Lots of sailboat racing this weekend as well as this coming week. SYC will run the last race of its’ Tri-Island Series on Saturday with numerous other races around the Salish Sea. For the most part, racers will have breeze on Saturday as a system moves through bringing a strong onshore flow down the Straits with the potential for gale warnings in the eastern Straits late Saturday afternoon.
June 6 500 MB 
June 5 Surface Forecast 
June 4 Surface Analysis 
June 4 500 MB 
June 8 Surface Forecast 
June 8 500 MB 
June 7 Surface Forecast 
June 6 Surface Forecast
The surface analysis chart and the sat pic for today show the front as it’s approaching the coast with some pre-frontal showers already in the Straits. The low-pressure system associated with the front is weak and will quickly move to the east, to be followed by yet another weaker system on Sunday. The good news is that the Pacific High is slowly moving into a more normal position. This won’t help the WA 360 Race which starts on Monday and that will be a long, light air affair. The better outlook is for the Pacific NW Offshore Race which starts on Thursday. With the Pacific High continuing to strengthen that race could have 12-18 knots of NW breeze for the start with the breeze easing and backing by the afternoon. We will have a special pre-race forecast up on Wednesday late afternoon.
For the Blake Island Racers, this weather will present a mixed bag of conditions with a nice southwesterly to start however the onshore flow coming down the Straits will bring a northerly to the course around mid-day. There will be some light air in the transition however it won’t last long. There also will not be a lot of tidal current to worry about.
Tidal Currents at West Point
0636 Slack
1206 Max Flood .61 knots
1430 Slack
1548 Max Ebb .2 knots
1854 Slack
Even with shifting conditions, it will still be a quick race for the big boats which will have a big advantage being the first start. Today’s model has Zvi around the course in just over three hours finishing about 10 minutes after noon. The J-105’s will be around the course in five hours finishing just after 1400 hours.
The Seventy48 Race starts tonight and should have mostly downwind conditions at least until Admiralty Inlet.
Have a great 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)
Thanks as always Bruce!