J/Crews crush spectacular Down The Sound Race

Down The Sound Race at Sloop Tavern Yacht Club © Event Media

One of the most popular offshore races in the Puget Sound summer series is hosted by the infamous and fun-loving members of Sloop Tavern Yacht Club. Their "Down The Sound Race" is a double-handed overnight rally race. The race goes from Seattle up to Gig Harbor on Saturday. Then after overnight festivities, race back on Sunday.

The sailors enjoyed postcard perfect weather conditions all weekend; 80 degrees, blue skies both days, 10 to 15 kts out of the north. It doesn't get much better for double-handed racing than that!

Tom Kerr had a J/33 named Corvo for years and upgraded to the J/105 two years ago. "I should have done this years ago," commented Tom after he purchased her and started racing in the Seattle J/105 one-design class.

The downwind run Sunday was so good that the first ten finishers beat the Sloop Tavern RC boat to the finish! As a result, the boat that finished first- the J/120 GREY WOLF- set the line and took people's finishes down until the committee boat made it!

Double Handed Flying Sails Classes

The J/109 LAPA- owned and skippered by Michael Campbell- took second place in the PHRF Class 2 Double Handed Non-Flying sails division.

In Class 5 Double Handed Flying Sails division, Leo Morales' J/27 got the bronze. Meanwhile, their stablemate Ulf George Gwildis's J/30 Impulsive took fourth just 3 minutes in arrears on corrected time after two days of sailing.

Jessica & John Aguilar-Kazaras' J/29 RUBY crushed it in Class 6 Double Handed Flying Sails division, winning by over 13 minutes.

Class 7 was the J/80 division. Winning was Phil Dean's Rush, followed by Taylor Joosten's Crazy Ivan in second and Richard Demmler's Tastes Like Chicken in third position.

The J/105's swept Class 8 Double Handed Flying Sails. Winning was Tom Kerr and Serhad's Corvo 105, followed by Steve Summers' Puff in second and Sara Billey's Peer Gynt in third.

The Hinz/ Butler duo on the J/120 Hinzite pulled off the silver in their Class 9 Doublehanded Flying Sails division, missing the class win by a mere two minutes after seven hours of sailing over two days.

Doublehanded Flying Sails Overall

J/Crews took seven of top 10 overall in the Double Handed Flying Sails division, nearly sweeping the podium. Winning was the Kerr/Serhad duo on the J/105 Corvo 105. Third was the J/120 Hinzite, fourth the J/105 Puff, fifth the J/105 Peer Gynt, sixth Tad Fairbank's J/100 Selah, eighth the J/80 Rush, and ninth the J/80 Crazy Ivan! Congratulations to all, fantastic performance!

Jack & Jill Division

There was another prize for the top man/woman "Jack'n'Jill" team for the two 21.667nm races on Saturday and Sunday. Winning was Summers' J/105 Puff!

More information at styc.org