PNW Minsta, Sh & Shorthander Get Together

[Adrian]

PNW Single & Shorthanded Get Together.

March 25, 2011
19.00 hrs
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Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle
(Pier V at Shilshole Bay Marina)
7755 Seaview Ave. N.W.
Seattle, WA 98117
(206) 789-1919

An evening to talk about races, boats, what is happening & what we would like to happen.
Short presentations from:

Chris Tuttmark – “PNW SH Sailing: Experience & Prospects”
Thinking about where we are & where we want to go.
How do we develop more races for DH & SH’ ers
What are the prospects for a sailing school for SH, DH & Mini racing in Seattle?
How feasible is shared ownership & chartering?

John Keightley – “The Dix & Woodies”
Building a Dix Mini from plans or kit?
What does it cost?
What skills do you need?
Who are the on-line builders?

Adrian Blunt -  “The Series Boat”
What boats are available in North America? 
US built – M65, eKo  &  P2   
Imports – RG650, Zero, TipTop, Used Euro boats.
What do they cost new & used?
The RG650 – a new third generation Series design - kit boat & base boat
A screening of vid, sailing a Mini – 3 – 4 minutes

Screening of video  Clay Burkhalter’s 2009 MT entry #575  “Acadia”
Open Discussion
Displays & Materials.
 

[Bhamini]

Couldn't get out of work to make it.  Anyone who was able to go have a summary/bullet points?

[CTut]

The meeting was overall good, with people from Vancouver, Victoria, Anacortes, Oak Harbor and Seattle attending. The majority of the people at the meeting are connected to Mini either past or present with John Keightley from Vancouver talking a bit about his experience of building a Dix Mini. He is presently in year 5 of the build and hopes to be sailing later this year.
The biggest discussion item was that there presently are a healthy number of races available for Shorthanded entries but the list of races is not compiled into any one location. Compiling it into a Google calendar or the like was discussed but no one has offered to do that. Sloop Tavern YC has a three race series for Shorthanded racing and many of the clubs have changed their Jack and Jill races to be open doublehanded with a Jack and Jill division. South Straits and Vic-Maui 2012 are also going to offer shorthanded divsions as well.
Issues with permits for Single Handed events was discussed in the context of the USCG especially races that go after dark.
Adrian brought a copy of Clay B.'s video of his experience with the 2007 TransAt, for me it brought back a lot of memories but also was very different from my experience in the event.
Boats were talked about and while it was agreed that Minis are very cool and fun boats they are exceedingly tough to race in handicap environment like PHRF. Racing a mini against an Olson 30 is pretty tough. There was some discussion on suitable inexpensive boats that already exist such as Santana 20s and 22s or Ranger 23s along with the Moore 24. Adrian had some drawings of the RG-650 being built in Argentina along with info on some other boats.
A lot of good energy and great ideas about how to grow this part of the sport.

So, the races talked about were :
Sloop Tavern's Race to the Straits
STYC- Down the Sound

Northern Century


Apr 23-24 VARC/WVYC Southern Straits (DH) Southern Straits
May 14 TCYC Passage Island Race (SH) Passge Island Race
Jun 4-5 RNSA Single-handed Race to Nanaimo (SH) RNSA Nanaimo Race
Jun 17-18 RVYC Sangster Island Race (SH/DH) Sangster Island
Jul 1-3 SISC/MBYC Vendee Saltspring 2010 Distance Race (SH/DH) MBYC
Aug 21 (tbd) VRC Ken and Barbie Race (DH) VRC
Oct 9 (tbd) VRC Anything Goes Single-handed Race (SH) VRC

Round Whidbey and I am sure there wre others I missed