Pretty hard to fault last weekend with plenty of breeze and very warm temps however we knew it couldn’t last. All in all though this weekend won’t be bad and certainly won’t be a washout. More importantly it’s Leukemia Cup so get out and support this great cause and trust us, it will be a ton of fun. Not too serious racing and you will still have to put on your sunblock.
The surface charts show the remains of the front that went through last night and new, weak ridge of high pressure establishing itself over the Pacific NW but moving off to the east-northeast on Saturday. For Leukemia Cup this will mean light and variable winds in the early afternoon with an Interbay northerly developing as the days goes on. The rate at which it will develop will depend upon the amount of clearing over downtown Seattle and the therefore the amount of heating. Regardless, it will be fun.
For those of you going crabbing in the north Sound or Admiralty Inlet, get the pots down and up early as it is going to be breezy in the Straits in the late afternoon and early evening. The test fishery is suggesting that this should be another exceptional year for crabbing just be sure to have your shellfish license and mark your card when you catch those big, legal, males.
A couple of interesting features came up on the 96 hour surface chart with the early one showing the promising development of the Pacific High getting up to 1038 MB and becoming rounder and more stable, that’s the good news, especially for the Vic Maui and Pacific Cup Teams. More so for the Pacific Cup teams as they could almost sail a great circle course. It would be a little tougher for the Vic-Maui crews because they would have to contend with another one of those pesky upper level lows showing up over the Pacific Northwest. The upper air charts are showing some pretty large curves in the jet stream which means that this feature won’t last long. Mother Nature doesn’t like expending unnecessary energy. Needless to say, we are keeping an eye on this.
Have a great weekend, and be safe out there on the water. Also, thank you for the notes and questions you’ve sent me, excellent observations!
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)