This Memorial Day Weekend Southeast Alaska Sailing sponsored three sailing events which turned out to be both challenging and rewarding to the participants. The opening race brought out the largest fleet in yeyears.

This Memorial Day Weekend Southeast Alaska Sailing sponsored three sailing events which turned out to be both challenging and rewarding to the participants. The opening race brought out the largest fleet in years.

During this years Maritime Festival at Marine Park, I think we experienced every type of weather imaginable in one day:  winter in the form of sleet, spring in the form of rain, and summer in the form of brief periods of sunshine!  None of these weather extremes could deter a determined group of SEAS sailors from participating by taking people on short sailboat rides.  The winds were anywhere from 10-15 knots with maybe one foot seas so it made for some exciting sailing.  I brought Lyric over to the dock by the Wings of Alaska float and Eric Keifner, the skipper of Shoreless, also came over

A steady 10 knot breeze launched the 2013 SEAS Cup sail boat race series with 4 boats at the start off Marmion Island.

With a dense fog lifting, a pleasant reach to Point Arden found the fleet still in close quarters and the wind dropping to the low side of 5 knots. Most of the fleet took a counter clockwise approach to Grand Island and Surprise emerged from the rounding with a considerable and growing lead.

Tahlia scratched short of Grand and Sound Discovery joined Loa’a Nalu fighting the tide change looking for wind. After a radio exchange the crew of Sound Discovery decided to scratch just 20 minutes to soon.