February 28 2015 was a beautiful sunny and breezy Saturday, and it was the occasion of the annual Shipwrights Regatta in Port Townsend. Russell and I are not racers but this seemed like a good excuse to get out on the water. We entered the PT 11 thinking there would be a host of dinghies in the fleet as is often the case in Port Townsend. Well, we turned out to be the only actual dinghy! Our 11 footer was the most “water-line challenged” in the fleet. Next up in size were 505 Olympic class racing dinghies, then 6 Thunderbirds, and lots of racing and cruising yachts of a wide variety.

PTWATERCRAFT.COM
LIL B ON THE STARTING LINE, FAR LEFT (click to see larger)

When the horn sounded for the start, we were first across the 'line', together with the 'cruising class'.  We made the course around the bay twice and crossed the finish line just over 2 minutes behind the last large boat.  Yes, we finished last which, after-all, was pretty much a given at the start!  It was a lot of fun and nobody was ever left far behind as even we were able to stay close to the fleet and boats with 10 times our sail area and 3 or more times our waterline.

ptwatercraft.com
LIL B FAR RIGHT (click to see larger)

A great thing about this town and this sailing community and regattas like this one is the fun loving spirit and a trophy of some kind for almost everyone.  We won the Boat Hook, as the boat that 'could have used a little pull'... or one less crew, perhaps.. but we were tickled with our “win” and had a blast out on the water. I was having so much fun, cold as I was, that a childish grin was frozen on my face.

Lil B at the finish line
Lil B at the finish line

My fingers were too cold and stiff to work the Gopro camera very well but what I got is HERE, wet lens and all.
Other pictures of the day can be seen on the Port Townsend Sailing Association website.  We are seen under the results and Annual Awards as "Lil B".

😉 Ashlyn