As I was watching the Swiftsure Race on a monitor from the feeling-left-out comfort of my desk chair, one thing kept leaping out at me. Among all those little boat icons littering the Strait of Juan de Fuca was an inordinate number of three-hulled icons. Of course there was Dragonfly, predictably making mincemeat of the monohulls on the Cape Flattery course. But she wasn’t the only one. Then there was an entire fleet doing the Juan de Fuca course, and they were going really fast. After getting over the fact they took up so much monitor real estate, I thought I better look into this. I put out the word to the PNW multihull faithful and some answers bounced around via email, which I’ve edited and included here.
I asked my Seattle contact Vincent DePillis what was going on and he reported “I think the additional turnout is due to John Green and Tim Knight energetically promoting the Clallam Bay race as a memorial for Ian Farrier. The shorter course attracts a lot of skippers who are not fond of flying the spinnaker at night, in log-infested waters. (Ed. Note, I guess it’s not something we leadbottomers going 6 knots don’t think about as much.) With Clallam Bay, you can at least tell yourself that you will get through race pass in the light.”
In short, the multihullers decided to roll up their sleeves and encourage skippers to get out there. A vibrant multihull fleet is a great thing, and by the sounds of it the sleeves will remain rolled up. Race organizers take note! Here’s the report from the Canadian multihullers who did the sleeve-rolling.
For more information on PNW multihull racing, check out the Northwest Multihull Association or the Vancouver Island Multihull Group.
John Green, Sauterelle, Farrier Trimaran
I am still licking my wounds and getting Sauterelle cleaned up for summer cruising, but yes, the new course to Clallam Bay is what did the trick, and remembering Ian Farrier (ed. Note: Farrier died in December) added to it all. We had 10 Farrier tris here, and they performed very well. I have to give full credit to Tim Knight for thinking of it all. I have been doing this a long time and kind of got stuck in a box of “it has always been this way” until Tim suggested change.
We had had the very short inshore course, but in 2017, not one multi registered, and in 2016, only one did. A race committee cannot support that, but with Clallam Bay, there is a chance to get home before dark and as you said, see where you are going.
I think what adds to it, and not blowing my own horn here, is the sense of camaraderie that exists within our group and the Friday gathering at the yacht club. I actually had a waiting list as we were full. There were 3 more Farrier boats that had wanted to come and had signed up for dinner, but personal and health issues caused them to drop out. This race is suitable for the smaller tris as well so maybe next year some of the F24s and more F27s will be tempted. Probably will need a bigger dining room!
I like to think of Swiftsure more as an event over 3 days than merely as a race.
Tim Knight, Slice of Life
The turnout was a concentrated effort by myself and John. I’m the behind the scenes guy and John is the guy on the phone, sending emails and generally being the best Farrier/multihull ambassador there is.
After we created the Callam Bay Race to celebrate Ian’s life and contribution to multihulls and sailing we got some blowback from some long time competitors, they thought it was underhanded and unfair to them, we explained that times change, we no longer go to the Bank, and we went from a high turnout back in the day of 20+ boats to only 5 last year. After their feedback our solution was to create two races keep the Neah Bay and carry on with the Clallam Bay race.
The rational behind the race was just as Vincent stated, avoid the wind dropping at Neah Bay and then spend the night dodging freighters and logs, sometimes at high speed. We also felt it would be fair to have the rest of the multihull fleet have a shot at getting back before last call. As our skippers and crew are aging and everyone’s expectations are changing, most folks are looking for the adventure, but comfort and fun are paramount, so the shorter race addresses this reality. In future years when the wind isn’t so good the race benefits will be really appreciated…
The rest is history. John resurrected his legendary dinner that started back when Ian Farrier agreed to come to Victoria, and if my memory is right John arranged the first multihull dinner in his honor. This year we maxed out at over 65 sailors and family and what a great dinner it was. Multihull sailors are so smart, we are the only fleet that dines together and takes advantage of RVYC’s Dining area, great food and some good deals on beer!
There still is some feelings harbored by the Neah Bay Boats, they started referring to the Clallam Bay event as the “Clown” Bay race and other derogatory terms, as a person who has tirelessly worked and spent thousands of $’s and endless hours to support and grow multihull and sailing in the NW I am a bit befuddled by this attitude especially since the Idea John and I had was such a success! It would be great if those folks could get past what ever negative feelings they have and use that energy to increase the Neah Bay Fleet for next year, as will John and I for both races.
On another note I started the NW Multihull Championship many years ago, back in 2004(?), I created it as Cow Bay was a great venue, and we were starting to attract a big fleet with a good portion coming from the US, so it seemed like a logical step to take to try and encourage more boats to get together for a really fun weekend of sailing.
Back in those days my sail loft bought a lot of advertising I used that to leverage Pacific Yachting, 48 Degrees North and Northwest Yachting to all promote Cow Bay and the NW Multihull Championships.
The one change we will make to this years event is to go back to PHRF NW’s basic philosophy of TOD instead of TOT. We have reviewed who wins at Cow Bay and as it is very balanced between all sizes of Multi’s we will stick with the one Fleet format, as in all racing you want to do better sail better!
One review needed is if a boat’s rating was generated with a crew of 3-4 then the boat should race with that number or have a rating review…
Lets keep this momentum going and get a great turnout at Cow Bay…
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.