With the venerable Round the County (RTC) race cancelled due to Covid, what’s a racer to do in November? The non-race, non-organized, Rogue the County attracted more than 30 sign-ups and more than 20 boats to the “start” line of a not-so-leisurely “cruise” around the RTC course. Go figure, it turned out to be one of the best weather weekends for RTC in recent history!
Boats generally started between 8-9 on Saturday off Lydia shoal, recording their time when they crossed a pre-determined latitude headed south on a clockwise “course.” Because, well, we’re racers and even when cruising, it’s handy to be able to compare performance, right? Those who went to towards Blakely to the west found softer wind and fought to overcome the flood tide while those in the middle of the Strait maintained solid breeze in stronger current. As a squall came down and the wind shifted more westerly, many boats elected to stay inside Bird Rocks on a reach to Davidson Rocks. The fleet then split with some going offshore for better breeze and some staying closer to Lopez setting up for the back eddy up San Juan. Mid-day sleet confirmed that yep, the weather gods still thought it was Round the County weekend. The unofficial photo boat of Sean Trew even showed up and took some great pics of the racers… um, cruisers. The multihulls Big Broderna and Incognito handily corrected to first and second on day 1 with Time Bandit in third.
Four boats started their day two cruise at exactly 0845 with several starting a little earlier and one sleeping in for a restful 10:33 start. The early starters found sporty conditions with Blade Runner turning back after finding “deep holes,” though Ward says they “had a great time not participating in an organized event.” Sir Isaac reported max winds of 29 knots from the ENE and never flew a kite on day 2. Big Broderna crushed it, finishing day two in just over four hours! Even Nawalak (rated at 249) with Betsy Wareham, founder of RTC on board, finished the second day in just over seven hours.
All in all, this hardy group of rogue sailors had an amazing weekend, despite no big parties and no awards. No protests were heard and no issues arose with vessel traffic, whales, or the US/Canada border. Everyone is also looking forward to the return of the actual RTC, hopefully next year!