end, however, Nikita’s hard-won experience schooled the kids on Blue

Dream. With two days left of racing, however, there are still plenty of lessons to ace,

Left, David Jackson’s

Point Roberts based

stalwart Dash 34,

MadDash, plucks crew

from both sides of the

border. A natural fit for

Pacific Northwest/Salish

Sea waters, the Dash

grabbed bronze for

her smart sailing in

Wednesday’s racing.

Right,, one of three

1D35s in Class 1,

Vancouver BC’s The

Shadow grabs the

spotlight with its mix of

fashion and finesse.

Above left, one of two Melges 32s in Class 1,

Darrin Towe’s Wicked Wahine secured the

silver in Wednesday’s racing. The big boat

class of 2017 is a spectator favorite with its

remarkably tight sailing.

Above right, standing top of the reader board

in the Melges 24 ckass, the Melges 24

Cool Beans proves consistency is a key

tactic when it comes to winning a multi-day,

multi-race regatta.

Left, one of three Olson 25s in Class 8,

Espresso, winner of Tuesday’s gold pickle

dish, bangs the beach in search of

Wednesday’s favorable eddys. Competing

against three J/24s and two San Juan 24s,

the Olsons factor in a 57-second handicap

spread and face fierce competition from

the tasty, and relentlessly consistent, SJ/24

Amuse Bouche,

Whidbey Island Race Week News Thursday, July 13, 2017 Thursday, July 13, 2017 Whidbey Island Race Week

WIRW NEWS 2017

WIRW News is sponsored by Cori Whitaker, Windermere Real Estate

www.CoriWhitakerHomes.com / 206.795.4361 / coriwhitaker@windermere.com

Volume 35, Issue 3

Above, the Albany, Oregon

based Olson 25 cruises past

the Coupeville dock on

a downwind run.

Left, when you see the Corvo

crew in the tent, buy ‘em a

drink. Please.

Whidbey Island

Race Week News

© 2017

Editorial:

Vicky MacFeidh,

Liza Tewell

Photography:

Jan Anderson

www.janpix.smugmug.com

Above left, Peter

Sauer’s Sabrosa,

aggregate winner of

Wednesday’s racing,

leads Class 3 down-

wind.

Above right, Brad

Butler’s crew sports

pink for Wednes-

day’s breast cancer

awareness. Yup,

they got first for

the day.

C an you feel it? Have you experienced that transcendent, middle-of-Race-Week feeling

where you remember that you’ve forgotten about the world beyond the beautiful

borders of Penn Cove? That decompression isn’t the marine layer dissipating in the

late morning above Puget Sound, just over the fescued berm to the west, it’s Whidbey

Island Race Week. And it’s why we come back every year. Hard to explain to coworkers, hard to

let go of, it’s kept nonetheless in a treasured spot deep inside. When folks ask how you make it

through yet another relentlessly gray PNW winter, you smile to yourself, reach down and think,

Race Week is coming.

Day three of WIRW 2017 was as magical as the past 11 and a half months that our our memory

had glorified it to be: blue skies, 8 to 10 knots, 72 degrees (Farenheit, for you Canadians). The

CYC shot off three races, and when we crossed that finish line for the third time on Wednesday

we were happy knowing that we’d get to do it all again the next day.

Thursday evening the Oak Harbor Yacht Club is serving up bbq ribs for dinner. Yum. Sorry about

that for you vegetarians, though they also offer field burgers at the grill. Thursday is also the CSR

party featuring the reggae music of Yogoman, so break out your aloha shirts and stretch before

and after racing—the dance floor will be standing dancing room only. Crabbing for the week is

also open—enter your recipe in the Haggen Northwest Fresh Crab Cake Cook-off.

Above left, representing for Classes 3, 4 and 8, Anam Cara, Godzilla and

Ehu Kai share room at the finish line. Bill and Cathy’s Ehu Kai, a local

San Juan 24, earned top honors for Wednesday’s racing in their 9-boat class.

Above right, Kids Camp campers sailing aboard the historic Suva.

In the dead of winter, I’m going to pull out this photo when I have

a frown that needs turning around.