From our friends at Pressure Drop, an update on the Oregon Offshore. I just checked the tracker and Rage is just turning the corner into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
2018 Oregon Offshore
image © Maria Swearingen24 Boats signed up for the 2018 edition of the Oregon Offshore, which departed Portland yesterday for
the 193 nm jaunt up to Victoria BC. A feeder race for the Vcic Maui for some, a start to summer cruising in the
PNW for others
Report from Thursday afternoon:Looks like a steady windy velocity from the East/Northeast doesn’t leave room for much tactics. Just point the nose up the coast and head North.
This could change later in the day and evening as wind is expected to switch North with an increase in velocity. We could see a split of the fleet based on tactics.
If you have not heard the news about Free Bowl of Soup, unfortunately ran over a river log on the way to Astoria.
They sailed into Astoria Wednesday for an emergency haul out to inspect the damage and found both prop blades sheared off!
After a last ditch effort to borrow a prop from a fellow J105 in Portland, the fit was not right. We wish these guys the best and and expect them to return to reclaiming their glory in 2019.
Enjoy the warm beds and dry clothes boys!
Boats set off from buoy 2 at 0900 this morning with a great start! Wind conditions have been stable all day from the W/NW at 15-17kts shifting N.
Most boats pointed straight up the coaston Port tack. Spar Trek hugged the closest to the coast and made great progress until an afternoon tack to join the fleet.
Many years you can see boats up to 25miles offshore but westerly breezes told the boats to head straight north.
In the last few hours we saw two great crosses between Anam Cara and Hana Mari with Anam Cara crossing 500 meters in front.
Salient and Abstract seem to be playing nice and are less than 200 meters apart! Wow!
If breeze continues over night we should see progress from the fleet up the coast with the A fleet passing Neah Bay into the Straight de Juan de Fuca Friday morning*********************
Rage on Rage
There is nothing more frustrating than light, shifty winds while trying to round the mark. Oh wait, yes there is when the rest of fleet has wind behind you!
Rage’s lead may diminish here as they fight to round the buoy outside of the straight in light winds.
They have two more hours before high tide and winds are not predicted to pick up for a few more hours as well… just in time for the other yachts to round…
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.