Bruce is keeping an eye on the weather for the Duwamish Head Race, not just for the race itself but for the delivery. For those not racing, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on things before heading out!
If you were thinking about taking the boat south to Des Moines on Friday, you may want to reconsider as Friday is looking to be the windiest/nastiest day of the next several. Your alternatives are to go tomorrow or early on Saturday morning (the Crossfire method).
The surface forecast chart for Friday clearly shows the problem for a Friday delivery. We will have a medium-strength low-pressure system about to make landfall which will bring strong pre-frontal breezes to the area starting Thursday evening with a steady 15-20 knot southerly over the central Sound. By 0600 hours Friday morning, this will be 25-30 knots of southerly from Tacoma to Everett with much stronger winds in Admiralty Inlet and the eastern Strait of JdF. This breeze will begin to ease around dawn on Saturday.
Jan. 11 Surface Forecast 
Jan. 10 Surface Forecast 
Jan. 8 Surface Analysis
This frontal passage will be followed by a strong onshore flow coming down the Straits on Saturday and around the south side of the Olympics. These breezes will meet right over the Race area mid-morning Saturday with a northerly filling down the Central Sound mid to late Saturday afternoon. It’s still a bit early for precise timing on Saturday but be prepared.
A delivery tomorrow will be in primarily light to very light wind.
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)