‘Off Like a Prom Dress’ wins first fall Yacht Club race

Published 5:00 pm Monday, August 30, 2010

Last week saw the start of Astoria Yacht Club’s Fall Racing Series.

After what has been a very unusual summer for weather, normal conditions returned with northwest winds and sunshine.  Race Officers Toby Dyal and Hal Nueman set a course which took the boats downstream to a mark set near the Desdemona Sands and sent the five Olsons off on a two-lap race.

Norm Shatto, sailing “Mach 1,” was first to the first mark, with “Rattler” and “Off Like a Prom Dress” following closely. “Mach 1” had some difficulty setting their spinnaker in the boisterous conditions, allowing “Off like a Prom Dress” to close the gap. The two boats sailed neck-and-neck to the downwind mark, however it was “Off Like a Prom Dress” which rounded with a slight advantage.

“Prom Dress” was able to pull out a narrow lead and picked a perfect layline to the weather mark. Several of the skippers reported hitting speeds over 10 miles per hour which gave the crews plenty to smile about.

Results:

1. Off Like a Prom Dress (Stuart Sinclair)

2. Mach 1 (Norm Shatto)

3. Rattler (Mike Campbell)

4. Cara Mia (Nick Zametkin)

5.Wildfire (RAF) (Tom Brownson/Thor Sorenson)