Just looking at the surface charts for this weekend you would think that this should be just about the perfect weekend for the Laser Districts/Turkey Bowl and with 22 boats registered, it’s looking pretty great!
The interesting part is that the models are still not in agreement over what will happen on Saturday, at least for central Puget Sound. In the Straits they do agree it’s going to be breezy from east-southeast almost all weekend. As you can see from the surface charts and 500 MB charts there is a very healthy low pressure system that is just sitting off the coast and not going anywhere. It will continue to sit there and just spin off frontal systems which will mean rain and showers for at least the next five days. By Sunday the system will have moved slightly closer to the coast so this will probably the best day for steady breeze from the south in the 10-20 knot range.
Saturday will start out with fairly good breeze however it will get a bit light and shifty in the afternoon before it starts to settle back in from the south which should occur sometime early Saturday evening. As they say, conditions will provide something for everyone.
Tides are interesting in that you’ll be sailing in a fairly continuous ebb almost all day both days.
Saturday
0800 Slack
0924 .34 knot Ebb
1112 .26 knot Ebb
1300 .31 knot Ebb
1506 Slack
1730 .62 knot Flood
Sunday
0900 Slack
1042 .26 knot Ebb
1300 .26 knot Ebb
1554 Slack
1830 .6 knot Flood
Remember that with a continuous southerly today and rain starting this evening the ebb will start sooner by 30-45 minutes and last longer by the same amount. There will also be some freshwater rivers on top of the saltwater of the Sound that will be interesting to deal with. Once again it will pay to keep your head out of the boat and watch what’s going on around you. At least with a southerly and an ebb, the water should stay relatively flat.
Sailing off of Shilshole depending upon where the course is set you may still be able to get close enough to the beach to take advantage of the port tack puffs which will be lifts the closer in you can get. On the runs watch for the puffs coming out of the Locks and remember that these puffs tend to fan out the further away from the Ship Canal they get.
Have a great weekend, be safe, it will be wet but really, really fun!
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)
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