allanjohnsonssailingblog

First Things First

2011-04-27T13:34:00.001-07:00

This "spring" my sailing adventures have all been centered around the "First" series from Beneteau. These versatile "racer/cruisers" have been produced with the same design theory in thought for over thirty years. No matter the size, model, or build-year, the Beneteau First Series delivers a performance-oriented, sailing boat with a comfortable, cruisable interior. The competitive racer can trick the boats out for racing while the cruiser can add heat, windlasses, dodgers to make life aboard more comfortable. All of the boats have hot/cold pressure water, refrigeration, standing headroom, private staterooms and heads, and propane stoves, but the boats really come to life when the sails are out!

The highlight of the year was handing these keys to Mickie Hucke, just before our First sail on First Dance, a 2011 Beneteau First 35. This is a new model for Beneteau and First Dance is the first hull to be sailing on the west coast of the US. The boat was built in France and arrived beautifully despite enduring her first gale in Montana on the way here. The Huckes tricked this one out with a grey hull, a furnace, a windlass and beautiful set of North 3DL sails. Look for her on the race course around Tacoma and at Opening Day on dock "0" at SYC. The boat is very nice to sail, with a big steering wheel that I really didn't want to let go of....I'm hoping for another ride soon.

About two weeks later, our 2011 Beneteau First 30 showed up. This thing looks fast at the dock with a hard chine running the length of the boat, big tall mast with swept spreaders, no backstay and a full beam-width traveller running on the transom. I was drooling to sail her and now have had several exciting sails on the "big" 30 footer. Indeed, the boat has taken its design from the Volvo 70s, and Rambler 100, ex Speedboat, both excellent performing boats drawn by Juan K who designed this new First 30. She has had the sailing press impressed, and while the cover of Sailing World had her showing off her sailing abilities, the interior impressed Cruising World enough to award her, Boat of the Year, Best Small Cruiser.I have always been a fan of the First 36.7 which has just finished it long and successful run. Although new boats are no longer being produced I am confident that we will keep on hearing about this model through the years as sailors continue to enjoy the performance, comfort and value that can be had in this model. It brought a smile to my face to see the venerable Veloce stay in Puget Sound moving from OAK to GIG harbor, and changing her name to Shinola, Too. Watch out for number 171 on port on the starting line!
If you are on a budget but still looking for a nice sailing boat that can take you to the islands and maybe win a few "beer can" races, take a look at "Roxy" a 1982 Beneteau First 32 that is available for sale, asking $37,900 and lying at my dock. Great little boat with a tiller, furnace, tall mast!!!

Brand New Beneteau 34

2011-02-09T11:46:00.001-08:00

Today, February 9th, 2011 dawned bright, clear and calm. A great day to deliver our Brand New Beneteau 34 from CSR Marine to our Signature Yachts dock. There is something special and unique about putting the very first hour on a boat and driving it on its maiden voyage. To be chosen as the test pilot/delivery skipper for this boat is a joy and a privilege, and a perk for doing what I do. This morning I was "working" but you will probably see from the pictures that many people would pay for this lovely tour down the Seattle Ship Canal.These boats are tested in the pool at Beneteau USA, but they have never travelled any distance in the water. It is fun to check all of the equipment, electronics, and put the second hour on the engine. I noticed a couple of things with this boat, it features the new keyless ignition from Yanmar, and the engine just purred along, easily pushing the boat to 7 knots if needed. The autopilot worked perfectly, as did the new Raymarine ST70 Multi Function Wind/Speed/Depth.

I was cranking the stereo since I was alone.(hey, you gotta check these things!) and then as I backed it into the slip I was reminded that Signature Yachts has Four New 2011 Beneteau Sailboats in stock and ready to go for the season. A 31, a 34, a 40 and 50! Spring is coming, I could feel it today. What a great day for boating!

Beneteaus win the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Again!

2011-01-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Race is one of five big ocean sailboat races and arguably one of the toughest. It starts the day after Christmas on "Boxing Day" with the fleet leaving Sydney, Australia then down the coast, across the notoriously rough Bass Strait and ending 628 nautical miles later in Hobart, Tasmania. This year was tough with gale force winds in the upper 30s and low 40s on the first night at sea. Again, the Beneteaus showed their ability to perform in these conditions with the First 45 Victoire (upper left) winning IRC Division 2 and Paca (upper right and below) winning IRC Division 3.

This continues a winning tradition for the Beneteau brand in this ocean race, where in the 2009 edition, Two True and Wicked, both Beneteau First 40s finished first and second overall in the IRC Division.

A Beneteau First 40.7 has won the race and a Beneteau First 44.7 has also won.

A little closer to home, two Beneteau First 40.7s came in second and third in their division in the Winter Vashon Race. See Snake Eyes and Bravo Zulu below in a tight finish after a windy, sunny and perfect day in the Pacific Northwest. (photos by Daniel Foerster and Jan's Marine Photography)

New Year's Eve (day)

2010-12-31T14:47:00.000-08:00

While I probably should have been skiing, shopping, parenting or partying, I was lucky enough to have a sailing demonstration planned with some great guys on New Year's Eve. I have spent way too many New Year's Eves in Seattle in the rain, so it was wonderful that today dawned glorius, bright and frosty. Indeed the temperature was about 27 degrees when we reached the dock, but we are hearty up here in the Pacific Northwest and we are blessed with beautiful mountains. All of the crew were upbeat, and there was no question that we were going out on Puget Sound to check out this cool 1982 Cal 39. Unfortunately, there was little wind but check out the views of the Olympic Mountains and Mt. Baker off the bow. The docks were pretty busy at Shilshole Bay Marina and I was reminded again what a day in a sailboat can do for your temperment. Even in the cold of winter on the last day of the year, what a treat it is to commune with nature. Stop making excuses, go for a sail! A wonderful 2011 to all of you sailors!

Kaneohe

2010-12-10T15:33:00.000-08:00

Can a picture say a thousand words? Above, you see Kris Henderson and Allan Johnson out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean outside Kaneohe Bay, HI in our little International 14 on our way to winning the Hawaii State Championship Race. This picture was taken from my little point and shoot camera by Kris's fiance' Kim. Just prior to the photo we had capsized in the "great white shark breeding ground" when Kris's trapeze wire broke and he went splashing into the ocean. I don't know if it was the sharks or the adrenaline of the race, but Kris got right back on the boat, we set the spinnaker and almost "pearled" down some of those big waves out there. A fantastic distance race in a spectacular venue, Kris and I enjoyed every moment and particularly this one, where we have the boat back together, we are leading the race, waving to our short support team and making about 18 knots in full control. Thanks to Kris for excellent navigation down the channel where I got very disoriented. Note the "Sailing Angles" lycra supersuits that made their first debut for us at the 2000 Olympic 49er trials. They are quite astonishing on land, and my wife/stylist has forbidden me from wearing such a thing, but honey: form follows function, and these suits are perfectly suited for conditions where you will get wet, and the water is over 80 degrees and the air temperature is over 90 degrees.

http://www.kaneoheyachtclub.com/

2010 Annapolis SailBoat Show

2010-10-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

One of the big perks of selling sailboats for a living is that I get chances to travel to really neat events and locations. This October my work "forced" me to attend the Annapolis Sailboat Show. This is the largest "in the water" sailboat show in the World and all of the major (and minor) sailboat manufacturers are there to display their new products. It is an honor to be a Beneteau dealer at these types of shows and meetings because they are the largest sailboat manufacturer in the world, and they show it off at this big show. Beneteau was introducing four new models to North America at this show and had a beautiful display of all of their models. They were highlighting the new Sense 50, The new Flagship 58, and the new sporty First 35 and new First 30.

The Sense 50 is really something new! (Sense 42 coming next) Beneteau worked with Berret/Racoupeau to lower the cockpit floor, remove the aft cabins, design a huge, open cockpit, take the sleeping areas all the way forward and make the living area (formerly saloon) open, airy, bright, spacious and as comfortable as your living room at home. Due to the low cockpit floor, it is just three small steps into the living room. Among the unique design features are the hard chine on the hull which adds form stability and allows the boat to "rest" on this chine while sailing. The boat heels less for more comfort and security. The Sense 50 also features "flip up" helm seats to make a huge deck/beach in the aft part of the cockpit. The companion way door is a cantilevered, polycarbonate door that mechanically stows itself under the cockpit floor. Simply press a button to close up or open your boat.

The Beneteau Flagship 58

This is an unbelievable boat! Perhaps the nicest sailboat I have ever been on and while out of my budget, pretty reasonably priced at $800,000.

I have been selling Beneteaus for over seven years but they continue to surprise me with the value, innovation and quality that they offer. I was drooling over this boat and envisioning how I could buy one and get my family and friends out sailing/cruising. I wasn't the only one, as the line to get on this boat was about a 30 minute wait. Elegant, functional, open and big. The 58 is more traditional than the Sense 50 but quite modern and very well thought out. I loved the big open "beach" on the transom. I loved the transom windows from the aft stateroom. We had nine people in the saloon and there was room to move about. The aft staterooms are large with the starboard one featuring a split bed that could be two twins or a nice double. The mast and deck hardware were top notch!

The First 35 designed by Farr Yacht Design and Nauta Interiors

This boat replaces the very successful First 36.7, and it features some outstanding changes, modern touches, and a sleek, pretty profile. The big open cockpit is a sailor's dream with a big wheel, "german" mainsheet system leading to large Harken winches on both sides. Gone are the days of sore shoulders and arms for the mainsheet trimmer. A floor mounted traveler is within easy grasp of the helmsperson or main trimmer. The rigging is upgraded with high tech, no stretch line, PBO backstay, rod rigging, and a carbon spinnaker pole. The keel is a deep 7'2' fin with a big bulb on the bottom. The engine is a 29hp Yanmar Saildrive. Below the boat is beautiful and can be ordered with a teak finish or the blond ash you see in the photos below. The main saloon area is the same size as a First 40, while the two private staterooms offer plenty of room for two couples. I often get asked what boat would I want for my family and Pacific Northwest cruising and racing. This new Beneteau First 35 is at the top of my list!

The Juan K designed Beneteau First 30

I was very excited to see this new boat from Beneteau. It is a new direction for Beneteau going with Juan K Yacht Design and allowing him to work with Michael Desjoyeaux, A French offshore sailing champion. They started with a blank sheet of paper and came out with a highly innovative 30 foot sportster. Some of the things that sets this First 30 apart are the twin rudders, hard chines on the hull, square-top mainsail, no backstays, and the traveler aft of the helmsman on aft beam. It should be a hoot to sail and has a comfy interior as well. Signature Yachts has ordered one of these and will be available for review and purchase by Spring of 2011. Our boat will probably be plain white without the crazy graphics seen here, but either way this boat is a head turner. Juan K, the designer of the boat was in Annapolis to help us learn about the boat, and it was a special experience to be able to spend some time with him and see him talk, touch and feel his latest design. He was clearly pleased.

Skiffs in the Gorge

2010-08-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

Once again summer is not complete without a trip to the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Scorching hot temperatures with Nukin' Breeze was the order for the Skiff Festival hosted by the Columbia Gorge Racing Association. http://www.cgra.org/ We trailered down the mighty "Shilshole" our International 14 and were joined by the Musto Skiffs, Swift Solos, and the 29ers.

It was so windy, over 25knots! every day, that all of us struggled to sail our powerful sailboats. Only the 29ers seemed to handle the breeze and get a good regatta in with many races and many finishers. I think the pictures and video below will give you a little idea. Go to the Gorge in the Summer. It is amazing! (Thanks to Charlie Dore for billeting us on the Mustard Seed)

Race to the Straits

2010-05-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

So.......Opening Day of Yachting Season has long been celebrated by my family and me on the shores and waters of montlake cut, lake washington and SYC. I enjoy the crew races, the festivities, the dress, but for the last nine years an alternate "opening day parade" has been evolving to the point where this year, 109 sailboats raced "to the straits" and back. It was indeed quite a parade and you can see the route in the chart below. Sloop Taven Yacht Club started this cool race for any PHRF handicapped boat, but you can only sail singlehanded or doublehanded. You race from Shilshole to Port Townsend, party all night, and race back the next day from Port Townsend to Shilshole. The slowest rated boats start more than an hour earlier than the fast boats, so it is indeed a parade! My good friend John Murkowski invited me along on his beautiful Jeanneau 45p. This was a great boat for the race. Comfortable, big, seaworthy, fast. We were plagued by light winds on the first day and like many others, did not finish. We were in the hunt on the second day until the whole fleet becalmed at point no point, and we decided to power on home.

"Gray Wolf" the Rodger Martin designed 40 footer with a stayless mast won our division easily as they were the only boat in our class to finish the race both days. In these shots below, the wind has just come in after 9 hours of drifting. A gorgeous boat under a pillowy sky.

The wind got fresh in the evening and with an incoming flood, the little boats could only sail to get to the party. It was pretty impressive to see these Moore 24s and Olson 25s handle some trying conditions with only a crew of two.

On Sunday after the majority of the fleet had quit the race due to light wind and major tide, a big front came from the south, and I was very glad to be in a big, seaworthy boat. But even then, I was a little concerned and we needed to have our "wits" about us, as we powered and pounded into a 35 knot gale. I heard that "Tachyon" recorded 39 knots on the anemometer, and they were right there by us. I was seriously worried about all of those little boats, and in fact many of them ducked into kingston, or edmonds..for what they hoped would be the night, but it ended up being the next day too.....becasue it kept on blowin....I tried to catch it on video on the scene below. All of the images here by Allan Johnson with my ultra lame camera. Come on out an do "race to the straits" next year! You can find out more about it here: http://www.styc.org/race_info/RaceToTheStraits/index.shtml

Feeling Small in the Deception Mini 12

2010-03-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the 12 metre sailboats that reigned the America's Cup for many years? They produced some very close racing and some excellent imagery for the Cup. The boats were never the fastest or most exciting boats around, but many believe they were the best boat for match racing.

The Deception 12 is very close to the same lines as a 12 metre, but 1/5th of the size. Instead of a crew of 14 people, there is just one person and you sit inside the boat and steer it with your feet! It takes a little time to get used to the steering with your feet, but you have to also figure out all the sail controls. Imagine coming into a leeward mark, and you have to douse the pole, douse the spinnaker, unfurl the jib, get the backstay on, trim the jib and the main, and turn the boat around the mark, all by yourself.

At the Seattle Yacht Club there is a prolific fleet of these unique keelboats. They have about twenty five of them that sit on cradles and you launch them with a small crane. Nestle yourself inside the boat and off you go. The fleet welcomes newbies, and if you show up on a Sunday in the winter, you are bound to go racing. This is exactly the opportunity that was afforded to me, and I had the chance to sail the boat three times.

My results have been marginal, and I am still learning how to keep the boat going all the time. The fleet is very good, and have been at it for some time. But it is loads of fun and you certainly can't blame anyone for your follies, which is exactly what I loved about Laser sailing. This is kind of like that, but provides a completely different challenge. Come try it yourself! If you are interested, I would be happy to make an introduction to the fleet. E-mail me at allan@signature-yachts.com

48 Degree North did a nice little write up on the boat. You can find it here:http://http//www.48north.com/jul_2004/mini.htm

A Winter Sleigh Ride on "Dark Star"

2009-12-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

The Winter Vashon Island Race is always held on the first Saturday in December. It is a simple course with the start/finish line just off Tacoma Yacht Club by Point Defiance and then clockwise around Vashon Island. This year I was fortunate to be invited on Jonathan and Libby Mckee's Dark Star, a custom built Riptide 44. It is the only one in existance today, and is essentially a 44 foot International 14, but this one has a galley, a furnace, beautiful wood accents throughout, but it is also almost all carbon fiber, it draws about 10 feet, has water ballast tanks on either side of the boat, and is a rocket ship to sail!

We had a great race and led around the island most of the way, but the smaller boats enjoyed a building afternoon breeze after we finished which helped most of them beat us on corrected time after an adjustment on handicap. A couple of my observations from this unique experience included: 1) An amazing crew with an even better attitude. Everyone on board was the true model of a good shipmate. I think I could sail across an ocean with all of them and I had only sailed previously with a couple of the 10 guys on board. We had some adversity (engine trouble, hit a log at night, fog in the morning, a headsail that would not come down, and more) but most of it was shrugged off, dealt with and solved. 2) The start was at 9am in Tacoma, WA. The crew got on the boat at 5am at Shilshole and delivered the boat down there in the cold, dark night. We finished at sunset and delivered the boat home in the cold dark night. The race was fun, but many on board enjoyed the deliveries just as much or more. 3) With all the talent and experience on board this unique boat, we still had a practice sail prior to the event. 4) Jonathan Mckee doesn't drive the boat that much despite having numerous World Champion titles as a skipper and two Olympic Medals. He coaches the crew and manages the boat, and gets the best out of everybody on board.

You can learn more about this super cool boat and more of the Paul Bieker designs at http://biekerboats.com/Bieker_Boats/Riptide_44.html

Cruising Done Right in Mexico

2009-12-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

I met this nice young couple a few years back and they had just finished taking their ASA Certification Sailing/Boating lessons and were looking for a boat to further their interest in Sailing. With a limited budget and it all being really new, they settled on a Catalina 27. The next weekend they were in Sucia with that little boat! Octavia and Petter were ready to go and always seemed to have the right attitude about boating. This is them pictured to the right.

About a year later after looking for houses in overpriced Seattle, they started thinking that they could get a big boat and maybe live on that. They decided on a Hunter 44Deck Saloon which makes a great liveaboard. It also a ton of boat for the money and modestly priced compared to most houses in Seattle. They found an endtie slip on Lake Union, and this became their view:

About two years later I heard that they were provisioning and outfitting the boat to go down the coast to Mexico. I guess it occurred to them that their home was a boat and it might be nice in Mexico for the winter. It can't be that hard to sail a boat down the coast? Right? And it isn't. Check their awesome blog http://svbellamarina.blogspot.com/ for the whole dang thing. They are chillin down some place south of Mazatlan, while us Seattleites are really chillin down with sub freezing temperatures for over a week!

I think their plan is to put the boat on a ship bound for Seattle sometime in the spring. Good On Ya Octavia and Petter!

Grand Prix Racing in Beneteau First 36.7s

2009-11-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

Seattle Yacht Club's Annual Grand Prix Regatta is an invite only affair with the best boats in the region qualifying for the event. It is always run in the fall with the hopes of good winds and challenging conditions. This year was no exception and I was lucky enough to participate in class 4 with Three BeneteauFirst 36.7s on the line with a bunch of other really good boats, like a Soverel 33, a Dash 34, a Peterson 40, a J33 and Charles Hill's beautiful Wauquiez Centurion 40.

The Dash 34 won the event handily but the 36.7s had a good showing placing 2nd, 4th, and 8th. In these pictures by Jan's Marine Photography, you can see Carl Freund's Veloce, winning the start of race 1 with their beautiful port tack approach, and then Dave Steffen's Vitesse a moment later on Starboard. Notes the reefs in both of our mainsails. It was blowing a solid 22-25 knots at the start. On the run we saw 32 knots on the wind gauge, and promptly took our kite down.

The rest of the weekend was light and fluky, where we had to wait until Sunday to get 4 good races off in a funky easterly breeze that was blowing straight out of the locks. For me it was great fun to see three of these Beneteau race boats out on the water, having fun and rounding marks together. It would be great to get a few more out together and have one-design racing. PHRF is really fun also, but in this regatta we owed all of the boats time on handicap and you really had to sail very solidly to beat a 40 footer like "Shoot the Moon" and the rocket ship "Karma", that Dash 34 that was first to finish in every race.

The last photo is a Wauquiez Centurion 40 with teak decks and a gorgeous interior.

Links to photos are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75869001@N00/sets/72157622655798004/show/

Are boats only for the elite and wealthy? I think not!

2009-09-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly amazed by the assumptions that some people make about the boating lifestyle. When I tell people that I am off sailing, or racing, or selling sailboats, people always say things about cost, the wealth of owners, and other thoughts about us "yachties".

Certainly we all fantasize and think about the truly over the top yachts like this: (Daedulus, Ice Bear & Odessa) but the more time I spend in this sport/lifestyle the more convinced I am that anyone can do it. I walked down our dock today at Signature Yachts and found Five boats that could sail around Vancouver Island, and be purchased for less money than my International 14 foot dinghy. (See post "Extreme Sailing in a River")

A 1985 Elite 30 for $29,900. A nicely built french boat offering high performance and a cool interior.

A 1979 Dufour 31 at $26,900. Another nice French boat, with a big interior for a 31 footer.

A 1975 Ranger 33 at $19,750. A Gary Mull Design, nice sailing boat, big interior & big cockpit.

1980 Yamaha 30 at $19,750. These are great little sailing boats, built well and sail beautifully!

A 1977 C&C 29 at $29,000. Built in Canada, with a solid reputation, let's go racing or cruising!

If you are thinking of getting into the sport you do not need a boat you can host Thanksgiving dinner on or sail around the world. Get a little boat and get exploring all the wonderful places you can reach around here on a boat. Then as your needs change, you can change boats.

A good friend of mine who owns a 44 foot pilothouse sailboat recently purchased a Thunderbird, 26 foot sloop sailboat for around $7,000. When I asked him why he did such a thing when he owned such a cool cruising boat, he responded by saying: "My fondest memories are of sailing small boats, and I wanted to get back to that!"

Life is short, Go Sailing!

Beneteau 40 Cruising in the San Juan Islands

2009-08-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

If you want to go far up north in your boat, maybe Desolation, maybe the Broughtons, maybe Barkley consider having someone you trust with your boat to do a delivery to or from your destination. It is a neat, convenient way for you to spend more time in the islands and a nice opportunity for your delivery crew.

This was the scenario in which I was entrusted with an almost new Beneteau 40. Le Reve, (the dream) is the name of the boat and owners had two glamorous weeks in Desolation Sound (87 degree water in Teakerne Arm!) and then we met in Nanaimo, where they took my car and jumped the ferry as I readied the boat for a trip through Dodd Narrows.

My crew was my lovely wife Sharon and our 3.5 year old son Axel. This was our second cruise as a family, the first being when Axel was 10 months old. The first cruise was a little shaky with an infant, but we either had forgot about it, or thought we were all a little older and ready for life on a boat. Our first order of preparation was to hire a babysitter for Axel's brother Dean, and we left him at home. We wanted a crew who was ready to do their part and take care of themselves for the most part. We wanted a nice, relaxing vacation. Fortunately, the crew adopted to life aboard straight away and it sure made me proud to have my son so eager to drive, navigate, coil lines, strike the ensign and all those things you do when cruising.

We had a nice journey through the islands and tried to make the passages short with the time on shore long. The Beneteau 40 is perfectly suited to island cruising. A big, safe cockpit protected by a dodger makes for a place in which you spend most of your time. The twin wheels allowed Axel to drive, while I could make sure we stayed on course. The boat is outfitted with the latest charting electronics, a furling main, and a purring Yanmar diesel engine. The boat is easy to handle and is comfortable everywhere. It even had a digital TV and DVD player that the whole crew loved because Axel could watch videos at the end of a crossing or at cocktail hour, and we could enjoy the solitude of a sunset.

A couple of items on the boat that were very nice in addition to the TV, were the Webasto furnace that we used several times, )even though it was August) and the hard-bottomed inflatable dinghy on the Sea-Wise Davits. Many people commented on this configuration and were envious of how simple it was to deploy and retrieve the dinghy. In the pictures above you can see the dinghy stowed on the transom, and the picture below is with it deployed and in the water, but not yet released from the davits. Axel could row his heart out, and I could cook the Halibut on the Magma Barbecue. If you can, go cruising now! You will be better for doing so. -allan

Extreme Sailing in a River

2009-07-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Extreme sailing in a river may seem like an oxymoron but it aptly describes racing an International 14 dinghy in the Columbia River Gorge. This July I took 4 days and competed in the International 14 National Championships sailed out of Cascade Locks, Oregon. This location has long been one of my favorite places to sail a dinghy. A hot, windy, natural environment with beautiful scenery and freshwater combine to make for some excellent sailing.

In this excellent picture from Sean Trew, you will see me in the blue hat with Kris Henderson on the helm. My hat is on backward because it was getting blown off. Here we are going upwind in a 25 knot puff, fully hiked and going about 9 knots. You might take notice of the fact that the crew (forward hand) plays the mainsheet directly from the boom and there is not a mainsheet cleat. The beautiful scenery of the Columbia River Gorge can be seen in the background.

For this National Championship we had 13 boats show up from as far away as Alberta, CA and Southern California. Among the rules for an International 14 National Championship is the requirement of a long distance race. So after 4 good buoy races in the morning, they set us off on a downwind start for a temporary mark 7 miles up river and back. It is a simple course but a seriously difficult challenge when the wind is up. We ended up capsizing at the start because we were a little to aggressive with our full-on, kite up, twin wire, going 17 knots at the line, 5 seconds late start, because there were 5 boats right in front of us going slow as they hoisted their kites. It was one of the more memorable moments of the regatta and was executed exactly as we had planned, except the capsize. We righted the boat and by the time we got to that mark way down the river we were in fourth place, we passed one boat on the way upwind and finished the long distance race in Third Place. Here is some neat video of some friends of mine sailing (and capsizing) their 14 in "The Gorge"! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0R74mpPQKM

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

2009-07-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

The image to the left is down deep in the lock on the puget sound side of the lock. The image to the right is at the top of the lock just prior to the gates opening and letting us into the freshwater of Salmon Bay and Lake Washington.

The "Locks" are an interesting place and I find myself going through them about twice a month. During this transit we had no incidents aboard a beautiful Beneteau 44 Center Cockpit, and none of our lockmates had much trouble either. As I like to say: "The locks are not to be taken lightly, but they are pretty simple and straightforward." My tips include having three people aboard, two 50 foot lines and six fenders, 3 to a side. For recreational traffic, a red and green light will tell whether to enter or not and the lockmaster will tell you where to tie. If you want more tips on locking through, email me at allan@signature-yachts.com and I will be happy to help. Sailboaters need to be careful of the current flowing Westbound and the Railroad Bridge that gives priority to trains, not sailboats. You can learn more about the locks at http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/PublicMenu/Menu.cfm?sitename=lwsc&pagename=mainpage

Beneteau First 36.7 Racing

2009-06-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Windermere Cup is a great regatta put on by Anacortes Yacht Club and Andy Schwenk. This was my first year that I was able to participate and I recommend the event highly to any sailboat racer who wants to do some fun around the buoys racing.

There was about 40 boats this year and I was fortunate to trim the main on Dave Steffen's brand new Beneteau First 36.7 "Vitesse". This boat has been expertly prepared and sports a beautiful set of Doyle Sails. This was their first regatta and they finished a respectable fourth out of nine boats.

I had an excellent time on the boat and the rest of the crew was fun to sail (and party) with. Everyone on board seemed to have a good time and we had some moments of greatness, like in the picture above where we are just slightly ahead of Carl Freund's "Veloce", another Beneteau First 36.7 that sailed a great regatta and won the event.

You can learn more about these boats at http://beneteaufirst367.org

Sabre 38 Sailing

2009-06-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of sailing a 28 year old Sabre 38. This is a very nice boat that almost all sailors would admire. As we sailed along smartly at 4 knots in 5 knots of wind, I was reminded of the joy that can be had in a nicely crafted sailing vessel. This particular boat is uncommon in the Pacific Northwest, but quite popular on the East Coast, particularly the northern parts as the boats are built in Maine.

I have done some great cruising on a slightly larger Sabre 42 and have sold several Sabre 386s recently. All of the Sabres are superbly crafted and feature nice design elements like wide side decks, a sailor's cockpit and just enough teak to give the boats a higher level of elegance. You can learn more about them athttp://www.sabreyachts.com

Summer Solstice 2009

2009-06-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

I figured this was as good a day as any to start a blog about sailing in the Seattle Area. This has always been one of my favorite days of the year, as the sun sets tonight at 9:11pm in the Seattle area and it won't be dark until after 10pm. A great night for sailing, drifting or doing some sort of activity on the water.

This year's solstice happens to fall on Father's Day and what fun for me to have my two boys all excited about the WeedEater they got for me. Admittedly, I'm all excited about it too!

I'm going to attempt to post some things in this blog that I find interested in the sailing and sailboat world in and around Seattle. I will also profile some of the boats for sale and interesting offerings that I see in my work as a broker at Signature Yachts.

Let's see where the wind will take us. -Allan