The last two days have certainly been interesting and today could get even more interesting as we move to the evening hours. The surface charts and the 500MB charts explain why. Todays Surface Analysis shows a trough of low pressure moving through the Salish Sea today which will allow a building onshore flow to develop which will have very different effects on the three races mentioned above. The reason for all the instability around the area, rain, hail, lightning, etc etc is that upper-level low(548MB) seen on the 500MB Chart which has been parked over us the last couple of days. By tomorrow all of that will be gone and as high pressure builds over the area we should be in for a lovely weekend and a very warm week. Unfortunately, as this high-pressure builds over us, the pressure gradient will ease and except for maybe the eastern end of the Strait of JdF, San Juan, Gulf Islands, and Admiralty Inlet, winds will be on the light side. Expect Small Craft Advisories in the Straits and SJI’s where we’ll have southwesterly winds of 15-25 knots. Late Saturday afternoon and into the evening this onshore flow will come down the Straits and into Admiralty Inlet bringing northwesterlies of 15-25 knots.
7 June 500MB 
7 June Surface Analysis 
8 June Surface Forecast 
9 June 500MB 
9 June Surface Forecast 
10 June Surface Forecast 
11 June Surface Forecast
For the Downtown Sailing Series kickoff event, the Leukemia Cup, expect light winds and expect to have a great time requiring lots of sunblock!
For R2AK, the lead boat, Pear Shaped Racing, just sailed by Campbell River at 1500 hrs however the tide is now against them so we’ll see if they can make it through Seymour Narrows as the tide will build to 12.5 knots at 1816 hrs. Slack won’t be until 2150 hrs tonight. This will allow the next part of the fleet to slowly compress before Campbell River. There may be a big restart at Campbell River when the tide turns.
For the Van Isle 360 folks, they had a great sail from Telegraph to Port Hardy two days ago and this morning started the leg from Port Hardy to Winter Harbour, the first of the legs to get to the outside of Vancouver Island. I had expected them to be in more of a northwesterly by now however the TP52’s are only making 7-8 knots and aren’t quite to Cape Scott. There is wind out there with Solander on the Brooks Peninsula reporting 26-knots from the northwest. So we’ll see when that gets to the fleet and sends them flying down to the finish at Winter Harbour.
As I said, get ready for a warm week and don’t forget to put the sunblock on before you leave the house.
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)