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Well not every regatta goes as planned.... The Seattle NOODS/F18 PNW Championships were this past weekend:

As Don Atchley wrote -

Well, not quite what we expected but a great event in regards to visibility and awareness for our class.

Saturday was a bust for wind. We all sat around and gossiped. Then we went down to the slips and mingled. It was like attending boat show. The visual of TEN fully rigged F18 in formation at the top of the boat ramp and 2 more on the dinghy docks garnered many questions from pedestrians. I got to chat with Olympic coaches and such during the beautiful spring day on Puget Sound. Everybody was somebody is seemed.

Every couple of hours the RC would come out of door on the roof of the yacht club. If they saw their shadow, it meant 2 more hours of delay…

The racing was called off at 3:30pm and the preparation for the evening events began. The teams began the night with food and drinks under the party tent with a building breeze coming in around 5:00 finally.

While our group called it all in and headed for a social at Paul and Lean Andrepont’s house down the road. The breeze was too much for Bryan Colewell to pass on. He geared up and went out for a sail.

Sunday came way too early, mostly because we had way too much rum the night before. We rigged the boats same as the day before and waited. The RC announced an 11:30 start regardless.

We got towed out to the course and then proceeded to engage in 4 micro races. 1 tack to A-mark. Pop the spinnaker and then 1 jibe to the finish.

On the way in to the docks, the wind picked up enough to let us buzz the beach and actually fly a hull. John Hoage skippered the newest Tiger to victory. Grabbing the start and hitting the inside shore first every time.

The end result. Lots of sun, very little wind, and a great social event on the water with some of the best sailors in the Pacific Northwest.

Formula 18 PNW Championships - 12 Boats

1. John Hoage/Todd Christianson
2. Paul Andrepont/Andy Koch
3. Ben Colewell/Crew

4 races - race wins split between John/Todd (2 wins) and Paul/Andy (2 wins)

Overall, the PNW Spring F18 season has been a very light air affair with not one race this season sailed in over 15 knots of wind.

Next up - WAVES in Vancouver....