MISSA News

REGATTA HIGHLIGHTS: 17 College and 16 High School Teams combined fleets to race at Sail Sand Point in Seattle.  More than 140 sailors saw almost every kind of weather over the weekend.  Fall was in the air with chilly temps in the low 50's.  The sun was out much of the time, but we also saw some rain squalls roll over Lake Washington.

Saturday: racing started at 10:30 in a shifty Southerly.  The 6-8 knot wind clocked hard West during the first A division set, and then back to the East for B Division before it finally settled in for race 3A from the South.  Still very shifty the wind built during the second set of B Division and a rain squall brought rain and wind in the teens during the last races of the day.  Race 6A was completed shortly after 4:00.  Saturday night high school sailors were treated to a college sailing forum where NW college sailing teams got to speak to the High School sailors about their sailing programs.

Sunday: 10 more races were completed on Sunday in similarly shifty breeze. The first race started at 10:15 and Race 10B started at 2:59, moments before the 3:00 cut off.   20 races over the weekend, averaging 17 minutes, were all sailed on W3 and W4 courses with a windward offset and leeward gate.  Very shifty winds kept the sailors, and race committee, on their toes.  The wind was constantly shifting in direction and velocity which mixed things up for the 33 boat FJ fleet.

Thanks everyone for coming to the fifth annual Cascadia Cup.  A giant thanks to host Sail Sand Point, all the teams who brought boats to sail and share, the wonderful Sand Point Youth Sailing parents and volunteers who kept the sailors well fed with a BBQ lunch Saturday, burritos on Sunday, snacks during the forum, and even breakfast Sunday morning!

Thanks to PRO Brendan Fahey for keeping things running in challenging conditions.  And thank you to Michelle Stitzer and Nino Johnson for helping with markset duties - you certainly had your work cut out for you this weekend.