Cascadia Cup

The annual Cascadia Cup Regatta, a joint event for Northwest district high school and college teams was held on October 10 and 11 at Sail Sand Point in Seattle.

Twenty-eight high school teams and 15 college teams convened Saturday morning for a 1045 competitors meeting. Changes to the regatta format this year included it becoming a '10%' qualifying event for the HS District Championship and thus the high school and college fleets dividing and sailing different starts.

Racing commenced within minutes of the schedule start time of 1130 with the arrival of 8 knot winds from the southeast. Windward Leeward 3 and 4 courses were used throughout the regatta. Races 1A, 2A, and 1B for both the high school and college teams were completed in these conditions with a gradual windshift to the south. At 1345 an area squall covered the racing area, requiring the postponement of races. All competitors were directed to return to shore. Two RC boats and two safety boats escorted the competitors and assisted in several capsize recoveries in overpowering winds. After 45 minutes ashore, the Regatta Chairman, PRO, and coaches agreed to resume racing in the newly 'stable' conditions of 10 knot S winds with occasional 20 knot gusts. One more B, and two more A races were completed by each fleet in these conditions late Saturday afternoon.

Racers enjoyed steady 5-8 knot winds from the south from 1000 until 1440. Four more races were completed in both A fleets, and 5 in each B fleet. The wind then dropped to 4 knots as race 8B for HS was started. The wind dropped further and shifted to the southwest resulting in a starboard tack fetch to the windward mark. Substantial shifts of 90 degrees or more and inconsistent racing lead to the abandonment of the race in progress and racing to be called off for the day. To equalize the regatta, scores from race 8A were dropped, resulting in 7 total races scored in both A and B division.

Four scoring inconsistencies were examined and ultimately rectified by the RC once racing ended on Sunday. One protest was heard, resulting in a DSQ in race 7B.

Congratulations to the Bainbridge Spartans, winners of this year's high school fleet at Cascadia Cup!

A huge thanks to everyone that made this event possible: PRO Philip Hubbell and his RC team of Cara Kuhlman, Andrew Nelson, Jim Skeel, Colby Vavolotis, Caleb Tarleton, Bob Greaby; all the parent and board volunteers who prepared and distributed lunches throughout the weekend; Sail Sand Point, Regatta Chair Nino Johnson, and the UW Sailing Team for hosting; and finally all the coaches, team leaders, and parents who braved the wet Saturday morning conditions to get 20 plus FJs and over 120 sailors to Seattle for the weekend.

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.