12 Boats from California and the Pacific Northwest partook in the 2003 Santa Cruz 27 Nationals regatta, held at Port Townsend, WA, in July. Four boats made the long trek up from California, including former National Champion Hanalei Express, Variety Show, Slingshot, and Sumo. 8 boats from the Pacific Northwest also sailed the regatta, including that damn yellow boat Salt Heart from Orcas Island, the red hot Marionette from Seattle, Giant Slayer from Des Moines and Shadowfax also from the South Sound, and Ariel (National Champion boat Good Timin' under new ownership) from Victoria. Express also sailed as a family affair, and Mr Magoo, under brand new ownership, came out and double handed around the courses, making a great showing and learning alot! Not shown in the results for Nationals was the modified SC27 Norn, skippered by Arne Hammer, which was participating for and won the NW Trophy. With this many quality boats and crews in attendence without the advantages of local knowledge, it was sure to be a nailbiter of a regatta!

Port Townsend can have a variety of conditions that include strong currents and shifty winds. The pattern that played itself out these three days was a cool marine layer in the morning, with a southerly wind. The clouds would burn off by early afternoon and the wind would fill in strong from the North.

Day 1:

The first race got underway in light Southeasterly conditions, with a single windward leeward course. Giant Slayer set the tone of the regatta right away by taking an authoritative first. This was pretty amazing, considering the boat was in the water for the first time in a year, and the crew had never sailed together before! In what was to become routine, a pack of boats that included Ariel, Hanalei, Sumo, Norn, Salt Heart, and Marionette were all vying for top positions. The wind shifted around to the North and strengthened for the next four races of the day, and the Race Committee moved marks. The second race featured stronger winds, and boats ranged in the ability to adjust quickly. On Giant Slayer, sailing with only 4 people made us regretfully change down to the #2. The #2 proved not to be up to the task. Other boats that had more than 4 people were able to carry the #1 around the top of the course, where the wind rolled off the bluffs above Port Townsend and was gusting to high teens. The next four races saw four different boats take first place finishes. Giant Slayer fell out of the running with an OCS in the fifth race. At days end the top 5 boats were spread very even by only a few points, with no clear dominant boat. Although only taking 1 first, Marionette sailed the most consistent finishes to lead at the end of the fist day.

Day 2:

The second day got underday much like the fist, with a slowly shifting southerly making positioning marks, start lines, and starting the race difficult for the RC. The currents were a bit devious, and the winds too. The first race saw the fleet spread out over the course, feeling out the conditions. While the top five boats finished in order, the rest of the fleet came in haphazard. The second race saw the beginning of the Northerly coming, as the clouds started burning off. Variety Show showed its paces in this race by taking a healthy second, while Giant Slayer got back in the game with 1 more crewperson than the day before and a 5th place finish. Marionette took an uncharacteristic 7th, while Sumo found out, much as Giant Slayer had the day before, that an OCS hurts.

The third race of the day was a distance race out to Protection Island and back. This was timed to start so that boats had some chance of getting around Point Wilson into the Straits of Juan De Fuca before max flood. This was an extremely interesting race, a true test of seamanship and patience, and perhaps the most deciding race of the regatta for Salt Heart. The race started with a pure drag race to the beach on the Port Townsend waterfront. The current further out was adverse, and most boats stayed on the beach with the exception of Salt Heart. Everyone wrote Salt Heart off for dead, and short tacked the beach. Here staying in payed off, as Hanalei shadowed every move of the charging Marionette, and both boats lifted up the beach with good breeze off the bluff. Ariel, Giant Slayer, Norn, and other boats all were a bit further out and ended up falling behind these two leaders for a while. Rounding Point Wilson proved to be a make or break thing: for most boats it was break. While Marionette and Hanalei wisely chose the beach and parked for a while, Giant Slayer led the charge through the current exchange, sailing higher out into the Straits. But there wasnt enough wind to carry the boat, and much to the chagrin of the Giant Slayers and everyone following them, the boat was carried backward by the current at about 2 knots and lost all the grount back to Point Wilson. Ariel, Sumo, Slingshot, Norn and others all followed suit. It was at this point that Salt Heart decided to abandon the race, and headed in. The rest of the boats duked it out in the light conditions, and shortly (miraculously) the wind filled in...and boy did it! A 15 knot Northwesterly filled in and the boats commenced short-tacking the beach to stay out of the now 3 knots of current. One long tack out and many places lost was enough to teach all the boats to stay in as close to the beach as possible. Boats sailed through kelp beds and tacked in 6 feet of water, to try to stay out of the current. Marionette and Hanalei were long gone, having not been swept back to Point Wilson. Everyone else battled with each other and battled the wind, trying to carry the #1 all the way to the mark without doing the expensive sail change. The sailing was very overpowered under the #1, and the tacks were physical and the pounding to the mark was notable. Shadowfax finally changed down to their three, but blew a tack near shore and was passed by a few boatlengths by the massively overpowered Giant Slayer on the final tack to the mark. One by one the boats rounded the mark, with great tacking duels being played out along the way. Giant Slayer, Norn, and Shadowfax all sailed as a group for a while, while Sumo was able to keep up with Ariel better. The downwind run back to the finish line was very exciting, surfing through 6 foot standing waves on a beam reach past Point Wilson!

Day 3:

With 8 races already under their belts, the racing was still very close among the top 5 or 6 boats. After two days of racing, no clear leader had emerged and the national championship was still up for grabs! Boats with clear shots at victory included Marionette, Sumo, Ariel, and Hanalei. Salt Heart had been in the running, but the DNF really hurt their chances in race 8. In fact, it would come back to haunt them! Like the previous two days, the conditions in the morning was an East southeasterly. In retrospect, the left side of the course was heavily favored in all three races, and boats varied in their ability to realize and commit to this. The first race was started, and the boats with clear series experience covered the boats they thought they had to cover to win the series. Salt Heart set the pace with a win, while Ariel finished a close second. Hanalei finished an uncharacteristic 7th, off the pace, but that was because they were covering Marionette, who finished 6th. Giant Slayer showed more alertness on this race day and took progressively better finishes, all top 5, starting with a 5th in the first race.

The second race was much like the first, with Ariel taking the bullet and Sumo close behind. Although Sumo never took a first place finish, they took 3 seconds out of 11 races and sailed very consistently to be in a top spot this late in the game. Hanalei got back up to speed with a third, while Giant Slayer took the 4th, beating out Marionette in 5th.

The third race was to be the last of the regatta, and by this time most boats knew the left was favored. The start was a cluster, with many boats stalled a few boatlengths below the line. Giant Slayer and Variety Show got the best starts and went furthest left. At the top mark, Variety Show led Giant Slayer and Salt Heart around the mark, with the rest of the fleet following 10 boatlengths behind. The leeward run was a subtle battle between Giant Slayer, trying to roll Show, and Salt Heart trying to roll Slayer, all the way down to the corner. Giant Slayer rolled Show, but Salt Heart gybed a bit earlier and didnt bang the corner, enabling them the get the inside and round one boat ahead of Giant Slayer, who rounded 2 boats ahead of Show. The rest of the fleet was hot on the heels of these three boats (and Norn, who had rounded the leeward mark first!), and experienced had showed that every leg counted so no mistakes could be made on the beat back to the finish. Giant Slayer and Salt Heart again to the left, but Norn came over and excuted a perfect Lee Bow on Giant Slayer. Precious seconds were lost, and Giant Slayer had to tack out again. Here, Variety Show passed Giant Slayer again, having made two less tacks and laying the finish line. However, the left was again the most favores side, and Salt Heart, Variety Show, and Giant Slayer all on the left powered over Norn in the middle to finish 1, 2, 3. Sumo again showed great speed and led the next wave of boats into the finish, with Shadowfax hot on their heels. Ariel, Hanalei, and Marionette had all been covering each other, and finished far back in the fleet. It was a great race and a great way to wrap up the racing!

After 11 close races with no clear victor until the last race or two, Ariel took the 2003 Santa Cruz Nationals by several points, despite expert sailing by Hanalei, a late surge by Salt Heart with two bullets on day 3, and Marionette and Sumo both within striking distance! Congratulations to all!

Complete results:
http://www.sc27.org/sc27class/2003nats/2003NationalsFinal.html