PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles sailing crew came in first in its class in the Pacific Northwest Offshore Yacht Race.
Gone with the Wind, a 32-foot C&C 99 and its crew of six from the Port Angeles Yacht Club, crossed the finish line at the Port Angeles Boat Haven at 2 p.m. Saturday. Its corrected time in its class in the race from the mouth of the Columbia River to Port Angeles was 46 hours and 15 seconds.
One of 24 sailboats entered in the race that began at 10 a.m. Thursday, Gone with the Wind was one of four in the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) B class.
The first to finish, regardless of class, was Rage from Portland, Ore., which was entered into the PHRF Alpha 1 class, with a corrected time of 36 hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds.
The first overall was Raku of Orcas Island, which was in the double-hand class (meaning a two-person crew) with a time of 33 hours, 53 minutes and seven seconds.
An awards ceremony was conducted at the Port Angeles Yacht Club on Sunday.
The last boat in was at 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. Sunday, according to Dennis Damore, Corinthian Yacht Club commodore and the captain of the race.
The times of all of the boats in the three Performance Handicap Racing Fleet classes, which also included Alpha B, were corrected according to handicap.
Another class in the race was the cruising class, which allowed four hours of motor use without penalty.
Five boats withdrew from the 193-mile race.
For full results, see https://tinyurl.com/PDN-OffshoreResults.
Ron Hendricks, owner and operator of Gone with the Wind, had expected the race would take the crew 48 hours, he said Wednesday.
The crew consists of Mike Kalahar (tactics, driver and watch captain), Ray Kirk (navigator), Nick Benge (sail handling), Leon Skerbeck (sail handling), Darrell Chard (driver and watch captain) and Hendricks (cook, driver and owner/operator).
It was their first Pacific Northwest Offshore race.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at [email protected]ladailynews.com.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen contributed to this story.
