The big racing for this week started yesterday with the 48th Pacific Northwest Offshore Race (formerly the Oregon Offshore) which goes from Ilwaco at the mouth of the Columbia River to Victoria, BC. The RP 55 Zvi was first to finish at 1100 hrs this morning with most of the fleet either in the Straits or close to Cape Flattery. It got a little lumpy yesterday with the breeze clocking from the West to the NNW making it a beat from about La Push to Cape Flattery. The 45’ catamaran Cheekee Monkee broke their bowsprit early yesterday but salvaged the parts and kept racing. They will be second to finish. Third to finish should be the Swan 42C Free Bowl of Soup. It will be a tight race for 4th and 5th to finish between the Farr 39 Tachyon and the J-120 Time Bandit. The as-always well-sailed Time Bandit should be the overall winner. It should also be noted that the Corinthian Yacht Club of Portland has also gotten away from PHRF and will now score the overall with only ORC-rated vessels. They also did a first for offshore racing, they set a virtual start line as well as a virtual finish line. Very Cool!
Our Pacific High is still trying to set up a little earlier than normal and as you will see in the 20 May 72 hr Surface Forecast Chart it has become a bit more round and strengthened to 1035MB. The Pacific Cup crowd is hoping that this will be solidly in place for their starts in mid-July. For this weekend, the high will be weaker at 1031MB and tomorrow a weak frontal system will drag over the area bringing some much-needed rain, there just won’t be much. This interaction between the high offshore and low-pressure inland will result in various amounts of onshore flow coming down the Strait of JdF. Surges of flow will sometimes make it down Admiralty Inlet and into the North and Central Sound. The best time for this will be mid-afternoon tomorrow.
The South Sound will find itself under the influence of onshore flow coming through the Chehalis Gap. Not a lot of wind but it will be West to WSW for Saturday.
The most consistent area for breeze will be the East end of the Strait of JdF which could see 20-30 knots of westerly Saturday. Sunday the breeze will fill late in the afternoon with the rest of the Sound being light and variable.
Next weekend will be Swiftsure and while I appreciate the inquiries, it is still a little too early for any kind of accurate forecast. That however doesn’t mean I can’t at least take a run at it. 😊. The problem will be the tides on Saturday with a max ebb of 5.7 knts at 0735hrs. Slack is at 1153, with a max flood of 5.3 knts at 1440 hrs. Next slack will be at 1856 hrs with the next ebb of 3.5 knts at 2127.
The breeze looks to be less than five knots for the 1000am start with a light westerly filling down the Strait of JdF by 1330-1430 hrs. Remember, it’s still early in the world of forecasting.
Enjoy the weekend, stay warm, stay dry, and stay safe.
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)