The Van Isle 360 race is, without much doubt, unique in the world. That’s not hyperbole, it’s truth. Racing in some of the world’s most beautiful and challenging waters and geography among amazing marine and other wildlife. Then there are the different facets of race, in the first half skirting islets and rocks to deal with very strong currents, and in the second half possibly enjoying epic downwind nighttime racing in open waters. This is the quintessential Pacific Northwest race.
It’s not an easy race. Much of a boat’s success depends on shoreside organization, which usual involves one or more team members navigating Vancouver Island. Crews spend at least one night aboard next to fish farming pens. Finding and organizing a crew that can take the time off is no small chore.
We have three reports, two from class winners OxoMoxo (Swan 391) and Joy Ride (J/122), and one from my friends aboard Ace (Farr 395). Please share this post far and wide, as we can all agree that it’s fun making everyone jealous of our little corner of the sailing world. Results are here, but I’d suggest you read these tales to get to know this really special race.
OxoMoxo
This is a story of the remarkable success of OxoMoxo, the never-winning, always last in fleet, Swan 391. Below, please see a little tongue in cheek account of our underdog’s success. The crew included: Owner and newbie to racing, Doug Frazer (one-a-day customer at Fisheries Supply) and his 10 year old son, Bob; Rick Poulin (J-105 racer on Delirium), Kevin McMurray (Fire Dept. medic also new to sailing) and Canadian Jed McLean, skipper and owner of Hana Mari, Victoria BC. Joining the crew for half the race at various stages were: Stefan Damstrom, Tre Nabstedt, Russ Caldwell, Marc-Andrea Klimaschewski, Michelle Samples, and Justin Beals.
At one point, with a crew of 6 we had 5 boat owners on board, all interested in having their opinions heard at the same time. There were a few clever moves on our part that paid off in the long run. Two of these tactics included a careful interpretation of the Sailing Instructions that allowed us to cross the finish at Victoria nearly 10 miles offshore on a compass bearing where VMG and wind were maxed out; and on the final leg, sailing all the way to Tsawassen on the Canadian shore just to get in some pressure, which resulted in line honors at the finish in Nanaimo. Twice we we corrected out in hair-raising finishes in nearly zero wind. Our finish outside Victoria resulted in the new “OxoMoxo Rule,” that boats must, in the future, cross the line between a mark and Clover Point.
Tired of Winning
The Swan 391 Oxomoxo stunned the sailboat racing community with its overall first place finish in Division 3 of the just-concluded 2017 Van Isle 360 International Yacht Race. Oxomoxo FBO Doug “Mofo Rojo” Frazer, a Van Isle 360 first timer, attributed his improbable success to the law of averages, saying “We’ve never won anything before, so basically, it was our turn.”
Oxomoxo’s international crew disagreed, citing several factors. “It was all Bob – Bob was our secret weapon,” said one crew. Bob, Frazer’s 10-year old son and a budding yachtsman in his own right, was unavailable for comment, as he had to return to school to finish 4th grade. According to another crew of the ship affectionately called OhSoSlowGo, “We won because of [Canadian] Ged [McLean], plain and simple. When Ged joined the crew, we hit the *&#!ing jackpot.” Crewmember Rick Poulin agreed, adding “We also kept the boat really light. We often sailed without full tanks, and we tossed an old winch handle and my iPod overboard for good measure.” A fourth crew cited help from the “Big Guy upstairs,” rejecting rumors that the crew’s performance had been enhanced with regular injections of testosterone.
One Victoria resident, requesting anonymity, praised Oxomoxo’s commitment to “Make America Race Again.” “It almost got to the point,” he confided, “that we were tired of winning.” Veteran observers of the Van Isle 360 praised Oxomoxo’s lowest-overall point total, noting the boat’s 19-point total over 9 races was lower than any other vessel racing against competition in the regatta. Oxomoxo was the only competitor in the regatta whose worst performance was a single fourth-place finish.
Given these impressive results, Oxomoxo may finally shed its self-deprecating nickname, Box o’ Rocks.
–Rick PoulinA few more words from skipper Doug Frazer
There are plenty of stories. You might look into Beats per Minute’s videos on Youtube. 65 Red Roses lost a rudder outside Port Hardy (We saw it floating by as we passed near where they had the mishap). Vela Volta went on the rocks of a submerged reef near the last leg and had to retire to Oak Bay. For us, doing well at all was a complete surprise and we were all brought together by the amazing Ged McLean of Royal Vic YC. When we finished the race coming in from Tsawassen we had a glorious spinnaker run into the inner harbor at Nanaimo with our competitors several miles behind. As soon as we made the corner the wind shut off completely, and I mean completely. A lit cigarette showed absolutely no wind direction, and all the while those guys were climbing on us and we had only a hundred yards to go. Finally the wind filled in a bit and we were off under our wind-seeker for the last 50 M to the finish. The team from Serena, a Bavaria 40 finished well behind us, but they corrected out over our finish. Nevertheless, we were surprised by our first ever victory in any type of regatta, ever. Thanks to ORC for recognizing that we are not the world’s worst sailors.
I was completely exhausted and sort of fell apart after the finish. All things considered, this really was a Hero’s Journey, complete with a passage through Scylla and Charybdis (Dodd’s Narrows) on the delivery, winds of hell barking down Johnstone Straits, fog, calm, incredible downpours, squalls, thirst, seasickness and sea monsters (the pinniped and cetacean variety). I recommend the race to anyone who has the time, the nerve and a boat that is up to the journey. I have a new respect for the R2AK guys who we saw along the way.
–Doug Frazer, owner OxoMoxo
Joy Ride and The Broach
2017 was the first trip around Vancouver Island for both Joy Ride and me. We were fortunate to have a healthy mix of Canadians and Americans on the crew with over a dozen Van Isle races counted amongst them. Joy Ride was commissioned in late 2015 and has compete in 50+ races since. Most of the current crew has been able to do two Southern Straits and two Swiftsure races together prior to this year’s Van Isle.
Our journey around the island started off with a lot of local knowledge on board for the first four races. Consistency seemed to be our best card with a run of four second place finishes to begin the race. During our stay in Telegraph Cove we were challenged to a very competitive game of whiffle ball by the crew of White Cloud. The Canadians in our crew seemed a little confused without a hockey stick in their hands.
The leg from Telegraph to Port Hardy was as forecast with our peak observed wind speed of 38 knots and a new boat speed record at 18.3 knots. We wanted to be first to hoist at the start but were saddened when we also had to be the first to douse after not being able to initially hold our kite. Our broach at the lay line helped determine when we needed to take the kite back down. After a thorough wash cycle in the Johnstone Strait, we finally winched the kite back on board and jibed into Port Hardy.
We didn’t fair as well on the outside of the island. After a long day and night into Winter Harbor we were greeted with beer via kayak at the finish line by our awesome shore crew! Our race to Ucluelet started with lots of wind and confused seas; however we were able to find a 12-hour hole coming into Uclulet that allowed everyone’s wet gear to fully dry in the sun. After a much needed lay day in Ucluelet to fix sails and hang out with the local school kids we enjoyed a wonderful sleigh ride all the way into Victoria. Despite the fast downwind run to Victoria all our bow crew could talk about was that we didn’t do a single sail change all day.
The last leg back to Nainamo was full of currents, wind shifts, drifts and ferries. We were fortunate to be one of the last boats to make it into Active Pass and enjoyed a 5 knot push with no steerage thru the pass. A perfect sunset at Entrance Island marked the end to our two week journey around what I now know to be a very big island.
Our crew held together very well throughout the whole race. We had awesome support from Heidi driving our VW van. The community of boats at the end of every leg and the teamwork involved through the race really stand out as I look back on our two weeks.
Joy Ride is now back in Seattle. She’ll be racing this fall and hopefully headed to the Bay Area for next year’s Pacific Cup.
–John Murkowski, owner Joy Ride
Ace – One Weird Finish
The leg from Comox to Campbell River had a really epic finish. The race began in a light northwesterly with a slight ebb that turned into a massive flood during the last five miles. Flood in Campbell River is southbound.
For about the last two miles there were 10 boats (overlapped) short tacking the beach in about three knots of current and about five knots of wind on the nose. The norm was to be pointing on a close hauled course with all appearance of going upwind, but going 90 degrees to the wind over the bottom (OTB). If you chose to go more than about five boat lengths from shore you were instantly relegated to the back of the line. What we found was that it was better to reach in toward the beach and gain enough speed to coast upwind toward the finish. The coast had to be done is as shallow water as you dared go.
The bread crumb trail from Navionics (below) and Google Earth shows the fun pretty well. The final snip below shows us going to the back of the line, then back and forth, then finally figuring it out and making progress.
The waterline on Google Earth is probably high water, because we were coming within 10 ft of dry land. I was standing on the bow calling the tacks toward the end.
There were about 50 people on the pier looking down at the melee. Hamachi was the first to hit bottom, with Zulu inshore of them. Eventually Zulu also hit, but it was after Hamachi.
The 71 year old woman skippering Rags (C&C 115) came out of the group of 10 ahead. In my mind she was the hero of the day and was toasted by all on Ace. We were second over the line.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.