It looks like a fairly benign weekend to be on the water, especially Saturday while Sunday could be wet. We had plenty of wind today and as this weak ridge develops and shifts inland, this breeze will ease and an offshore flow will develop as the next system approaches the coast. Saturday morning will see a generally southeasterly flow over the Salish Sea in the 8-12 knot range. As we move through the day the pressure gradient will ease and the breeze will become generally light over the area. A north-northeasterly flow will begin in the mid to late afternoon over the San Juan and Gulf Islands bringing challenging conditions to the Round Saltspring Race and the Round Whidbey Race.
For the Round Bainbridge Race, conditions will start becoming light around noon and then drop from there.
By late Saturday, the coastal regions will begin to see some rain and this will move inland on Sunday. Not a lot of rain but it will also bring definitely cooler temps.
May 17, 500MB 
May 17 Surface Forecast 
May 18 Surface Forecast 
May 19 Surface Forecast 
May 20, 500MB 
May 20 Surface Forecast 
May 21 Surface Forecast
For those of you doing the delivery from Puget Sound up to Victoria on Thursday for Swiftsure, right now it looks fairly innocuous with maybe even a southerly in the morning lasting until about noon. Tides are good with a slack tide at 0830 and a max ebb around noon at Bush Point.
Have a great weekend and remember there’s a great Boat Show in Anacortes this weekend.
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)