Hobie Division 4 Northwest Area Championships

Saturday & Sunday, July 29 & 30, 2023
Lake Quinault, WA
Rain Forest Village Resort
by Liza Tewell

Deep in the interior of the Olympic National Park rainforest, though not far from the rugged northwest Pacific coast, lies Lake Quinault, tribal owned and surrounded by towering hills of old growth evergreens as far as the eye can see. Dolly Varden trout are plentiful. Boats with motors aren’t allowed without tribal approval.
The Rain Forest Resort Village has hosted the Hobie Division 4 Northwest Area Championships for nearly three decades. Owned by the Morrison families, the resort consists of an RV park (no tents allowed, except for Hobie week, when tents of all sizes pop up like mushrooms), half a dozen wood cabins, and on the one-and-only road, a laundromat and a small “Inn”. Thanks to manager Ian, the general store carries anything a camper might need, and stocks an astonishing assortment of local IPAs, Kolsch-style ales, and pilsners from several microbreweries in nearby Aberdeen, birthplace of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. You’ll be welcomed by Ian’s petite Shih Tzu-Pekingese, Ella, and his stock greeting, “Looking for something local”? There is limited, if any, cell reception or internet connection. The historic Lake Quinault Lodge is a short 15-minute stroll to the west. The campground sits 20 feet from the largest Sitka Spruce in the world.
Saturday, the weekend’s first day of racing, dawned a bit cloudy as Canada Geese honked overhead, summoning the racers to get a move on. Sailors from Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Oregon, British Columbia Canada and beyond gathered under the campground’s log cabana for the skipper’s meeting. Informed that the wind had yet to fill in, they milled around and futzed with their boats until race PRO Charley Rathkopf finally sounded the horn for a 1:30 start. 
The doctor was fickle in arriving, shifting right then left. Eventually the marks were set to the committee’s satisfaction and the racing was on. First out of the gate was the 17-strong Hobie 18s, followed by 9 17s and 9 16s. The wind began to build. And build. One by one Hobies flipped, turtled and pitchpoled. The Hunger Games were on. Zooming mark boats zigzagged the course, helping to right vessels. The final race included a “screaming reach mark” and culminated in the grand finale of a near perfect pitch pole by a Canadian Hobie 18, the rescue of which included the skipper swimming to the mark boat in order to be deposited back onto his boat to then help haul his crew out of the drink. By day’s end, thirty percent of the fleet had retired. Only 3 16s remained on the water.
After three races in what Seattle-based John and Della Hoag, 2022 Hobie 18 National Champions, said was the windiest conditions they’d sailed in their almost thirty years of racing Lake Quinault, the fleet was spent. An on-the-water poll said enough was enough (though PRO Rathkopf was itching to pull off a fourth race in the late afternoon 20-knot breeze). 
Heading into Sunday’s racing, the Hoags stood in first with 3 points, thanks in part to a nail-biting horse race where they trailed the entire way then punched around the boat-end of the finish line, besting rivals J Rosenbach and Eric Bramlet by mere inches, who finished the day second in the 18s with 6 points. Third with 9 points was Paul Evenden and Elianna Sutcliffe. 
The 16s ended Saturday with Matthew Lambert and Shale Paget in first with 4 points, Peter Nelson and Emily Jennerich a close second with 5 points and Bryan Simpson and Bridgette O’Brien in third with 9 points.
The 17s ended Saturday with Oklahoman Phil Collins in first with 4 points, Oregonian Lonnie Byers in second with 7 points, and Coloradoan Bart Beck in third with 10 points.
The fleet dinner of Sloppy Joes, beans, slaw and plenty of cookies, hosted by Division 4, was held back at the cabana. Afterward the tired sailors wandered off under the almost-full moon and star-carpeted sky to their beckoning sleeping bags, while some gathered around a propane campfire (a burn ban was in effect for all of Grays County), serenaded by singer/songwriter and Canadian racer (and NRO, RMCC and CJ), Paul Evenden, accompanied by fellow Hobie racer, camper and Canadian, Charlene Sutcliffe on flute. Check out Paul’s CDs or live shows. You won’t be disappointed. 

Final Results