The North U racing rules seminar scheduled at RCYC on January 11th has been cancelled. For more information please contact North U at: www.northu.com or 1-800-347-2457.

Come and learn how to get that little bit of extra speed out of your sails. We will have food and social time at 6:00. The seminar starts at 6:30.

When: March 5th, 12th and 19th (Thursdays)
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 pm.
Where: North Sails Oregon, 7911 NE 33rd Dr. Suite 390, Portland, OR 97211
Pricing: $60 (includes 3 meals)

Most of us are not hardy enough to compete in a long distance race in November around the San Juan Islands; however the race becomes a lot more comfortable when you do it on a Swan 53. Some of the crew members came from the very successful J-125 Reinrag. Reinrag does not have any amenities for the crew except for a pipe berth and that is probably why she mostly competes in warm races to Mexico or Hawaii.

The Around the County race starts off of Lydia Shoal on the east side of the San Juan Islands and goes clockwise around the islands. The first day of racing is about 31 miles and ends near Roche Harbor on the west side of the islands. The second day of racing starts again near Roche Harbor and continues around the islands for another 34 miles and finishes back at Lydia Shoal.

The first day of racing was a 30 knot southerly. Caleb reported that he saw a peak puff of 42 knots. Fifth Season finished the first day 1st in division out of 15 boats and 5th overall out of 65 boats. For day two the storm blew it self out and the fleet was not able to finish the 2nd leg so Fifth Season came home with the win!

North Sails Oregon outfitted Fifth Season with a Marathon 3DL main and 3DL Marathon roller furling jib with vertical battens. To increase light air performance we added a lighter 3DL aramid jib with horizontal leech battens, helping us get the leech of the jib as close as possible to the spreaders.

Congratulations to the crew: Caleb Borchers, Joby Easton, Bob Congdon, Tom Garnier, Mark Schrader, Alex Platt, Austin Peterson and Scott Lonsway.

Congratulations to Scott Campbell for winning the Portland Yacht Clubs Elliot Long Distance trophy, awarded for the best offshore performance in 2007. Scott finished 1st in class, 1st in division and 3rd overall in the Swiftsure Cape Flattery race with over 80 boats competing. Scott races with a full inventory of North Sails. For upwind he uses 3DL Aramid sails and downwind he uses North’s gradient series spinnakers.

To see one of the best raced ocean boats in the Portland area, you would have to go poking around inside a warehouse in Wilsonville to find Tom Garnier's J-125 Reinrag. The J-125 is a downwind racing machine. Tom has many ocean racing victories with Reinrag. The most impressive win is the 2007 Tanspac race. Transpac starts in Los Angeles, CA and finishes in Honolulu, Hawaii. Tom won not only his class but was 1st overall! More recently Tom won first in class and 2nd overall in the 2008 Cabo race. Cabo starts in Long Beach, CA and finishes in Cabo, Mexico. Reinrag is equipped with 3DL Aramid headsails, V-Series Asymmetrics and a 1.7 oz Norlam spinnaker staysail.