Unless you were winning an Emmy Award, or having a baby, there was no good excuse to miss the 2015 DJOD! (except maybe the scheduling conflict with the 505 North American Championships in Annapolis). 17 505 teams showed up in Bellingham for the Dale Jepsen One Design regatta, making us the biggest fleet two years in a row! Thanks to all who traveled to Bellingham from Canada, Seattle, Port Townsend and Rich Mundell even flew in from Santa Cruz! There is a great new fleet building locally in Bellingham with a lot of excitement!
Saturday was rainy but warm, and all boats launched in drifter conditions. The breeze filled in nicely before racing 6-18 out of the South - Southeast. Shifty puffy conditions made for challenging racing, and you had to constantly be on your toes, and have your heads out of the boat upwind. Downwind was a mix between DDW and wiring out, and transitioning between the two often multiple times per leg. Also not getting too greedy and sailing too far on starboard pole when it started getting soft.
Defending champs Phil and Reto were the team to beat. Also going fast were Mats and Rich, Cody and Jon, and Erik and Gabe. Other teams were going fast too but fell victim to the many pitfalls of the course.
After racing we all hung out at the Bellingham Yacht Club and had an AWESOME dinner of pulled pork that was super scrumptious. Having had a good day on the water some chose to slip out early and skipped the karaoke, but heard it was fun, and the keg was killed rather quickly. And because PVG was conspicuously absent, we overlooked the debrief. See what happens Paul?
Day two had a forecast that was upgraded to 20-30, and that is what it was. There were some monster puffs. The final race was run in full planing conditions. Phil and Reto just motored over the fleet at the start but Erik tacked out on to port and found more wind, and a nice right shift that brought them within 30 seconds of them at the windward mark. Cody / Jon, and Lee / Josh were not far behind. Miles and Jack also started late, but suffered a breakdown. So off we went an a wild ride with the kite up, the boat bouncing like mad. We were "sending it," or at least working on that technique. Erik and Gabe rounded in second and got second for the race, which put them past Cody/Jon, and Mats/Rich (they had a breakdown) for the 2nd overall!
Congratulations to Phil and Reto for a convincing win. They won 4 out of 6 races.
Great thanks to host BYC, sponsor Samson Ropes, regatta organizer / head chef / MC Mike Poulos, and PRO Mick Corcoran for putting on a great event. Also thanks to all who traveled to Bellingham Yacht Club, the host of the 2016 505 North American Championships!
Next up for Region 6:
October 3,4 CYC Seattle - Puget Sound Sailing Championships (PSSC)
November 7,8 Kitsilano Yacht Club -Blue Nose Regatta
November 21, 22 CYC Seattle - Turkey Bowl
Results are here: http://byc.org/raceresults/2015/DJOD-2015_P1%20-%20505_Overall(2).htm
All photos courtesy of Jan's Marine Photography
Full gallery here: https://janpix.smugmug.com/Events/Dale-Jepsen-One-Design-Regatta-1/i-C8WPGvn/A
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