This West Vancouver Yacht Club race is a great idea and a great way to get sailboat racing restarted. Meets all the requirements for your social bubble and social distancing with even a provision that if contestants get within six-feet of one another they can be disqualified without a hearing. The course is pretty simple starting from the Pt. Grey Bell Buoy, round Popham and Little Popham to port and then return to the Pt Grey Buoy. Just 20 miles with handicaps applied at the start and as of this morning there are 42 entrants.
June 5 500mb 
June 5 Surface Analysis 
June 6 500mb 
June 6 Surface Forecast 
June 7, 500mb 
June 7 Surface Forecast 
June 8 Surface Forecast 
June 9 Surface 500 mb
There may be a little rain over the weekend but it won’t be a washout. Today’s Surface Analysis and Sat Pic show a complex weather picture which none of the models can agree on as far as where the wind will come from and how much wind there will be. The reason for this is that there may be a bit of a pressure gradient bringing S-SSW wind over the area tomorrow morning however that gradient will ease around mid-day bringing light air to the race course. One model has the breeze at race time from the NW so a light air beat to the top mark. Another has the 5-8 knots from the SW for the start becoming southerly 4-6 knots from the S. All caused by a very weak gradient over the area. This will keep crews busy, trimming like crazy as the wind will be shifty.
A glance at the 500mb charts show the jet stream flattening out to the south of us and this will bring more unsettled into our area next week. As usual, no summer until July 5th.
Enjoy the weekend, and if you have AIS please leave it on for the race so I can follow it from Seattle.
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)