2005 Santana 20 Class Championship Regatta
August 8 - 12, 2005
Cascade Locks, OR
Hosted by S20 fleet # 19 & S20 fleet # 16.
Friday August 12 Report by John Papadopoulos
We left off yesterday with Team Sea Bear (Lance Purdy/Patricia Purdy/Jay Magers) tied with Team Mini Me (Bruce Golison/Steve Washburn/Stevie Washburn/Anika Olsen) for first place with the tie break going to Team Sea Bear and Team Disaster Area (Chris Winnard/Andrew Kerr/Bill Ramacciotti) in third place by one point!
When Kerry Poe, Principal Race Officer for the regatta, signaled the first warning at 9:30AM the wind was light enough to sail with genoa headsails.
From shore, strategy of the first race seemed to be that Sea Bear wanted to sail the right side of the course and that Team Mini Me wanted to go left - as they more or less sailed their own races. The closest these two got to each other was when they converged about 3/4ths the way up the first weather leg at which point Mini Me lee bowed the starboard tack Sea Bear, forcing Sea Bear to tack back to the right. In the last hundred or so yards, a right shift came in that hurt Mini Me and helped Sea Bear, pushing Mini Me back into 4th position. In the end, Sea Bear held on to win Race #6 and their overall lead, Disaster Area finished second to move up to second overall, and Mini Me fell to third overall with a 4th place finish.
By the start of the 7th and final race of the series, the wind had built up a bit more with occasional blasts now and then. Perhaps half the fleet had switched back to smaller jibs. According to Bruce Golison, the river current became insignificant in his strategy once the boat was fully powered up. In short, playing the puffs for their velocity and angle changes were surprisingly critical to a boat's overall success.
Perhaps because there were too many combinations of outcomes, the three top teams chose again to not tactically engage with one another. This time Mini Me and Sea Bear chose to go right while Disaster Area chose to go left. Several minutes up the weather leg, both Mini Me and Sea Bear tacked and went right with Mini Me overtaking Sea Bear shortly thereafter. Once passed, Sea Bear went back towards the left - perhaps in an effort to cover Disaster Area. Mini Me went very hard right and extended on the fleet - gaining approximately a 20 second advantage at the weather mark.
Not only was the wind lower in velocity than prior days, it was also about 15 degrees further to the right. According to Bruce Golison, this seemed to increase the number of starboard tack lifts on the right side of the course.
Winning the race, however, wouldn't be enough for Team Mini Me to win the Championships. They also needed Team Sea Bear to finish 5th or worse.
Sailing down wind, the puffs were streaky and narrow which meant that you get underneath them or they would pass you buy. If you got mixed up in a tactical battle, it would be all too easy to miss a few critical puffs and have boats catch up or slip on by. Of course, if you caught the occasional monster puffs, there was a good chance you wiped out - as most boats did at one time or another. On the down wind leg, Team Disaster Area and Team Sea Bear engaged each other with Disaster area winning out, pushing Sea Bear back to a 5th place finish to Disaster Area's 2nd place.
So in the end, Bruce Golison, Steve Washburn, Stevie Washburn, and Anika Olsen - the members of Team Mini Me - prevailed to win the regatta. The final scores? Team Mini Me finished first with 12 points, Team Disaster Area also with 12 points but losing on the tie break, and team Sea Bear with 13 points finishing third! Though there will undoubtedly be plenty of "would'a, should'a, could'a" comments, I think that all three of these teams performed excellently and they all realize that you can't ask for more when you get into competition of this caliber and closeness...they all deserve a great round of applause for their efforts. Needless to say, Team Mini Me, the defending 2004 Class Champions, are especially pleased to winning again and look forward to even more challengers at the 2006 Championships.
For pictures and full scores (unofficial), please page down.
Thursday August 11 Report by John Papadopoulos
The story remains nearly the same - almost too much wind! The Race Committee started racing early (9:30AM) in an effort to get more races in before the winds came up to their regular strength. Three races were completed by about 1:30PM, after which the R/C postponed and sent the fleet back ashore. The postponement was upgraded to an abandonment of all remaining races for the day. A straw poll was conducted and the consensus seems to be that 2 more races should be sailed tomorrow (Friday).
On the racing front, Lance Purdy with crew Patricia Purdy and Jay Magers set the tone with finishes of 1st, 3rd, and 2nd. With 5 races now completed, a throw out is provided which moves Lance and crew into the lead in a points tie with Team Mini Me (aka Bruce Golison) and a scant one point advantage over Team Disaster Area (aka Chris Winnard). Lighter winds are expected Friday so the racing should be quite interesting.
For all of you carnage junkies, there were several breakdowns - but nothing as dramatic as a dismasting. A blown jib halyard shackle, a bent spreader, a lost gooseneck pin, some sail damage, etc. Plenty of round ups, wipe-outs, and a few people overboard - in the lead pack and elsewhere. Everyone is safe and sound and yes, Stevie Washburn did manage to get his drooping swim shorts back in place before being hauled back on board - a very important point for young men of his age considering that the opposite gender is on board!
Chris Winnard reports that the big decision of the day was if the genoa should be flown instead of the blade jib. He chose the jib just prior to the wind building and was all too happy on the choice. Others chose to sail wing and wing (i.e. no spinnaker) and in some cases didn't seem to suffer from the choice.
The web cam is up and running...thanks to the Stevenson Business Association (Stevenson is the town across the river in Washington). Visit www.skamania.org and click on the "Live Event" link in the lower left corner to view the windward mark sailing area.
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Wednesday August 10 Report by John Papadopoulos
Cascade Locks gets its name for being the site of a navigation lock completed in 1896 to allow boats to get past a series of rapids that blocked almost all traffic. The construction of the Bonneville dam, completed in the 1930's just a few miles down river, raised the water level sufficiently to cover over the rapids, removing the need to pass thru a lock. Today, there is a modern marina, boat launch facility, camping, and paddlewheel boat ride all sited at the historic site of the locks.
The winds in the Columbia Gorge are famously strong going up the river, against the river current. The high winds attract high performance sailboat racing, wind surfing, and kite boarding. Bringing the Santana 20 Class Championships to this venue ensures plenty of wind to say the least and potentially lots of wind driven chop (wind going against the river current!)
In Race #1, Lance Purdy (Santana 20 # 497 "Sea Bear") sailed to the hard right side of the course (i.e. the North shore of the river) while everyone else went left. Sea Bear was first to the weather mark followed by current Class Champion Bruce Golison (Santana 20 #919 "Mini Me") and past Champion Chris Winnard (Santana 20 # 138 "Disaster Area"). There was a sizable gap to the next group. Downwind was exciting with placement of crew weight critical...too far forward and the bow would tend to submerge. Approximately 1/3 of the boats chose to not sail a spinnaker. Bill Ramacciotti, bow man on Team Disaster Area described the conditions as 18 to 22 knots with short/steep chop building to 3' in height. Though there is some debate on the true wind speeds (some reports suggest as high as 28 knots), there is absolutely no debate that sailing with a jib was mandatory.
In Race #2, Team Disaster Area was late to the line and ended up with a 2nd row start. They tacked to right, ducking three boats, and went to the right side where they successfully worked the shifts to get to the weather mark first, which they never relinquished to the finish around Course #2 - a 2 lap windward/leeward course. Bill Ramacciotti described gybing as one of the most critical challenges. Main sails were gybed first and the spinnaker pole unhooked from the mast while standing in the companionway - to keep weight off the bow. The loads on the pole were quite high, making for a tough time working with the pole until it was safely uncoupled from the spinnaker.
Race #2 brought on the much feared carnage. Altitude Sickness saw a failed aft lower control line lead to their mast snapping in two at the topping lift exit block height, Doug Smith (Santana 20 # 264 "One Eye Jacq") lost their bow stem fitting, resulting (of course) in a dismasting. Lastly, Rick Gilstrap (Santana 20 #551 "Chicken Boat") suffered a blown out aft lower car. At last report, Doug was busily rebuilding the bow and bow stem, Philip Infelise was starting on building a new mast from the spare extrusion that Leeann Bale-Fish, Santana 20 dealers from Eugene, brought to the site.
Racing was abandoned for the remainder of the day and will resume at 9:30AM on Thursday.
Links of interest...
There is a live event web camera hosted at www.skamania.org. Click on the "Live Event" link in the lower left corner to view the windward mark sailing area.
You might also find wind information at www.iwindsurf.com (free membership signup required). Select the "OR - Gorge West" location and the "Stevenson" site. Stevenson is a town on the Washington side of the river near the regatta site.
The Columbia Gorge Racing Association website may have related information too. Visit them at www.cgra.org.
+John Papadopoulos
Webmaster
| Pos | Sail# | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | T | Skipper | Crew | Club | Boat Name |
| 1st | 919 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | Bruce Golison | Steve & Stevie Washburn & Anika Olsen | Alamitos Bay YC | Mini Me |
| 2nd | 138 | -3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | Chris Winnard | Andrew Kerr & Bill Ramacciotti | Southwestern YC | Disaster Area |
| 3rd | 497 | 1 | -5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 13 | Lance Purdy | Patricia Purdy & Jay Magers | Sea Bear | |
| 4th | 368 | 4 | 6 | 9 | -DNS | 5 | 6 | 4 | 34 | Tim Dunton | Mark Donohue & Angus Brackett & Annie & Frank | Denver SA | Chubasco |
| 5th | 649 | -12 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 37 | Gordon Mattatal | Don Southworth & Mike Merrifield | Eugene YC | H20 Boa |
| 6th | 920 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 40 | Britt Williams | Roger Adams & Flint Johnson | Windy Crest SC | Fayest |
| 7th | 925 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 2 | -13 | 8 | 11 | 42 | Charles "I.V." McNamara | Justin Adams & Olivia McNamara | Windy Crest SC | |
| 8th | 908 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 11 | -12 | 43 | Chris Murschel | Jim Martinez & Rob Moline | Triton YC | Loose Nuts |
| 9th | 656 | 9 | -11 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 48 | Paul Stevens | Aric Frydendall & Drew Bauman | Eugene YC | Aquila |
| 10th | 779 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 15 | -DNF | 49 | Ron Fish | Leeanne Bale-Fish & Bill Nichols & Brody Knight | Eugene YC | Giddy-Up |
| 11th | 529 | -18 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 68 | Jim Hill | John Gibbons & Michelle Wood | Eugene YC | Bam Bam |
| 12th | 906 | -19 | 16 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 74 | Jerald Skeen | Lindsey Vaughn & Lyle Mayer | Eugene YC | Atomic Punk |
| 13th | 264 | 7 | -DNF | DNS | 9 | 9 | OCS | 6 | 79 | Doug Smith | John Ward & Trent Herring | Eugene YC | One Eye Jacq |
| 14th | 911 | 15 | -17 | 14 | 17 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 81 | Blair Wallace | Sasha Wallace & Brian Wesel | Tinker Toy | |
| 15th | 597 | 14 | 10 | 17 | 12 | 15 | -19 | 15 | 83 | Jim Blakewell | Willard Rogers & Marvin Mason | Oklahoma City BC | Supernatural |
| 16th | 931 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 9 | -DNF | 87 | Mark Forrest | Scott Forrest & Summer Bauman | Eugene YC | Just Married (aka "Q") |
| 17th | 489 | 13 | 15 | 12 | -DNC | DNC | 14 | 14 | 92 | Derek Hardy | Hector Rosado & Chris Morrow | South Sound SS | Already Gone |
| 18th | 508 | -21 | 12 | 19 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 16 | 96 | Scott Newcomb | Barb & Nicole Newcomb | Papa's Legacy | |
| 19th | 670 | -22 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 107 | Nick Genovese | Brian Genovese & Chris Atkins | Eugene YC | @ Ease |
| 20th | 780 | 20 | -DNS | 20 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 17 | 109 | Joe Kaliszewski | Fritz Kaliszewski & Leah Bonner-Wilson | SYSCO | Bohemia |
| 21st | 551 | 16 | -DNC | 18 | 16 | DNF | 18 | 19 | 111 | Rick Gilstrap | Zoe Gilstrap & Ross Cooley | Eugene YC | Chicken Boat |
| 22nd | 679 | 5 | -DNF | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 125 | Dan Borrer | Philip Infelise & Nate Campbell | Altitude Sickness | |
| 23rd | 713 | 23 | 19 | 21 | -DNS | DNC | DNC | DNC | 135 | Mike McKeever | Lynne & James McKeever | Denver SA | Fiesty |
NOR (PDF)
Entry Form (PDF)
Event Flyer (PDF)
Regatta Contacts:
Rick Gilstrap (Fleet 19 - Eugene,OR) rickgilstrap@comcast.net
Derek Hardy (Fleet 16 - Seattle, WA) santana20_fleet16@comast.net
