Stephen Shumaker's Page

The 2013 West Coast Championship was held March 15-17 in conjunction with the San Diego NOOD regatta.  The fleet sailed out of Navy Yacht Club, which is only 10 minutes from the starting area in the broad, smooth, un-trafficked waters of South San Diego Bay.

Thursday March 14: Many boats arrived this day to get set up, practice, and/or get measured by US Class Measurer Warren McArthur.  It was good to see Warren back with the fleet after he was rear-ended last year on his way to the…

Only 3 boats showed up for this; Brad and Trick on the B5 1161, Steve and Gerrit on the Shu2 1183 and Terry and Brian on the B6 1187. Forecast was for 5-7 kts out of the ssw, veering more west in the afternoon. As is often the case in San Diego, the summer winds were more than forecast. Most of the day was sailed in 8 to 12 kts, with some lighter stuff thrown in occasionally. With the ssw wind direction, we sailed in the main channel near the harbor entrance off of the Navy's submarine…

As has been the custom for the last several years, the West Coast Championship was sailed as part of the San Diego NOOD regatta. Tireless So Cal I-14 fleet promoter Brad Reutenik has been coordinating the regatta with the NOOD folks, and his efforts make this regatta a favorite of the west coast fleet. He even went so far as to attend the off-site skippers meeting and bring the information back for an on-the-beach meeting for the fleet.

A total of 10 boats registered for the…

My pipeline engineering conference provided the perfect cover for "just happening" to be in the area.  The hospitable, but gullible Seattle fleet took the bait.  Here is my daily report.

Saturday July 23 1145:  Arrive hotel downtown seattle.1330: my fellow committee member, a Seattle resident with white arms and legs sticking out of shorts and hawaiian shirt, is muttering about being stuck in a meeting on the first real day of summer.

Wednesday July 27 1200: conference over. …