An interview with Andrew Kerr on the 2023 Santana 20 Class Championship Regatta

Santana 20 racing action at the Carter Lake Sailing Club Open © Nina Rogers

In the mid-1970s, designer W. Shad Turner drew the plans for a tidy 20-foot keelboat that could serve as One Design racer, but with the chops to moonlight as a pocket cruiser. The fractionally rigged design carries overlapping headsails, a symmetric spinnaker, and—after a design revisit in 1996—an open transom.

The popular boat entered production in 1976, and from the start, it was built by the W.D. Schock Corporation. While the boat is no longer being built, some 900+ boats were crafted, and there are fleets sailing nationwide.

The 2023 Santana 20 Class Championship Regatta is being organized by Fleet 19 and the Santana 20 Class Association and is being hosted by the Eugene Yacht Club, in Eugene, Oregon, from August 3-6.

I checked in with Andrew Kerr, a longtime competitive Santana 20 sailor, to learn more about this championship-level One Design regatta.

The Santana 20 is a classic design, but it's not new. Can you please tell us a bit about the state of the Santana 20 class, its current culture, and the kinds of competition levels one can expect to encounter at the class's Nationals?

The class has experienced considerable ups and downs in membership and participation over the last number of years, but there are some positive signs of local fleet participation trending in a better direction—an example of this is the Lake Weatherby, Missouri and Lake Pleasant, Arizona fleets getting boats out on the water consistently.

Along those lines, a One Design fleet is quickly emerging in Montana on Flathead Lake, which is great to see and at a beautiful venue for sailing.

The competition at this National Championships will be strong with a number of teams with lots of experience with lake sailing, and the multiple challenges it presents over the course of three days of racing.

What kind of entry numbers are you expecting at this year's event? Also, are there any notable geographical concentrations to this entry list?

It is looking to be about a 20-boat regatta with the concentration of entries from Oregon, with Colorado teams also represented.

On that note, the plan is for the Nationals to be hosted by Santana 20 fleet # 28 next year at Lake Dillon, Colorado; last year's Nationals were on Carter Lake, Colorado.

Weather-wise, what kind conditions can sailors expect to encounter off on Fern Ridge Lake in early August? What are the best-case and worst-case weather scenarios?

Generally light to medium air conditions will be expected, the most reliable wind direction is from the north / north west and fills in later in the day, we will likely see a bit of every wind direction over the course of three days, and teams will be challenged to adapt each day and to be supremely patient and observant.

The best case is north, northwest, west, southwest, and south winds - all good directions.

The worst case would be an easterly wind that refuses to budge because of a stalled high-pressure system.

The Eugene Yacht Club's Race committee led by PRO Rich Johnson and his team are excellent and they are also very patient, which is important. They have a lot of experience with the lake, and will be watching carefully for the tell-tale signs of a good wind direction and velocity.

Santana 20 Class - The fleet - photo © Santana 20 Class

Do you see local knowledge playing a big or small role in the regatta's outcome? Also, what kind of affect do the nearby mountains typically have over racecourse winds? Can you please explain?

Like in all venues, local knowledge of repeating trends is a definite factor and can be very helpful in recognizing what is happening and what is likely to happen.

The mountains of the Willamette Valley can provide a lot of wind shifts and puffs moving in different directions that keeps everyone on [their] toes and scanning the water nonstop for what is happening or about to happen.

An out-of-town team can in one sense have an advantage if they commit to staying open-minded at all times and look at the racecourse for what it actually is as opposed to what it should be.

If you could offer one piece of advice to visiting (and local) sailors, what would it be?

Most likely the last bit of the above comment—stay open-minded and constantly reevaluate your initial assumptions about the wind and wind shifts. Keeping heads out of the boat at all times to recognize the changes on the water and in the sky and over the mountains, particularly downwind where sometimes you need to go and get a breeze line in order to connect it to another one; [there are] huge gains and losses to be had downwind, and teams will need to be constantly scanning for wind.

Patience is going to be of a major premium, hang in there and keep reevaluating what you are looking at, there are going to be times when you get hung out to dry by a wind shift or band of velocity that you simply do not get. Keep at it, keep trimming the sails well at all times for speed in the wind you are sailing in, and scan for the next wind line, keep the vibe positive and upbeat on the boat and you will eventually get back in it and start passing boats.

Do you have any entries that you're eyeing for podium finishes? What about any dark horses who you think could prove to be fast, once the starting guns begin sounding?

The teams on Aquila - skipper Paul Stephens, [who was] the national champion in 1996 and 1999; H20 Boa - skipper Gordon Mattatall, a perennial top contender; Giddy up - skipper Ron Fish, [who was] the 2018 national champion and a perennial top contender; Thunderstruck - skipper Russell Petersen, and skipper Frank Keesling, of the Dillon YC, are all really good and fast and all of them will be contending for the win.

The team on Thunderstruck is from my perspective potentially primed to bust a move as they have been getting faster and faster all the time and are very hard to beat. It will be tight and great racing throughout the fleet, with likely a large number of different race winners. In addition to that, I expect a number of other teams to emerge into contention as the series goes on.

Like any series the key is consistency, which is especially challenging at a lake venue - turning an 18th in a race into an 8th and sailing your best to accomplish that will be a significant difference maker for all the team's.

Sailing your best when you are behind—it is going to happen to all the teams at some point and it will test everyone and likely more than we would all like.

On my own boat - Disaster Area, we have the same team that won the 2019 nationals in Eugene with Kerry Poe helming, myself and Phillip Infelise. As ever, we [are] looking to sail a consistent regatta, avoid major mistakes, wherever possible and give ourselves a chance.

At last year's nationals on Carter Lake in Colorado, I sailed with Phillip on his boat Bad Altitude with his son Payson helming, we were able to win the regatta, an event that was very well hosted by Fleet # 28 and [the] Carter Lake Sailing club.

Can you tell us about any efforts that you have made to try to lower your team's environmental footprint or otherwise green-up your regatta?

With my own team we all bring our own water bottles and refill them from one water container to reduce plastic. The Eugene Yacht club is very good with recycling, and encourages folks to reduce plastic and there is a rule that strictly prevents polluting the lake, as well as adhering to US Sailing's Rules and guidance on this.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add, for the record?

Thank you for giving the Santana 20 class this space, we are a class that has been going for 47 years, and we have had some of the best sailors in the country sail in the class at some point.

The boat is very fun to sail with friends and family in both One Design and PHRF, as well as day sailing; it is affordable, and we are always looking for new sailors—either [those who are new] to the sport [or those who are] from other fleets—to join us!