Searching for Goldilocks conditions, Etchells North Americans, J/70 U.S. Nationals, AC38 venue news
by David Schmidt 20 May 16:00 BST
May 20, 2025
Mount Rainier makes its presence known as Dark Star nears Point Robinson Lighthouse on the 2024 Vashon Island Race © David Schmidt
As the saying goes, 'you don't know unless you go'. While I've mostly heard this phrase applied to climbing, skiing, and mountaineering, four late-winter and springtime races on Puget Sound this year exemplified the fact that this line about seeking out great conditions and big smiles—AKA the Goldilocks cliché—can also apply to sailing.
The first of these races, the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle's Three Tree Point Race (Saturday, March 1), presented ghostly light airs and fog that forced the RC to postpone the start and shorten the course. Fortunately, the sun eventually beat out the fog, and while the airs remained light throughout the afternoon, we still got in some nice sailing.
We'll call this one the cold porridge.
The scene at the dock was much different the following Saturday for the CYC's Possession Point Race (March 8; ballpark 25 nautical miles), as halyards were slapping masts as teams prepared to dock out. A strong southerly greeted the fleet outside of Shilshole Bay Marina's breakwater, and—once the starting guns sounded—we commenced upon a fast and sometimes-wild run from Seattle to the turning mark at the southern end of Whidbey Island. The seas grew and grew as we ripped to the north, propelled by gusts that were threatening (and maybe exceeding) the 30-knot barrier.
While our team fortunately remained in control, two sailors from another boat ended up in the water for about 45 minutes and were taken to the hospital (they were fortunately both OK).
We'll call this one the hot porridge.
The next race, the Seattle Yacht Club's Protection Island Race (April 26) wasn't for some weeks, but—at around 80 nautical miles—was the longest of the four events. While the forecast called for a southerly that would succumb to a northerly (read: a moderate run, followed by miles on the headsails), we managed to keep our kite inflated almost all the way to Port Townsend. While we enjoyed rain-free sailing, we'd been fighting adverse water that increased as the day unfurled. But the time we slipped into the waters of Admiralty Inlet, to the north and west of Puget Sound, the negative water was getting quite expensive in terms of VMG.
Rounding Protection Island and then re-entering Puget Sound yielded some exciting sailing and a few memorable jibes, but the tides were such that we suffered adverse water all the way back to the barn.
We'll call this the sticky porridge.
Which brings us to the SYC's Vashon Island Race (Saturday, May 10). This (ballpark) 47 nautical mile race starts and finishes off of Seattle's Shilshole Bay Marina and takes the fleet south down Puget Sound, around Vashon Island's Point Robinson and then past the entrance to Quartermaster Harbor, before turning north up the narrow waters of Colvos Passage, exiting into Puget Sound, and finding the finishing line.
Impressively, the tides were favorable and the wind, which started off in the "there-but-spare" category, built to a steady flow as we pushed south on our full mainsail and J1.5. In a true rarity, there was even enough wind to sail past the southern tip of Vashon Island without the common parking-lot-induced restart, and the rapid-jibe kite ride up Colvos Passage was some of the season's nicest sailing. The seas built up a small bit by the time we turned north onto Puget Sound, but once again the tide and our bow were marching in the same direction, making for fast and fun sailing.
While all four events were fun, we finally found our Goldilocks race.
Looking at sailing's bigger picture, sailors competing in the 2025 Etchells North American Championship (May 16-18) were also treated to great conditions on the waters off of San Diego. After eight races, Luke Lawrence's Bayou Hustler team (Lawrence, Brian Ledbetter, and John Kostecki) proved the fastest gun. They were joined on the winner's podium by Simon Cooke's New Order (Cooke, Anatole Masfen, and Micah Wilkinson) and Jim Cunningham's Lifted (Cunningham, Steve Hunt, Erik Shampain, and Serena Vilage).
"Another amazing week in San Diego!" said Lawrence in an event communication. "It was amazing to sail with some of my heroes. John Kostecki and Brian Ledbetter were such a pleasure to be around for the week. We learned a lot about Etchells and San Diego from Rodney [Hagebols] and Fuzz [Grant Spanhake] who were incredibly helpful with their feedback from the coach boat. We can't wait to come back next year!"
Meanwhile, the J/70 class contested its 2025 U.S. National Championship (May 15-18) on the waters of Minnesota's Lake Minnetonka. After five races, Joel Ronning's hometown team CatapultToo (Ronning, Victor Diaz de Leon, David Onan, and Jessica Haverstock) took the win, followed by Dick Kalow's Supper Club (Kalow, Jonny Goldsberry, Sam Loughborough and Carlos Robles) in second, and James Golden's Derecho (Golden, Keenan Hillsinger, Brooks Daley, and Austin Powers) in third.
"I love this lake on days like today," said Ronning, in an official event communication. "It was shifty, challenging, and a lot of fun. It's really special to have this championship here on our home waters with so many local friends and fleet members."
Last weekend also marked the New York Yacht Club's Women's 2v2 Team Race (May 17-18), which was contested on the waters off Newport, Rhode Island aboard the NYYC's fleet of Sonars. Here, St. Francis Yacht Club sailors (Molly Carapiet [skipper], Rosalind Meade, Meg Myles, McKenzie Wilson, Lindsey Baab [skipper], Helen Lord, Kate Shiber [team captain], and Elena Vanderberg) repeated their 2024 dominance to win the event for the second year in a row.
"The sailors from last year all wanted to do it again," said Shiber in an official event communication. "So, we just brought the same team. The job was pretty easy."
Winning the event, however, required polished racecourse skills.
"Today, the course was really short, so it was hard to extend," said Shiber, in an event communication, about the regatta's final day. "On the downwinds, even if you're the one-two, you were never safe. There was a ton of pressure, and you had to be super high on the downwinds to keep your air clear. I thought today was much tighter than yesterday."
Eastport Yacht Club finished the event in second place, while the NYYC took third place.
Finally, word recently broke that Naples, Italy, will host the 38th America's Cup during the spring and summer of 2027. This is the first time that the Louis Vuitton Cup (which determines the challenger) and the America's Cup will be contested on Italian waters.
"I couldn't be more excited to announce Naples, Italy as the Host Venue of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup," said Grant Dalton, CEO of the America's Cup Defender Team New Zealand, in an official statement. "Italians are the most passionate and engaged America's Cup audience and obviously it is the home of Luna Rossa who are such an amazing team and strong competitor. So, from the Defender's position it certainly feels like we are entering the lion's den competitively, but from an event perspective it feels like the perfect venue to host the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup."
With some luck, the porridge will prove to be just right for AC38.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor