Frigid Digit Regatta,
Seattle, Washington
January 30, 31, 1999
The peak of the winter frostbiting series in Seattle happened this weekend under cold and blustery skies. The Frostbiters sailed on January 24 on Puget Sound as a tune up for the annual Frigid Digit Regatta which was held on Lake Washington just off the Corinthian Yacht Club at Leschi Beach. Twenty-five full rig Lasers and 4 Laser radials participated in the 9 race series. Competitors were treated with a good mix of south wind allowing both the lighter and heavier sailors to have conditions to their liking.
Saturday morning we were greeted with a light almost non existent southerly. Race officer Chuck Queen sent the fleet out and the wind filled in and progressively shifted right all day. The Radial fleet got a three minute head start on the full rigs and with clear air were able to stay ahead of the full rigs due in part to the general recalls, but also due to the short nature of the course. Each race lasted about 30 minutes and the bulk of the fleet generally would all finish within one to two minutes of the lead boat. Great gains were made by studying the cat paws and staying on the lifted tack. Saturdays racing was a textbook case of paying attention to the water and staying in phase with the shifts. In the Radials, Wayne Fukuhara held a slim lead at the end of the day. In the full rigs, Libby Mckee sailed the shifty southerly better than all others to lead the fleet in the overall results.
Sunday morning dawned with the trees shaking and a cold southerly blowing on the Lake. The course format changed to include two planing reaches which turned out to be quite challenging in the blustery conditions. The wind had shifted about 45 degrees to the right of due south which put the windward mark in the lee of the I-90 bridge. The day included 20 knot micro squalls followed by intensely blue skies and blazing sunshine and then more micro squalls. Lindsay Buchan, unable to sail Saturday, came out to sail with the Radials and won all three races Sunday. Jim Johnstone held on to take the overall win in the Radial fleet. Carl Buchan almost made a sweep of the day taking the first two races and placing second the last race to win the series in the full rig Lasers. Cooper Offenbecher, of the Seattle Yacht Club Junior program was the top junior and took third overall. Libby Mckee was the top woman and took fifth overall.
Many thanks to Neil Christianson for the use of his Thunderbird KUMA for the race committee boat. KAM gear fleece caps engraved with 1999 Frigid Digit Regatta were awarded to the winners on Sunday afternoon as another micro squall blew through on the lake.
LASER RADIALS
1 Jim Johnstone 2 1 3 3 1 2 2 2 2 15 2 Wayne Fukuhara 3 2 1 1 2 1 3 3 3 16 3 Katie Shuman 1 3 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 22 4 Lindsay Buchan 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 23 LASER FULL RIGS 1 Carl Buchan 1 7 6 3 1 6 1 1 2 21 2 Mike Hare 14 5 8 11 6 3 2 4 7 46 3 Cooper Offen-becher 2 2 5 8 11 4 11 10 5 47 4 Peter Woytkowiaik 5 3 1 7 7 2 13 14 10 48 5 Libby McKee 13 1 2 2 3 1 17 16 15 53 6 David Kenny 3 8 3 20 2 11 5 23 4 56 7 Mike Johnson 9 6 15 5 12 14 7 2 3 58 8 Matt Barnett 10 10 10 6 18 10 9 5 8 68 9 Jacek Suski 6 20 4 18 14 15 6 3 6 72 10 Eric Rone 4 4 7 4 5 23 16 11 21 72 11 Randy Shuman 15 17 21 9 9 8 8 6 12 84 12 Zig Burzicki 21 13 11 15 10 5 10 12 9 85 13 Dennis Clark 18 16 13 12 4 9 3 23 11 86 14 Steve Mordue 12 14 9 1 17 18 12 13 18 96 15 Dan Falk 20 11 14 10 16 7 18 9 17 102 16 Marlan Crosier 8 9 17 13 8 13 19 19 16 103 17 Allan Johnson 7 15 12 25 15 12 15 8 25 109 18 Dave Banks 16 18 19 14 19 21 14 15 13 128 19 Rob Hodson 22 19 16 16 13 17 22 17 14 134 20 Andy Mack 25 25 25 25 25 25 4 7 1 137 21 Miles McFall 11 21 20 17 20 16 24 21 25 150 22 Dave Shaner 19 12 23 19 22 19 21 20 19 151 23 Robert Van Creveld 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 18 20 164 24 Bob Riggle 17 23 18 23 23 23 24 24 24 175 25 Steve Alexander 24 24 24 22 23 22 24 24 24 187
Mike Johnson
SLF Secretary
Received on Sun Jan 31 22:13:16 1999