Event Summary

Fleet 43 of the Coos Bay Yacht Club (CBYC) hosted the 2011 SJ21 Western Nationals that were held from 21-23 July at Tenmile Lake on the southern Oregon coast . The event brought together competitors from the western states of Washington, California, and Oregon as well as several visiting sailors from Florida and North Carolina.

A total of 23 boats competed in the two classes of racing, all-sails and working sails. The former had 5 boats racing primarily from two fleets, Fleet 1 from the Seattle area and Fleet 5 from vicinity of Fresno, California. These boats competed with spinnaker, jib sail and main sail. The working sails class consisted of 18 boats sailing with a standard jib and main sail.

On the initial day following the launching of visiting boats a "tune-up race" was sailed in the sunny late afternoon of a beautiful coastal day. Steady winds of approximately 12 to 14 mph gave the racers a chance to guage their boats, the winds, and the competition. The race of approximately an hour and fifteen minutes was followed by a dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, accompaniments, and the usual beverages speckled by talk of sailing and the two days of racing to follow.

On Friday, after a hearty pancake and sausage breakfast, the noon skippers' meeting was followed by 3 races starting soon after 1 pm in strong NNW winds of 17-19 mph with gusts of up to 30 mph developing as the afternoon progressed. (It was fairly typical "Coos Bay sailing"...strong winds and sudden shifts caused by coastal winds coming over the nearby hills...of course allowing local sailors to benefit from their "homefield advantage!") The three races of approximately 1 hour each resulted in standings for both fleets that stayed pretty much intact through the second day of racing (see below). Following the racing, the sailors were able to sooth the sore muscles and bodies with socializing and a lasagna dinner hosted by the local fleet. After dinner the annual class meeting was held.

Saturday dawned clear with winds gradually building in the late morning. After an ample break fast in the Coos Bay Yacht Club's clubhouse in an idyllic setting on a hill overlooking the lake and race course, a rather short skippers' meeting served to clarify several issues that had arisen on the first day of sailing. The sailors then took to the water to sail the final two races both of whcih were sailed on long courses of approximately an hour and a quarter each. The length of the races, along with the wind shifts, provided sailors with opportunities to overcome minor tactical errors. However, not much leeway existed as competition was very intense in both classes in so far as quite a number of the racers were very experienced small boat sailors who had won numerous regional or national events either in SJ21's or other classes of boats.

The traditional Coos Bay Yacht Club salmon dinner in the evening was followed by the awards presentation. In the working sails competition of the 18 boats racing, local boats took five of the top six places. Of the top 6 places, including this year's winner, all except one had previously won the SJ21 W Nationals working sails division (at least once) and that one competitor who had not, Mike Rodde of British Columbia, was a frequent winner of regional and national competitions in another class of boat.

Working Sails results for the postions that received trophies are as follows...

• 1st Place - Sean Randle of CBYC with crew (wife) Jessica Randle
• 2nd Place - Tom Mills of CBYC with crew (daughter) Laura Mills of Bellingham, Washington
• 3rd Place - Mike Rodde of Abbetsford, British Columbia and crew Carrie O'Bryan of CBYC
• 4th Place - Oscar Barney of Portland (defending champion,CBYC, and Hobart College sailing) with crew (father) John Barney
• 5th Place - Tom Kyle of CBYC with crew Dannett Johnson of CBYC
• 6th Place - Jon Richards of CBYC with crew (wife) Kathy Richards

All Sails results are as follows...

• 1st Place - Ruth Barcus of Fresno Yacht Club and crew (husband) Scott Barcus and Peter Berneau (The Barcus' are frequent winners with 21 regional (or national) championship trophies in this class)
• 2nd Place - Chris Popich of Fleet 1; Seattle, Washington and crew (wife) Chris
• 3rd Place - Mike Dukes of Fleet 1; Auburn, Washington and crew Kris Barker, Seattle

The annual sailing event on the West Coast was enhanced by having represented current Eastern Vice-Commodore Margaret Alexander of North Carolina as well as Carlton (Eastern Vice-Commodore-elect) and Aggie Brown from Florida. The latter chartered a local boat while Margaret skippered with a local CBYC sailor, Perry Wickham.

The 2012 SJ21 western competition will also serve as the SJ21 Nationals and will be held on the comparable weekend in July 2012 (specific dates TBA) at Huntington Lake in California and will be hosted by Fleet 5. This lake which is situated in the Sierras above Fresno is one of the favorite sailing locations of western SJ21 sailors and has been the site of numerous Western Regional competitions in the past. It promises to be an excellent event with great sailing and enjoyable off-water activities.

- Submitted by Jon Richards (CBYC and SJ21 Class Assn National Commodore) and George Tinker (CBYC Fleet 43 Captain)