The San Juan 24 North America Championship Regatta takes sail this weekend.

The Oak Harbor Yacht club is hosting the event for the ninth straight year, with sailing primarily in Penn Cove beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 29 and 30.

Spectators can get a good view of the action from Monroe Landing and the Coupeville Wharf.

The field will include four local skippers, race chairman Dave Steckman (Juan Solo), Steve Hucke (Obi Juan), Bill Brown (SWIFT) and Allan Wilson (Toto).

Defending champion Ryan Forbes, winner of four of the past five North American championships, will not compete this year, but his boat will. It was purchased by Hucke and renamed Obi Juan.

Steckman placed third last summer for the best finish by a local skipper.

Hucke, then sailing Separator, placed 13th and Wilson 15th.

The San Juan 24, built by the Clark Boat Company in Kent beginning in 1972, was popular in the 1970s and ‘80s.

A large concentration of the boats still exists in the Puget Sound area.

Prior to settling in Oak Harbor, the national championship was held on the Great Lakes and all along the West Coast.