Despite its reputation as “the regatta that had no races” last summer, the Western District regatta this year managed to have 3 races in each division.
When competitors and instructors first arrived last Thursday morning for the regatta check-in and t-shirt pick up, they encountered the weather typical of this regatta: hot and no wind. However after a nearly 3½ hour on-shore postponement, the breeze filled in from the South and harbor start was sounded around 2pm.
For most competitors, Western District was the first qualifying regatta of the season, and many had ambitions to place for champs during it.
“I really want to qualify at this regatta; that way I don’t have to worry about it at bigger regattas later in the summer,” Allison Roth, a C420 sailor from American Yacht Club, expressed during the postponement period Thursday morning.
“I like one day regattas because they’re quick and easy,” Emily Chisolm, a Pixel sailor from Northport Yacht Club, said in an interview Thursday afternoon. “It’s really chill because there’s not a lot of people, and so it’s not hectic.”
Another thing people liked was the overall atmosphere at the club and the surrounding scenery.
“It’s a beautiful place, and it was cool to launch off the beach; you don’t get to do that at a lot of JSA clubs,” Ryan Schmitz, the Head Laser Coach at Seawanhaka Yacht Club, commented after the last race.
Because of the late start, the sailors did not return to shore until about 6:30pm. Although it was a long day for everyone at the event, many people appreciated being able to get in the 3 races that were completed, and felt that the Race Committee did a fine job at making that happen efficiently.
“I’ve done this regatta a lot of times, and they have one heck of a PRO here,” expressed Schmitz.
The results for this regatta are available on the regatta documents page of the JSA’s website, www.JsaLis.org. There are also a good number of nice photos of the event in an album on our Facebook page, so be sure to check them out! The album is here.
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