The Oak Harbor Yacht Club hosts the San Juan 24 North American Class Association Championship Regatta Saturday and Sunday, June 20 and 21.
About 20 boats from Washington and British Columbia are expected to attend, according to club member Byron Skubi.
The boat is 24 feet long with a narrow entry and transom and a wide beam. With a four-foot draft, it can sail in shallow waters.
The Oak Harbor Yacht Club has hosted the North American championship on Penn Cove since 2011.
The San Juan 24, built in by the Clark Boat Company in Kent beginning in 1972, was popular in the 1970s and ‘80s, according to Skubi. While many still exist around the United States, Puget Sound has a large concentration of the boats.
Most of the NACA officers are from the Seattle area, as well.
Prior to settling in Oak Harbor, the national championship was held in the Great Lakes and all along the West Coast, according to Dave Steckman, who will co-chair the race with the husband and wife team of Shannon and Denise Buys.
“Due to the age of the boat, a little over 40 years, and the limited number of fleets left across the country, the SJ24 NACA has elected to skip the preliminary race regattas such as districts and nationals and focus on the North American Championships which include sailors and vessels from our Canadian friends,” Steckman said. “The winners of this regatta are crowned the San Juan 24 North American champions.”
Oak Harbor and Penn Cove are logical places for the North American Championships, Steckman said, because of the Yacht Club’s goals and its location.
“I believe the club wants to help promote the love for their sport, especially the sailing community,” Steckman said. “These sailors find racing sailboats and the camaraderie that comes as a by-product very addictive.
“Hosting a regatta such as this helps bring awareness to the sport of sailboat racing much like the popular Whidbey Island Race Week does each July. Oak Harbor is also central to the active San Juan 24 fleets and becomes an ideal location.”
Fleets from Vancouver, Bellingham and Seattle will meet in Oak Harbor, which has “the best venue around for these vintage boats and their salty sailors,” Steckman said.
The San Juan 24, designed by Bruce Kirby, is a “sailor’s delight,” Steckman said.
“(The boat) was intended to be a nimble racer as well as a comfortable cruiser in the Puget Sound,” he added.
Steckman noted that Rimas Meleshyus is attempting to sail around the world in a San Juan 24, having begun his journey out of Oak Harbor in 2013.
Racing in the North American championship regatta will begin at 11 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday, and officials will try to fit in as many races as possible during the weekend, Skubi said.
Saturday’s event will go late into the evening; Sunday’s races will end around 5 p.m., according to Skubi.
Magic Juan, piloted by Shannon Buys, finished fourth in the 2014 championship regatta. Renaissance and Steckman placed 11th.
