Funter Bay Rendezvous Race Report

The following race report is from Sean Boily:

The Funter Bay Rally, sponsored by Southeast Alaska Sailing (SEAS) ran a July 18th, 19th and 20th, starting in Auke Bay and finishing down town. Leg 1 from Auke Bay to Funter Bay started on time at Strauss Rock in light air, and a surprisingly clear and sunny day. Participants braved wakes and whaleboats in a down-wind spinnaker run to turn south at Point Retreat in a close hauled beat to weather all the way up to the finishing mark between the Kittens and Admiralty Islands.

Order of finish: Haiku, High Noon, Optiminium, Cetus, and Tango.

Salmon were jumping everywhere, and some had the good fortune to troll a hook and bring one in for dinner. The small fleet of 5 boats tied up at the State dock for the night, and many walked to the Aleut cemetery to quietly honor the internment victims of WWII. After a good meal, a lot of story sharing between boats and a good night’s sleep, the fleet woke to overcast and light northerly breezes for Leg 2 back to Auke Bay. By noon a relentless heavy rain had set in. High Noon was first to round Point Retreat and run down to the south end of Shelter Island, where the wind failed her about a mile short of the finish line. She wallowed in glassy seas in the lee of the island, surrounded by whales and whale watching boats for two hours while Haiku and Optiminium ran up to the same tide rip. By 7 p.m. no one could catch enough wind to make headway against the outgoing tide and all boats scratched. No boats sailed Leg 3 on Monday.
Note: finishing sequences noted above does not determine race winners; each boat has a PHRF (http://phrf-nw.org) handclap rating which is used to adjust times for placements. It is not always the biggest and fastest boat that wins - it is in part the skill of the sailors, and in part the luck of who has the wind in wildly varying course conditions.

Results:
1st: Haiku - Douglas, Yamaha 33 - PHRF 153; Skipper Brian Lieb
2nd: Optiminium - Juneau, Islander 28 - PHRF 205; Skipper Dane Palmer
3rd: Cetus - Juneau, Columbia 28 - PHRF 264; Skipper Nikolay Barkov
4th: High Noon - Auke Bay, Peterson 41 - PHRF 78; Skipper Sean Boily
dnf: Tango - Douglas, Cal-34 - PHRF 201; Skipper Dave D’Amore

Next Event: SEAS shall be hosting the SEAS Cup Skippers Choice race on August 1, starting in Gastineau Channel. For more information the event can be viewed ion the SEAS website www.seasailing.us
Sean Boily, Co-Chair
SEAS Race Committee