Seattle area beta

[Dr. Crash]

Originally posted by grrrr
drC - Sailing not as good as the bay area??? You don't get out much, do you? San Juan County alone has more coastline than the state of California, and from here north there's nothing but islands, bays and fjords for hundreds of miles. This is the mecca of west coast sailing.

Sorry, I meant racing sail boats. Have you been out on the Bay racing with the same reliable 20 knot wind conditions every day? Have you done big boats one design races where all top boats finish within seconds of each other? Have you experienced the thrill of a lighthouse race when surfing back downind at 20 knots? I am talking racing, not cruising. I don't see many of the boats I used to race there. No Farr 40 fleet. No big J/105 fleet (35+ boats on the line---ok, most of them couldn't drive their boat correctly at the first mark). No Melges 24 fleet. No 11:m. No racing Vanguard 15 with olympic medalists and learning from them.

It is very different. I have cruised in the San Juans, and this place is lovely for cruising. For racing, it is very different from CA. Mostly PHRF, very little best of class one design racing from what I've seen. I see a TP 52, a 1D48 and a couple 1D35 that race PHRF... The TP52 most likely will spend more time down the coast than here if her owner wants the right competition. The exception may be some small boat classes like the Thistle. But hey, if you've got the beta on the best racing around here, I'd love to get it, thanks, mang.

Oh, and I do get out. Do you?

drC