Corinthian YC’s Center Sound predictably kicks off the central Puget Sound racing season with three medium distance, one buoy rounding, 20-30 mile races. And, it seems usually, one race ends up a drifter and one a gear buster. 2018 had some different things in mind. Saturday’s Three Tree Point Race, which usually takes the fleet from Shilshole to Des Moines and back, was rerouted back and forth and up and down the central Sound so that it could be easily shortened if the wind died.
“I was a bit disappointed not to sail down to Three Tree,” Gaucho skipper John Cahill admitted, “but in the end liked the course.” Gaucho liked the course to the tune of first in Class 3 ahead of arch rivals Here & Now and Kiwi Express.
The course took the fleet to Blakely Rocks, across to Duwamish Head, to a temporary mark off Edmonds, back to West Point and finish for a total of nearly 27 miles. According to Cahill and others, the most interesting thing was reaching across the Sound. “The reaches were fun,” Cahill said. “It was marginal between going with a spinnaker or headsail. I have a cut-down Melges 24 asymmetrical that I don’t get to use often, but with that on board it was an easy decision.” They passed boats on the reach to Duwamish and reach back to West Point, then sailed on pins and needles avoiding the wind holes that kept appearing and disappearing while being hunted by their class.
To see the raceQs replay, click here.
In Class 3, there’s not a lot of room for error. It is arguably the most competitive, closely rated and fun handicap class in the Seattle scene right now. Gaucho, Here & Now, Kiwi Express and Madame Pele were neck and neck for the whole series. They’re all racer-cruisers, and while they are all different, they have basic performance parameters in the same ballpark. It harkens back to the day when performance curves weren’t so dissimilar and the racing that much closer on the water.
Crossfire‘s Nigel Barron, who is no fan of the round the buoys racing in Center Sound (for Crossfire, anyway), admitted the alternative course for Three Tree wasn’t a bad one. “The wind did lighten up, and it was nice to do something different in that reach from Blakely Rock to Duwamish Head,” Barron said. He went on to ponder an alternative course for the supercharged ORC class, which is currently made up of the fastest boats in the fleet – “When the ORC class is not scored for overall, why couldn’t they have the fast boats do something different?” Something for race committees to think about considering the amazing speed of the fastest boats out there, even in the lightest of winds.
Unfortunately, photographer Jan Anderson’s Boat Boy Skip was down with the flu, so none of her great photos are available. I scoured Facebook to see what photos I could find from this year’s race, and this is what I came up with. Dave Reid, Melissa Davies and Robert Hodge get the credit for the pix! If you have any to share, please send them to me and I’ll add to this gallery.
There weren’t many other changes in the class standings from the previous two Center Sound races. Glory, Sachem, Selchie, Green Flash and More Jubilee won their classes handily. Kowloon, Here & Now and Dos had hard-fought series wins. Class 7 saw an epic battle between Joy Ride and Madrona with Absolutely not far behind. Fittingly, in the end it was John Murkowski’s Joy Ride breaking the tie for the class win but Carl Buchan’s Madrona taking the overall top boat spot. Joy Ride was second in fleet, Dos third and Sachem and More Jubilee tied for fourth.
Class results here. Overall results here.
CYC’s Race Fleet Captain Matt Wood was happy, particularly with the turnout. “Over 80 boats total in ORC, Casual and PHRF classes entered the series, easily the most participants the event has seen in several years.” He did admit to some glitches along the way but was pleased with how the races were managed in light of the ominous weather forecasts.
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.