Race Week Anacortes- The Parties Were Back!

ByStuart Johnstone

(Anacortes, WA)- From June 26th to 30th, 2023 the latest version of “adult sailing week” enjoyed a great long weekend of racing off Anacortes, WA. Most all fleets enjoyed six races. Here is how it all went down in each division- J/105s, J/80s, J/70s, and handicap divisions for ORC and PHRF fleets. 

J/105 Class
Eleven teams joined this year’s party and it was John Aitchison’s MOOSE UNKNOWN that walked off with class honors after posting a very consistent 3-1-2-1-4-2 tally for 9 pts net. Second was Jeff Pace’s LIFTOFF with a 2-7-1-3-2-9 record for 15 pts net. Rounding out the podium to take the bronze medal was Lenny Rezabek’s INSUBORDINATION with a 4-4-4-10-3-1 scoreline for 16 pts net. 

J/80 Class
As an “evergreen” class that has its share of passionate sailors, the five-boat fleet saw a few veterans rise to the top. Winning was Lek Dimarucot’s UNDERDOG with a blistering six bullets to eviscerate the fleet with just 5 pts net! Yikes! It was a battle for the balance of the podium with Julian Croxall’s JAVELIN taking the silver medal with a 3-2-2-3-2-2 scoreline for 11 pts net. Settling for the bronze medal in that tussle was Morris Lowitz’s UPROAR with a 2-3-3-2-3-3 tally for 13 pts net… isn’t it neat to see that symmetry between their scorelines?

J/70 Class
With eight boats, the J/70s anticipated good competition. However, no one expected Mike Breivik’s TAZ to start off the regatta with four bullets. In fact, it would be safe to say that Mike himself didn’t expect to start out the regatta with four bullets! Nevertheless, they did and closed with a pair of “treys” to finish with 7 pts net. The silver went to Krystal Luchterland’s SNOOP (the dog) with a 3-2-5-2-2-2 for 11 pts net. Apparently, they finally dialed into the race track in their last three races. Then, family member Boris Luchterland’s RIFF took the bronze medal with a 7-5-3-3-5-1 tally for 17 pts net.

ORC 1 Division
The seven-boat field saw Bruce Chan’s J/111 65 RED ROSES II up against a polyglot of used, old, decaying, fiberglass misbegotten hulks masquerading as racing boats like a Swan 42, Farr 395, King 40, Sydney 41, and 1D35. It was good handicap racing, with Chan’s team taking second place with a strong record of 2-1-1-3-2-2 for 8 pts net.

PHRF 1 Division
This ten-boat class saw Chan’s J/111 RED ROSES II win the class with all podium finishes of three 1sts and three 2nds for a 9 pts total! Cool!

PHRF 2 Division
With 50% of the fleet, the J/crews faced a few hot teams in their eight-boat class. Taking the silver was Brian White’s J/35 GRACE E with a 3-3-1-5-3-3 tally for 13 pts net. John Polglase’s J/109 DOUBLETIME took fourth place with a 6-4-3-2-2-4 record for 15 pts net… in fact, losing on a tiebreaker and countback for third place!  For more Race Week Anacortes sailing information