Whidbey Island, Double Damned
The 29th Annual Whidbey Island Race Week attracted 109 keelboats from the West Coast over July 17-22 for what’s the last week-long "race week" in the U.S. Twelve races were conducted in 8- to 22-knot breezes over the course of the regatta, which is held off its namesake island north of Seattle. Six nights of parties with different live bands playing and Mount Gay Rum pouring made certain the evenings were as filled with excitement as the days.
Over 70% of the fleet was made up of PHRF boats, with the Melges 24s, J/105s, J/80s, and SC 27s having one design starts. The Santa Cruz 27 Nationals were held concurrently with Alex Simanis on Little Blue Dune Buggy taking the title. Gord and Michelle Galbraith’s Lekker was tops among the Melges 24s. Jerry Diercks’ Delirium took home the J/105 honors, and the J/80 honors went to Chris White’s Crazy Ivan.
PHRF 0 went to John Hoag’s 1D35 Shrek and PHRF 1 went to Kirk Leslie’s FT-10 Prowler. PHRF 2 was all about Charlie Macaulay’s One Ton Absolutely. PHRF 7 went to Paul Faget’s Sierra 26 Dos, and PHRF 8 went to Pat Denny’s J/29 Here & Now. 2008 Pacific Cup overall winner Joby Easton and his Cascade 36 Raindrop took PHRF 9, while PHRF 10 went to Chad Holcomb’s Olson 25 Yeah Dogg, and PHRF 11 to Mitch Rinella’s San Juan 24 Skamokawa.
Attendance was up roughly 10% over last year, and organizer Gary Stuntz has been working hard to bring the event back to its historical billing as one of the world’s best-known regattas. To that end, he’s working on getting a large-scale title sponsor that he hopes will give him the ability to promote the regatta even harder on the West Coast. Next year’s event will be held July 15-20. Visit www.whidbeyislandraceweek.com for more details.
While we’re on a Pacific Northwest kick, make sure you check out the 41-mile smash fest that is the Hood River YC’s Double Damned race — one of the coolest events we’ve ever done. It’s coming up on August 6, and registration is still open. The event will be bringing out some of the best of the Moore 24 fleet, such as Artemis Racing’s Morgan Larson. It follows the Columbia Gorge One Design Regatta in Cascade Locks this weekend, which doubles as the Moore 24 Nationals this year. And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a video of the ’09 Double Damned produced by Stuntz: