Photo of Cake or Death near the rounding mark. Taken by Jennifer Wensrich on Selchie.

Photo taken by Nicole Roethle on Cake or Death.

Predator takes 1^st place in the Lake Washington Moonlight regatta. Fancy placed second and Selchie placed third.

Five San Juan 24s and two Thunderbirds participated in a single class for bragging rights to the Moonlight Regatta on Saturday August 17th 2019. With three of the five San Juan 24s travelling from Lake Union to compete.

The racing was very competitive with a downwind spinnaker start in light air of 3 to 5 knots. The boats that hoisted their spinnakers early and built up some speed at the start line took an early lead on the course.

Temporary wind shifts and unsettled wave action/wakes from large power boats were two of the major challenges presented to the fleet. Combined with light air, the boats would slow down or stop in the water when the spinnaker would collapse. And then the hard work would begin to refill the spinnaker and get the boat back up to speed.

Fancy led the fleet up to the windward mark. Selchie rounded right behind Fancy, followed closely by Predator. Predator sailed to windward of Selchie and Fancy and passed both boats to lead the fleet at the east side of the 520 bridge. Selchie and Fancy continually battled for position all the way to the finish line. The top three boats all finished within about 1 minute of each other in succession.

On the run south, driving the sailboats through the east side navigation channel of the 520 bridge proved to be challenge for all boats. The wind picked up to 9-10 knots on the way into and out of the navigation channel but was unpredictable near the bridge. Under the bridge the wind speed dropped and proved to be shifty. Combined with power boat traffic, this was a test of the sailing skills for all boats. Predator and Selchie both performed close quarters, well executed tacks near/under the bridge with little drama.

The Lake Union boats all sailed well in unfamiliar territory and successfully through the East side navigation channel of the 520 bridge. This group included Cake or Death, Great Escape and Argon. The Argon crew was most impressive as it was their first time flying a spinnaker on their boat. Great job!

Cake or Death was the next boat to finish after Selchie. A few minutes later, Sweet Jesus finished and only a few seconds ahead of Great Escape for a great photo finish. Argon proved to be the crew that wouldn’t quit and finished well before the time limit to much cheer and fanfare by the rest of the fleet.

Lake Washington is an excellent racing venue, with challenging winds and navigation obstacles. The wind for this event varied from 3 to 5 knots at the start to a steady 9-10 knots at the finish. The cloud cover cleared after 9pm and by 10pm, the sailors were treated to a spectacular moonrise. Many of the boat crews met afterwards at BluWater to award the top 3 finishers and for a chance to mingle.

The 2019 Moonlight Regatta is now history, and congratulations to Craig Burnell and crew on Predator for a deserving win. Many people contributed time and effort to successfully coordinate and execute this informal Moonlight Regatta. A hat's off thank you to all the skippers for rounding up crew for the event. Kyle and Nicole Roethle, Jennifer Wensrich, Sean Busby and Jeff Kendall for gathering support for the event. And a special thanks to the crews of Argon, Great Escape and Cake or Death for making the trip from Lake Union.

Per the Sailing Instructions, you are required to take a photo of your GPS position and time when rounding the MR1 mark at the North end of the lake.

To comply with rounding the mark, your GPS must display a boat position Latitude of greater than N47° 41.000 and a longitude of W122° 14.300 within +/-0.020 to comply with rounding the mark. (NOTE +/- 0.020 longitude is approximately +/- 90 feet.)

The photo here shows a boat rounding the MR1 mark with the boats' GPS position reported as Latitude N 47° 41.002 at 8:44:47 pm. And a Longitude of W 122° 14.296. Clearly showing the boat was above the required latitude and within +/-0.020 of longitude of the MR1 mark GPS position meeting the requirements of the sailing instructions.

Per the Sailing Instructions, you are required to take a photo of your GPS position and time when crossing the finish line.

Your GPS must display a boat position Latitude of equal or less than N47° 36.000 and a longitude between W122° 16.900 (MWP) and W122° 16.600 (MEP) to comply with crossing the finish line.

The photo here shows the boats' GPS position reported as Latitude N 47° 36.000 at 10:19:29 pm. And a Longitude of W 122° 16.639. Clearly demonstrating the boat was within the boundaries of the finish zone, meeting the requirements of the sailing instructions.