Thank you to Mark Ross for the following report: Keith Whittemore and crew of Tundra Rose earned first place honors at the Western Regional Championship in Seattle, WA on October 15-16. Hosted by Corinthian Yacht Club on the Puget Sound, site of the J/24 US Nationals in May 2017, the race committee skillfully engineered five races on Sunday following a Saturday that was, in good judgement, shut down by the US Coast Guard amidst cyclone warnings. Making the most of a dry-docked Saturday, local J/24 sailors Mark Laura, Joy Okazaki, Keith Whittemore and Michael Johnson “schooled” a full room with extemporaneous chalk talks about the World Championship held in Japan this year, racing tactics and strategies, and boat certification. Sunday racing, including boats from California, Idaho, Montana and Washington, found the competition to be tough as four different teams took first-place finishes. Conditions covered the gamut starting with blistering winds in the first and second races in which Keith’s Tundra Rose put the hammer down and cruised to first-place finishes. The wind eased slightly in the third race, prompting a few boats to switch to a genoa. Skippered by Bill Taylor, Atom Ant chose to stick with their jib and credits that decision with a win in the third race, barely crossing the line ahead of Tundra Rose. All boats switched to genoas by the fourth race as the wind steadily declined, and the 10-foot tide change and currents became dominant strategic elements. Scott Milne’s Tremendous Slouch made that transition best and out-sailed all for a bullet in race 4. In the fifth and final race amid light wind, some boats headed to the middle of the Puget Sound looking for a fast current to escalate them to the lead, only to be disappointed. The correct answer was made by Mark Laura and team Baba Louie, leading the majority of the fleet toward shore in the final leg to ride an eddy and bend in the wind that swept them into a commanding lead and over the finish line first—didn’t hear about that local knowledge in the chalk talk Mark! Keith Whittemore’s finishes (1,1,2,5,3) earned Tundra Rose the Western Regional Championship trophy and a berth in the 2017 World Championship in Toronto, Canada. Second place was secured by skipper Scott Milne and his team on Tremendous Slouch (2,3,6,1,6). Harry Dursch’s Self Abuse paid off for the team, finishing third overall (11,2,4,2,5). Photo credit: Sean Trew.