TASAR NORTH AMERICAN
CHAMPIONSHIPS Organizing and executing a championship regatta in the time of Covid-19 is no small feat. Not only did the Tasar North American Championship deliver on a high caliber of sailing, but Seattle Yacht Club (SYC) ran it like a world-class event. PRO Ben Glass, event chair Lisa Renehan, and SYC sailing director Brian Ledbetter ran an excellent regatta in preparation for the 2021 Tasar World Championships, which will be hosted by SYC in Seattle next September. Tasar NAs boasted great turnout. Due to current pandemic gathering restrictions, the event was capped at 22 boats. It cannot be overlooked that Canadian sailing friends could not attend the event because of border restrictions. Hopefully travel across the border can resume soon, so there will be better representation of competitors across the region. Nonetheless, enthusiasm in the fleet is notable. There are many new boat owners, most are recently out of college, some still in school. Dieter Creitz and Sam Bush are undoubtedly the youngest, their combined age would likely still qualify for healthcare coverage as a child dependent. In a deep field of talent, Creitz and Bush hung on in the windy races, and competitively raced near the top of the fleet in the lighter winds. Also among the growing fleet of Tasar competitors are many familiar sailing family names that jog the memory banks — Burzycki, Stewart, Pistay, Kaseler. The event was broadcast live in entirety on Facebook and viewed around the world by Tasar community friends and family. It included live on-the-water commentary by Brian 48º NORTH
Ledbetter along with some overhead drone footage. This level of coverage is not common for events in the Northwest and the fleet is looking forward to similar coverage for the World Championships. The footage is still available on Seattle Yacht Club’s Facebook page. The course was held to the northwest of Shilshole Bay on the edge of the shipping channel, far enough from shore to negate shore effects that would cause favoritism to one side of the course. Saturday’s wind was fresh, blowing in the upper teens, gusting around 20 knots from the south. Four races were
Three-time Tasar World Champions, Jonathan McKee and Libby Johnson Mckee were second in this regatta, 29 years after winning their first Tasar North American Championship.
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NOVEMBER 2020
