2009 Round Whidbey

Another year has come and gone and back to the water to defend the title. We have won this race the last three years in a row and were back ready to go again. 25 boats entered and we were the bottom boat in the A fleet at PHRF 146. The scratch boat was -69! As usual, we had the amazing easy cheese artist Joey, and devistatinly handsome Mr. Jensen, and the multi-lingual Kevin-pointy man- Thornton.

The ride thru the pass offered some more excitement this year, although not for us, but for the SJ24 and the SJ7.7. After watching those guys do some cool turns under the bridge we saw the mighty Perry 65, ICON, emerge from the North. This boat is very impressive, over 12' draft, rating minus 69 and they were there doing some tune up for Van Isle. Needless to say, they were the ones to beat. The start was the same as every year, except this year we managed to get away even cleaner that I could have ever hoped.

We drifted/sailed across the line with no room to spare up against the pin (set west of the committee boat) and managed to take off like a rocket. We started to pull away from the boats trying to fight for clear air and to make it across the starting line in the southerly flowing current (some boats were west of the pin at the gun and took a very long time to get around the pin). Within minutes we seemed to pull miles away and ICON was no where to be seen.

So, I had to call the shore support crew who were watching us to share my school girl giggles as we pulled further and further away.

After about 30 minutes, the fleet started to move and the Perry, the Cal 40, and the J-30 started to come on strong.

ICON passed us 45 minutes into the race, meaning they had just spotted us 45 minutes! Maybe we did have a shot at beating them! Turns out, they had some difficulty feathering the prop at the start and some other minor issues, but once they sorted those out, this was the last we saw of them, they passed us like we were standing still.

So now that we didn't have any close action to watch and sail against, Joey decided to get some action of his own!

After blazing past port townsend and staying away from the swirling vortex of death, the Cal 40 and their massive mast head kite passed us. We managed to surf their quarter wake from a very long time and once down to possesion point, decided to part ways for an hour, only to converge about 15' off their transom.

We had a great westerly fill in and gave the new noisey kite a try. It was aptly named the "ditch witch" because we could dig very deep with it. For all of you sailing with older kites, I would highly recommend checking out some of the new technology in materails and shapes, it makes a HUGE difference!

Well we manged to make it past the convergence zone without too much pain and off we were sailing in a north westerly with the M1 at about 5.5 knots. We left the rest of the boats at possesion as they were not lucky enough to get into the wind we managed to ride in a receeding line. I actually felt sorry for all of them. The amazing thing was to pass the clinton ferry landing in daylight! Before dinner!! Holy crap! What is round whidbey without a dark ferry dodging session? I didn't know what to do with myself!

So we could not see any sails behind us and we could not see ICON, we decided to just tack when we hit land. And that is exactly what we did. Whenever we saw another boat, we would tack to cross paths with it to check it out and wave at the tourists. Kevin managed to offend some power boaters with his close proximity and we all were on the look out for the killer sea monster that attacked us last year.

Doug also final realized that sun screen was more than just a precaution, it was actually a good idea. His head paid the price.

All in All, we managed to get to snaklem at around 11pm sailing in a 22 knot westerly with the H1 up at a slight reach making 8 knots VMG at Oak Harbor, but like a switch, it shut off and we sat for 4 hours. We watched our opportunity to beat ICON slip away and as we sat with the sails down drifiting south in over 200' of water, we watched mast lights get closer in the night. We finally manged to sail in under a very light westerly and finished at 3:43 am, second boat across the line. Only 5 of the 25 boats finished, but what a ride it was for us! We'll be back again next year!

Top 25 Boats in the NorthWest

No.19 -
Shenanigans
Scott Ellis
WINSA
B-25

#19 SWEET!!!!! Nice job to all my boys this year, we kicked some ass! We sailed smart and clean and it proved to be a good formula for us. Props to the Veloce boys as well at #14. It was fun to see that three boats that are in our fleet were in the top 25, proves we have some good racing in our rating band still. I can't wait for 09, should be awsome! See you on the water

http://www.48north.com/jan_2009/top25.htm

2008 Round County

Well, we decided to bring the B out to play with the big boys, and well it might have been a bad idea......we left anacortes with a forecast of 25-30 from the south with no end in sight. I have done this race 6 times before, and thought it would be a nice little trip to take the rest of the gang on, just to give them a taste. They got a good salty taste in their mouths.........

We sailed 8 miles in about 45 minutes, with just the #3 up. We managed to maintain about 8 kts of boat speed while surfing to 12 knts. It was a hand full just to get to pevine pass and I was beat before the race even started. About half way to the start line, it was apperant that we would not be able to sail back into the ever building waves and wind.

Once at the start line, we milled around trying to decide if we wanted to get the crap beat out of us. The decision was made for me, when I could not get the boat to tack around as a huge gust came through around 40 knts....we gybed out and headed for lunch at Friday Harbor..I have nothing to prove. Besides, we were the smallest boat out there and I didn't want to see how bad it was at cattle pass. Run away and live to race another day was our motto, so we entered the through the county race and headed off to warm food!

Sailing on #3 alone, we weaved our way through the islands, dodging a few ferries and sailed right into Friday Harbor around 10:30. We made great time and it was a blast to haul through the islands with no other power boats in our way. After a great club sandwich, we put up the full main and sailed DDW to Roche to meet the fleet, or at least the ones who sailed the first leg. About half the boats in our fleet bailed out or broke down during this leg, and it proved a smart move to bail out. When we arrived, we saw a 40' with their carbon rig in three pieces laying on their deck. Anther affermation we made the right decision.


The next day, we were prepared to ride the ferry home and come back for the boat if conditions had not improved. Oddly enough, there was no breeze on Sunday. We were the first start and in true Shenanigans fashion, we blasted out on the boat end and lead everyone to Stewart Island. It was a nice tight reach and the B loves those, so we held our own with the Black boat and enjoyed the calm water.

Half way into Canada, we managed to be crossing tacks with Myrh and both J-29s. Then a tanker came blasting through, and yes, it was as close as it looks with the two boats that didn't move. I have never heard a tanker honk soo much, we thought these guys were done!

After the tanker excitment, we looked at the GPS and the clock and decided that we have a 5 hr motor home if we left now, so we threw in the towel and kicked off the Merc. We fulled up at Deer Harbor and arrived back home safe and sound around 4pm, a great trip. I think the general thought on board was bouy racing is much warmer and if you are racing a distance race, you have to sail on a boat that is longer than your age.

2008 Round Whidbey

Round whidbey time again, and we assembled the motley crew again, and no, Hannah didn't come with us.





We had a great start, and blew off the line leading the pack for a solid two hours. They didn't catch us until Keystone!


This is 1 hour in, and the boats behind, way in the distance, is the fleet


Nothing but clear water in front.


We finally were caught half way down the island. There were many re-starts after this point.


Notice my sweet tan I have going on my face, forgot the sun block.

The race was a blast and we manged to get out in front early and stay there. The race ended around 7am for us, as we sat for 30 minutes on our anchor 50 yards from the finish line. That was oh so much fun.

2008 Fall Racing = Kids on boats!

Well it was about time to take the kiddos on a sailboat race, in order to do this safety, the newest boat in the fleet was called up for the task, the Ranger 23. Joe, Vic, Hannah, Noah, and myself all loaded up on the Ranger Danger and headed out to do a few races in the fun series that was put on in the harbor. There were a lot of boats and it was fun to take it easy and watch Hannah enjoy all the marine life and other boats. She was a blast to have on the water. Granted the two month old(Noah) had no clue what was going on, he loved the motion of the boat and slept nicely in his car seat down below.

The ranger is a great little boat for Oak Harbor, shallow draft, very stable, and TONS of room in the cockpit and down below, and it even sails fairly decent! Hannah took a few turns on the helm and seemed to enjoy bossing me around. I look forward to getting the kids on the water more in 2009.

2008 Laser Sailing

So this year we also got the small boats on the water. Joey, Kevin, and myself went out and bought some lasers, and what a blast they are! We organized a weekly outting to get boats to show up and they started coming from as far away as Anacortes. We even saw 7 boats out one night! Now we have a few new lasers in OH (Eric and Shannon!) that I am expecting to get out to play with us in 2009! I'll let you know when we start planning those nights......

2008 Race Week

Another Race Week has come and gone, and what a week it was! We saw just about everything there was to see from 20 from the south to nothing, we saw collisions, yelling, screaming, RWI (racing while under the influence) and plenty of Chad's butt to go around. We went into the event with pretty low expectations for two reasons - 1) it is hard to be dissapointed when you aren't expecting anything 2) we were down a woman (our regular foredeck the Vixen) and brought on the freshed face skipper of the Rock Lobster, hailing from the dirty mitten (a.k.a Eric Beemer).

This was the first year that Gary Stuntz was running the event and he brought a new era of Race Week in, with a breath of fresh air. The event attendace was up for the first time in years and it really went off without any hitches, a very well run event that I would recommend to any sailor. It brings in boats from Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Canada, and California every year. You can expect tight racing all week long with multiple races each day.

Race Week and good times go together like Beer and Smarties and if you don't belive me I have proof........

Our plan was to sail clean and stay in clear air out in front. Being scratch boat you get the benefit of being able to cover the boats in your fleet, but there always in an opportunity to miss a shift of get sucked over to the wrong side of the course since the race is happening behind you. Plus, if someone gets in front of you, they are beating you, and that can get frustrating, like watching the transom of a certain martin 241 all week long! My rule of thumb is, if you are going to lose to someone, they better be good, and the boat that beat us (FireFly) won the entire event overall, so kudos to them, they sailed a great regatta.

So during the week, they hand out awards based on each day of racing, with a final trophy at the end of the week for your overall performance. We managed to place every week, sailing a consistant regatta. We decided to split the hardware up amoung the crew and we each took a day and if we won anything that day, you got it. By the end of the week, Kevin had not been awared a glass, until Friday, we managed another glass for the day and before I could even show the glass to anyone, it was aggressivly snatch from my hands like Froto grabbing the ring and Kevin ran off with it, he was later seen posing for this picture........He earned it, he did a hell of a job on the bow.......

This is me, taking time out from by busy day of racing to represent the west sIIIIIIDE! No, actually, the southerly was a touch cold and we had to put some gear on, an unusual thing for race week. This is my new Henry Llyod stuff I got for Father's Day....SWEET!!!

Some great photos were taken during the week and this sequence is one of my favs...taken by Kevin on the rail, one minute into our start on Friday. Notice the Wabbit and the bow of the Olsen right abeam of us on our windward hip........(picture taken from our chainplates)

Now notice their position, we flew off the line and climbed above everyone, something that usually gets done to us, so it was fun to do it to someone else for once!

The boat really sailed well for the week!

I think we ran the motor a total of 15 minutes the whole week, we had nice kite rides in each day, a nice cool down lap before hitting the tent to party!

Here is the tent scene, Rich, the handsome looking salesman in the middle, is no stranger to shenanigans, he is a regular and has been a great contributor to our movie plot that we are working on......;) Rich is a Kings Point grad and is a talented sailor and is always great to have on board

There are some great shots taken by Todd Martin, a local photographer who does great work. Due to copyright stuff I won't post the pictures here, but check out the photos of our fleet on his web page at

http://www.photosbytodd.net/store/gallery.php?gid=156

Well, the week came to an end and we managed to hold onto second place, and amazing job by all. This will truely go down in my book as one of the highlights of my sailing career to date. We have a great time and it was a blast to see a handful of local boats in the mix, including four in our fleet alone! This pretty much sums up the week...........

"I'm proud of you boys, you kept your head on a swivel and that is what you have to do when you find yourself in the middle of a cock fight" -Ron Burgendy.