Race to the Straits Regatta Preview

ByStuart Johnstone
Sailors adjusting the sails on a white racing yacht in open water.

(Seattle, WA)- The Sloop Tavern Yacht Club in Seattle, WA will be hosting its popular season-opening offshore race- the Race to the Straits Regatta- for a fleet of 103 boats. The full course length is 30.25 nautical miles each day. Saturday’s race will be from Shilshole Bay to Point Hudson keeping the Double Bluff Buoy to port. Then, Sunday’s race will be from Point Hudson to Shilshole Bay keeping the Double Bluff Buoy to starboard. All boats are prohibited from using the Port Townsend Canal. The regatta has always been popular with J/crews over the years.

PHRF Singlehanded Division
Sailing in this fleet will be Rafe Beswick’s J/32 DRAGONFLY and Dan Wierman’s J/35 GREAT WHITE.

PHRF Doublehanded Division
Over two dozen J/crews are sailing in the largest fleet in the regatta. Here is a short list of some of those teams:
Two J/30s- Ulf Georg Gwidlis’s IMPULSIVE and Mark Meenan’s SLINGSHOT
One J/27- Mike Darcy’s ZEPHYR
Three J/80s- Gerry Gilbert’s AFTERBURNER, Ryan Porter’s JOLLY GREEN, and Peter Lisy’s JOUSTER
Two J/70s- Neil Roberts’s MERCURIUS and Justin Nodolf’s PUCA
Eight J/105s- including John Aitchinson’s MOOSE UNKNOWN, Erik Kristen’s MORE JUBILEE, Mark Prentice’s PANIC, Drew Zangle’s JADED, and Sara Billey’s PEER GYNT.
One J/88- Matt Gardner-Brown’s SEA STORIES
One J/99- David Miller’s ONE LIFE
One J/109- Kirk Fraser’s ECLIPSE
Three J/35s- Tyson Varosyan’s SOLUTION, Paul Hanson’s TCHOUPITOULAS, and Chad Stenwick’s THE BOSS
One J/112E- Stephanie Arnold’s MYSTERY
Two J/111s- Steve Kirsch’s FLASH and Jay Renehan’s HOOLIGAN,

For more Sloop Taven YC’s Race to the Straits sailing information
https://www.styc.org/Race-to-the-Straits