So you wondered what those new foiling America’s Cup boats might look like? Here’s a modified 28-footer sailing in England to give you an idea. The photo boat is a 25-foot Dragonfly trimaran. The insect is fast, but will it make for more interesting racing?
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
This year’s Whidbey Island Race Week will probably be known as much for the unusual sailing conditions as for Schelleen Rathkopf’s ongoing makeover to keep the event fresh. The usual Penn Cove westerly took much of Race Week off, but there was still hard-fought and meaningful racing. Between the change to a 4-day regatta starting on Thursday, and the weird conditions, there was plenty to talk about this year. And once again kids were on deck enjoying both the sailing camp and fun ashore.
The Makeover
The jury’s still out on the change from a race “week” to a 4-day event. Some boats were lost, some new ones gained. Certainly fewer days but some more pressure on PRO Charley Rathkopf to get as many races off in whatever conditions there were. And this year, the pressure was on as a potpourri of weird conditions took over for the week.
Of course sailors are pretty good at entertaining themselves even if there’s no racing. Aboard Jerry Diercks’ Delirium it was all about the water. “When the chips were down on Team Delirium, swimming in Penn Cove after racing made everything better. Seeing the smiles on my crew’s faces playing in the water made all the work worthwhile.” Diercks was OK with the schedule changes, but suggests maybe a Wednesday to Saturday schedule might work better, leaving Sunday for a delivery home. “If a different schedule can continue to bring new participants, it is a no brainer. I just hope we keep having a 4+ day regatta in Penn Cove.”
John Hoag, skipper of Shrek, has done every Race Week since 1988 and shows no sign of breaking the habit even thought he’s not enamored of the new schedule. “Hats of to Schelleen (Rathkopf) for trying something new with the shortened version but I really prefer the old week. Having the weekends to deliver the boats and setup camping was so nice.”
Click to enlarge any of Jan Anderson’s photos. The full gallery is here.
J/80s at rest
Mad Dash controlled PHRF 5 with five bullets.
PHRF 1 start
Teddy Bear is second in the cruising class.
Wicked Wahine
Just a way cool shot by Jan.
It’s now a summer camp for kids too
The Racing
By all accounts, there was no time off for the tacticians the first three days.
Hoag, whose 18-year-old daughter JJ drove every race, explains. “Racing-wise this was definitely the strangest year I can remember. Gone were the 10-20 knot westerlies in the afternoon. We actually started and finished a race with a light easterly. Then there was the northerly and the southerly, and a race that was started in Saratoga Passage that we started in a northerly then continued downwind in some sort of dying easterly to sit at the finish and wait for a westerly on which to finish. Not good. Finally on Sunday we started two races in 8 knots of breeze! Wow, did Shrek like that.”
Shrek, a perpetual Race Week winner, liked it to the tune of third place in PHRF 1. In first was Darrin Towe’s Melges 32 Wicked Wahine, and Farr 30s were second, fourth, fifth and sixth.
The overall win was awarded to the Dash 34 MadDash, in from Canada. It would be hard to deny them that honor after having managed 4 wins in class PHRF 5 over the consistently well-sailed Here and Now and Gaucho. Stephanie Schwenk won the Molly Kool Cup award as outstanding female skipper for having won PHRF 7 with Wild Rumpus.
Diercks, who won the 10-boat J/105 class, was still left pondering a few things about the strange conditions. “The one day in Saratoga Passage in a northerly, turned easterly, turned drifting in current, was our worst day. Lesson learned, study the currents in Saratoga….I would also like to learn how to cover your two closest competitors when they go in opposite directions. Playing the middle did not work.
2019
Schelleen Rathkopf is (and has been) thinking about next year:
For 2019, the venue is Oak Harbor but the dates for 2019 haven’t yet been confirmed because I want to hear from racers first. This year marked the big shift from a 5-day (Mon-Fri) race event to a 4-day (Thurs-Sun) event and I want to hear how this did/didn’t work for people. It has been suggested that we stick with a 4 day plan but run it Wed-Sat instead to ease up on delivery issues. So I’ll be soliciting opinions/feedback until Aug 20 and once we have processed all this — a 2019 will be announced.
The important thing here is that there WILL BE a next year, and there are a lot of people trying hard with open minds and creative ideas to keep it going well on into the future. So if you have some thoughts, email Schelleen. Both the kudos and complaints.
Personally, even though I didn’t make it to the event, I’m impressed with the efforts and am encouraged by the changes. Racing is struggling in our modern culture, largely because of time pressures. It’s amazing how a family’s calendar fills up and how, before you know it, it’s impossible for many of us to block off a week. Making this an event the entire family can reasonably do among the many other activities may be the key to its survival. And having the option of a cruising class opens the event to those who can’t spend the time making a cruiser into a racer for the regatta or training up a full crew is a winner.
For those wanting more, here are links to the excellent daily paper put about by Vicky MacFeidh and Liza Tewell:
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
As the Pacific Cup comes to a close, victory is already being declared by the organizers. Judging by this video of racers basking in the warm Hawaii air, it was another huge win for the Pacific Cup Yacht Club and all who participated.
But we here in the Pacific Northwest can do a little crowing of our own. By my count there were 10 Pacific Northwest Boats and a couple others with significant Northwest connections. The fat lady will sing in the coming hours as Classes B and C finish and we know the final positions of Shearwater, Zaff and Poke and Destroy. But here’s a brief rundown of PNW results so far.
In the Doublehanded 1 Division, Darrel and Ian Jensen corrected to a third in the Express 27 Alternate Reality. Alexia Fisher and Christa Bassett Ross corrected to fourth in the Santa Cruz 27 Zipper in the Doublehanded 2 class, nipping out the J/105 Abstract from Portland. This division had a very wide performance spread, and in fact the first boat to get to Hawaii, A Fond Le Griffon, came from this class in semi-foiling mode. In the Kolea cruising class, Holm Albrecht’s Swan 441 Gusto finished fourth with Wavelength and Edge of Moonlight coming in 6th and 11th.
In the BMW of San Rafael class (highest rated) there were two Northwest boats, Rage and Westerly, and one adopted Bieker design with plenty of PNW crew, Blue. The 41-foot Blue couldn’t hold with the fast sleds on the water, but did correct to third in class behind Pyewacket and Prospector.
In the coming hours, two classes with PNW boats in the money, are set to finish.
Phil Wampold’s J/92 Zaff of Victoria has sailed a great race, and looks like she will finish second in Class 3, while Alex Simanis’ Evelyn 32 Poke and Destroy looks to be in third. You gotta hand it to the boat on track to win the class, the lovely cold molded Farr 36 Sweet Okole, which has raced to Hawaii so many times it probably could get there on instinct alone. Who says old IOR boats can’t go downwind? In Class B, it appears the PNW will have its lone class winner, the J/35 Shearwater out of Tacoma owned by Karl Haflinger. If you’re curious, tune into the tracker here.
And here are the last couple reports from the Poke and Destroy team:
7/23/18
Good morning! Skyler here aboard Poke and Destroy with your daily update, sent by sat phone!
We’re FINALLY sending it! After another slow and frustrating day of trying to make downwind gains in light air, the breeze filled in yesterday evening just after a lovely dinner of freeze-dried kung pao chicken.
Overnight we saw winds from 20-25 knots and were sailing under the A3 spinnaker at an apparent wind angle of 120-130 degrees to make our course. Those in the know realize that this is fully powered up. Boat speeds consistently between 8-15 knots have got us down to just 209 miles left to Kaneohe.
Spirits couldn’t be higher even if the sleep is a bit hard to come by with living conditions
down below becoming a bit rough. Hopefully this breeze holds through the end of the race as forecast.
We’ll keep you posted.
Poke and Destroy out.
-Skyler Palmer
Dennis Palmer here, Skyler’s dad, reporting from shore in Seattle. It’s great to hear that Poke and Destroy is having a fast finish to the Pacific Cup. If the wind continues, they should finish during daylight tomorrow, July 24, at about 15:00 HST.
As of 11:21 a.m. PDT this morning, their boat speed was 9.7 knots, and they had 184 miles to go to the finish line at Kaneohe Bay. Poke and Destroy is 8 hours and 21 minutes ahead of fourth-place Aloha, the Hobie 33. Zaff, the J/92, is in second place, 4 hours and 42 minutes ahead of Poke and Destroy, and Sweet Okole, the Farr 36 with 12 Pacfic Cup’s worth of experience, have used their knowledge and skill to remain in first place, 6 hours and 42 minutes ahead of Poke and Destroy.
After Team Poke and Destroy has raced 1860 miles already, sailing another 184 miles sounds like a piece of cake, right? Well, consider this. The majority of experienced sailors have never sailed race as long as 184 miles.
One of the most physically demanding races here in the Pacific Northwest is the Swiftsure International Yacht Race, which starts in Victoria, B.C. and sails out the Strait of Juan de Fuca into the Pacific Ocean and back, covering 138.2 nautical miles. The Swiftsure Race is so challenging that it was all I could do after finishing the last one I raced in was to drag my tired body across the street from the marina to the Empress Hotel for a long soak in a hot tub. It took a couple of days for me to recover from sore muscles and fatigue. The only other physical activity I have done that compares to the level of effort of sailing a Swiftsure Race is climbing 14,410-foot Mount Rainer, which takes about the same amount of time and energy.
Team Poke and Destroy has already sailed the equivalent of more than 13 Swiftsure Races, and they have about 1.3 more Swiftsures to go until the finish line.
You know how tired you get after lifting weights at the gym for about an hour? Imagine doing this for the better part of two weeks and you get an idea of how much work Team Poke and Destroy has been putting in, while being deprived of sleep and eating freeze-dried food.
In some years, the Pacific Cup racers sail in trade winds of consistent direction and velocity for days on end, and trim the sails only now and then. This year, the winds have been shifty, requiring frequent sail changes and constant trimming. Team Poke and Destroy has been getting a major work-out for this entire race.
It would be completely understandable if Team Poke and Destroy eased off a bit and coasted to the finish line tomorrow. Instead, they are giving it all they’ve got, sailing faster right now than they have for most of the race. The fact that their spirits couldn’t be higher says a lot about Alex Simanis, Elishia Van Luven and Skyler Palmer.
By Dennis Palmer, Team Poke and Destroy Communications Manager
7/22/18
Poke and Destroy is getting closer to the finish line of the Pacific Cup at Kaneohe Bay on Oahu, with 406 miles to go as of 8:00 a.m. PDT on July 22. Her estimated time of arrival is on 7/24/28 at 2010 hours HST (8:00 p.m. PDT). Team Poke and Destroy is in a solid third place, nine hours and 16 minutes ahead of fourth place Aloha, the Hobie 33 with which they made a bet for two pitchers of mai tais to go to the winner between those two boats.
Poke and Destroy is 5 hours and 20 minutes behind first place, which has now been claimed by Sweet Okole, the Farr 36 that has sailed in 12 Pacific Cups, including the first one in 1980. Zaff, the J/92 from Victoria, B.C., is in second place, only 40 minutes behind first place.
Poke and Destroy continues to be on the south side of the boats in Division C. The wind over the next couple of days looks perhaps a bit stronger for Poke and Destroy than the boats to the north, Sweet Okole and Zaff.
The forecast for the next few days calls for cloudy or partly cloudy skies, with wind from 15 to 20 knots and gusts to 25 knots. There may be isolated rain showers and squalls.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Once again the Columbia River Gorge Racing Association host its WIND Youth Regatta and clinics. By the way folks, this is the incubator of the fast oncoming generation of sailors. Andrew Nelson shared this brief video on Facebook today, as the wind at WIND came on as an unusual but very powerful easterly. Even folks who aren’t “on” Facebook deserve to see it. Great sailing!
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
A man was lost overboard shortly after the start of the Race to Mackinac from the TP52 Imedi. I’m trying to get more details. While almost all of the fleet had started earlier and was ahead of the Turbo Class, about 20 boats helped authorities in the grid search, but to no avail.
Press release from the Chicago Yacht club follows. Here’s a link to a Chicago TV report.
JULY 21, 2018 09:48 PM
After nearly seven hours of active search efforts, the US Coast Guard has suspended the search to locating the missing sailor aboard Imedi, a Transpac 52 competing in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. The sailor has been identified as Jon Santarelli, a 52-year-old from Lincoln Park (Chicago).
The search efforts included approximately 20 boats and three helicopters from US Coast Guard, Chicago Fire, Chicago Police and Chicago Yacht Club covering nearly 47 square miles. All competitors in the vicinity immediately suspended their own racing efforts to assist in the search. The man overboard occurred approximately five miles east of Navy Pier, 40 minutes after Imedi began the Race to Mackinac.
Santarelli had more than a decade of offshore racing experience, and was a core member of the Imedi Racing team as well as the greater Chicago sailing community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and teammates.
As I said, I’ll be working on getting more accurate details on the story. -KH
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
A semi-foiling production boat is going to be first in to Hawaii in the Pacific Cup. It is finishing as I write this.
Approaching Hawaii
Say all you want about Beneteaus, you gotta hand it to the new Beneteau Figaro 3. The design was largely done by Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost (VPLP), the same folk who perpetually win in the IMOCA class and came up with the stunning Comanche. The Figaro 3 A Fond le Girafon will be the first boat to Hawaii. It helped she started in the doublehanded class days before the fastest boats, but there’s no denying that this foiling boat has plenty of speed.
From what I can tell of the design, and reading Bob Perry’s Sailing Magazine design review, it seems that the foils are basically there to provide some lift and reduce leeway. There is a standard bulb keel, and while it draws over 8′ it’s less than 2500 lbs. Whatever design alchemy they’re using, it’s working.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Many of you (actually thousands on social media) have heard of the dramatic turtle rescue by Doug Frazer and the crew of OxoMoxo during the Vic-Maui Race. Without a doubt, the rescue and social media presence of this rescue will have lasting, important effects far beyond the race results.
More and more sailors come back from the Pacific Ocean and other waterways shaking their heads at the plastic in our oceans. Back downs are common. But nothing brings home how bad things are quite like a peaceful, timeless, blameless animal caught up in our mess.
Frazer, a former division 1 water polo player and a California state lifeguard, didn’t hesitate in deciding to try to rescue the turtle. Here’s how it went down, according to the man himself:
I jumped in without hesitation and then remembered that the favorite dinner for tiger sharks is turtle! I thought the poor little beggar was dead but he moved and took a breath when I touched him. The guys kept the boat hove-to until I could drag the whole mess to the stern ladder. As they were pulling him to the boat he swung towards my tender white love handle with his beak open and looking to defend himself from old white men. Luckily he fell off and swam away before he got his pound of flesh. It was really fun to get in the water. The derelict fishing gear has its own habitat of small fish, invertebrates and critters. I believe that this actually attracts other larger animals that may become entangled.
I feel that most of the large trash we saw was fish nets, ropes and fish tote baskets. I believe the only cure for this is to either pass the cost of clean up to the consumer or may require boats to bring as much net home as they take offshore. If they lose some, then they should go pick some up. Just a thought.
Here’s the dive, and a few photos from the rescue:
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
As the leaders close on the finish of the San Francisco-Hawaii Pacific Cup in the coming hours, it’s fun to report that the Pacific Northwest boats are more than holding their own.
First off, Poke and Destroy has taken over the lead of The Alaska Airlines Division (C). The Seattle Evelyn 32-2, skippered by Ballard Sails’ Alex Simanis, has shown conservative tactics and solid boatspeed, playing it close to the rhumb line. At the bottom of this post see the reports filed from onboard P&D. Second in that division is currently (and the boat that recently relinquished first) is the Victoria based J/92 Zaff. Here’s a little video about the Zaff team:
In the Weems and Plath Division B, the Tacoma-based J/35 Shearwater is holding onto 1st place on corrected time. It’s pretty remarkable in that Shearwater‘s the smallest boat, giving away lots of waterline to the rest of the boats in class.
Westerly
In the big/fast boat E. BMW Division the Canadian based Westerly and Blue (from Milwaukee but lots of NW connections) are pulling up the tail end of the class on the water, though Blue is currently hanging onto third on corrected time. Another PNW boat, Rage from Portland, is still headed for the Islands, but has a broken spreader, so they’re doing it VERY carefully. Here’s the report from the Pac Cup media team: Of note in the E division is that the Wylie 70 Ragehas broken a spreader and suspended racing. They are not by any means retired, but they are now in a mission to sail the boat conservatively and get the boat to Hawaii in one piece. Interestingly, the team relates that the carbon fiber mast was originally designed to be un-stayed and free standing, so they are likely not in danger of losing the mast.
Gusto
Other PNW boats hanging in there include Zipper, Alternate Reality and Gusto. I’m sure they’re all looking forward to mai tais soft beds. If any sailish readers are watching the finish, it would be great to get some photos and quotes to share here!
Here are the last three reports (in reverse order) from Dennis Palmer on the P&D team:
7/20/18
Poke and destroy, charging along the rhumb line, has moved into first place in Division C of the Pacific Cup race to Hawaii! 762 miles now separate her from the finish line of this 2069 mile race.
Poke and Destroy
As of the standings report on the morning 7/20/18, Poke and Destroy has a 1 hour 35-minute lead on corrected time over second place Zaff, and have extended their lead over Sweet Okole, in third place at 5 hours and 55 minutes behind Poke and Destroy.
Poke and destroy continues to stay on the southern side of the fleet in Division C, with Sweet Okole still claiming the north side of the pack, even after gybing to come closer to the rhumb line.
The wind forecast continues to show light areas of wind developing that could strongly influence the outcome of the race. This race does not yet have a foregone conclusion.
The wind direction will be blowing the boats straight to Oahu, so they will be sailing deeply downwind. This presents a challenge for second-place Zaff, because the forward, lower corner of their spinnaker is tacked to a bowsprit extending straight in front of the bow, and cannot be pulled back to move the spinnaker out of the wind shadow of the mainsail. Poke and Destroy can pull their spinnaker pole back, allowing the wind to fill the spinnaker so she can sail faster while aiming deeper downwind, which happens to be the direction of the finish line at Kanoehe Bay.
Aloha, the Hobie 33, is in fourth place, 9 hours behind Poke and Destroy on corrected time. Aloha sailed the most miles of all the boats in Division C in the past 24 hours, covering 171 nautical miles. Poke and Destroy sailed 168 miles in the past 24 hours, good enough to be the second greatest distance covered by Division C boats. Aloha has a faster speed potential than Poke and Destroy, so they are assigned with a less advantageous handicap. Their elapsed time is corrected by their handicap, so even though they sailed a few more miles, Aloha still dropped back on corrected time compared to Poke and Destroy.
7/19/18
Poke and Destroy has solidified its second-place position in Division C of the Pacific Cup race by increasing their lead over third place Sweet Okole to 3 hours and 25 minutes as of the standings report on 7/19 at 1:10 a.m. PDT. Poke and Destroy has closed to within 4 hours and 41 minutes of the Division C leader, Zaff. In the past 24 hours, Poke and Destroy has outdistance their competitors by sailing 173 miles, compared to 153 miles for the leader Zaff, and 155 miles for Sweet Okole.
Poke and Destroy had their half-way celebration yesterday by opening a box of surprises and gifts from family and friends. As of the standings report on 7/19 at 0700 hours, Poke and Destroy had 945 miles to go before enjoying mai tais at the finish line.
The lateral separation between the boats in Division C is increasing, with Sweet Okole in the northernmost position, and Poke and Destroy more than 90 miles to the south near the rhumb line. The wind forecast for the next several days shows big changes in pressure in different locations. With so much lateral separation, these boats may find themselves in very different conditions when the wind changes.
Alex Simanis, owner and skipper reports in this morning via sat phone from Poke and Destroy:
Good morning. Yesterday brought us our halfway party. We got plenty of wonderful treats and trinkets. A special shout out to everyone who contributed to our halfway party.
Mid-way through our party a big 25 to 30 knot breeze came. We had a blast for a few hours. Later, as the wind subsided, we decided to jibe to port to consolidate with the rhumb line. Seemed like a good move.
The P&D crew settled in for a beautiful starlit evening with a nice sliver of moon and 19 to 25 knots of wind. From midnight to 7 am was very, very wet, at times very windy and at times lacking wind. It was a very tough early morning with all four of us on deck for this as we did kite peels and sail transitions.
The breeze is back to our usual 12 to 15 knots and we are rolling along with the rock solid A2 we have named Sunshine. Bitchin’ workhorse of a sail. Now we had our morning breakfast treat of biscuits and gravy and trying to get things dried out.
We made a good move yesterday – the boat is moving well.
– Alex
7/18/18
The wind for the boats in Division C of the Pacific Cup race has been fluctuating, but continues to push the boats from behind at speeds almost as fast as yesterday. Poke and Destroy is still in third place in Division C on corrected time, but has closed to within 8 hours and 34 minutes of the leader Zaff. Yesterday, their deficit was 10 hours, 24 minutes, and the day before was 13 hours 25 minutes, so they are gradually improving their position. Today, Poke and Destroy has closed to within 27 minutes of the boat in second place, Sweet Okole!
Poke and Destroy covered 193 miles in the past 24 hours and was 1085 miles from the finish line, sailing at 7.4 knots as of 0500 PDT on 7/18/18. The total distance of the race is 2069 nautical miles.
Some of the boats in Division C, including Zaff and Poke and Destroy, have climbed north of the rhumb line to avoid lighter winds ahead and keep their speed up in the current wind. The forecast for the rest of the race is pock-marked with random areas of light wind, so the boat that has the best relationship with the weather gods will do well. The areas of light wind will be so unpredictable that is will take as much luck as skill to call the wind shifts.
Here’s an update from onboard Poke and Destroy by crew member Skyler Palmer:
Good morning from Poke and Destroy.
Here we are just a few miles shy of half way! We are planning on having our half way party at noon today. We’re all looking forward to seeing what’s in the halfway celebration box that our friends and families prepared for us.
Overnight was frustrating sailing, though our average speeds didn’t suffer too much. The winds were fluctuating about 90 degrees with in the span of a few minutes with some of the most
confused seas we’ve yet seen. This morning finds us another 14 miles north of the rhumb line from evening yesterday. We are still running square with the A2 spinnaker trying to make the best VMG possible. We’ve been considering a short gybe to consolidate back to our preferred
course to try threading the needle between two weather systems. However, each time we bring up the subject we get headed.*
More flying fish this morning as well as plenty of plastic debris in the water. We’ve noticed that the number of black albatross has dwindled but we’ve spotted a few shearwaters and a handful of other birds that none of us recognize. No boats on the horizon today but we FINALLY got a position report from yesterday’s 0800 check-in showing us in good standing with the fleet.
Spirits aboard are good as ever with the talk of mai tais and loved ones in Hawaii creeping into the conversation more often.
Poke and Destroy out.
*Some interpretation, for those of you not familiar with sailboat racing lingo: Running square means running the same direction as the wind, with the spinnaker pole and mainsail boom in a straight line with each other, with the boom far forward and the pole far back in order to sail deeply downwind. VMG = Velocity Made Good. This means the speed they are traveling toward the finish line, even if they are not aimed directly at it. A gybe is a downwind sailing maneuver in which the boat turns their stern through the eye of the wind and brings the sails to the other side of the boat. Being “headed” means the wind direction shifts to push them downwind of their previous course.
Stay tuned – the balance of the race should bring some exciting racing in Division C.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Firefly was first to finish in this year’s Vic-Maui Race. I don’t have an official time yet, but the tracker says it all. Indications are Joy Ride will finish a couple hours later and correct to first overall. Congratulations to Bob Strong and his crew, and to the navigator and my friend Brad Baker, who I gotta say seems to own this race.
Here’s Brad’s last report, a somewhat wistful look as the final hours of the race approached and a doff of the hat to the competition:
Well, we are under 24 hours and are pushing hard. We have the 2S up and are up as high as she will go, also flying the staysail. If Joyride is going to beat us, they are going to have to keep pushing. And it does look as though they will beat us. But as Stu so aptly put it the other night, “It aint over until the fat lady sings”. So we push.
The last 48 hours have been splendid sailing. We’ve been in the trades sailing in winds ranging from 13 knots to 23 knots. Because of our odd route this time around, we are much hotter coming in to Maui then in years past. Except the year I did it on Voodoo Child #1 where we had a similar approach towards the end. We are much further north and west of where you would typically approach from. This comes, as I said, from the atypical route we took. It was a very different year from my years past. The high pressure moved well west of where it would normally be and the quickest route ended up being west of great circle. It’s been challenging, and because of that fun from a navigator’s standpoint. It was much later in the race this time round where my choices became limited and you must basically sail to Hawaii. That said, there are still choices to be made. Choices like what sail to have up.
As I mentioned earlier we have the 2S. This is a big running sail. When we put it up the winds were lifted and lighter. Now its consistently blowing over 20 knots and we are headed a bit. We are going fast, but sailing lower then where we want/need to go. In other words, we are going to have to make a change soon. We will likely go to 5S, a “reachier,” smaller kite, and see if we can point to where we need to go. If not then the call will likely be to go to the Code 0, an even smaller much reachier sail. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
It’s interesting, we haven’t had a lot of the normal talk about food and drinks etc. I do have to admit my watch, the b-team, did have a discussion on what drinks we were going to have. My choice is a margarita blended. Actually, I’ll take whatever they are serving at the party! It will be interesting to see the reactions of the newbies, often times the finish can be an odd thing. You have come together as a team, and it ends. It can be quite a letdown. That’s why having the party in Lahaina is so important. It tends to soften the blow of having done the race and the feeling of emptiness that can follow. It typically doesn’t last that long though and normalcy returns. Me personally, I am looking forward to the finish, I just we had a couple more days to put some more miles on Joyride! They have done a nice job and stayed in the game. My hat goes off to them win or lose.
I don’t know that I will blog again before the finish. Current ETA is to finish perhaps at 6am or do local time. I actually have to give it a look and come up with and ETA for the race organizers. I’ll give it some serious thought and analysis and will come up with our official ETA which I have to report at the next roll call. Thank you to all the folks out there that are sharing this experience with us. We have some great Drone footage that will get posted after we arrive. Stay tuned!
–Brad
Update: This is one way to celebrate first to finish:
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
It could be something in the air. Or water. Whatever it is, PNW women sailors rock! Of course the Sail Like A Girl gang pedaled (and sailed) their way to victory in the R2AK. But there’s another woman that deserves the spotlight as well, Hanne Weaver. Weaver won the US Singlehanded Women’s Championship sailed at the beginning of the month on Galveston Bay, sailed in Laser Radials.
I caught up with Weaver after the event as she was in Long Beach preparing for the Laser North Americans. Here’s her report:
The conditions were hot and humid. It was always light in the morning until the sea breeze came then it was about 10-15. The last day we didn’t sail due to lack of wind. My key to victory was keeping a consistent score. Having a good start and always the first beat getting to the top mark in the top 10. It’s always friendly competition when competing with someone you’ve sailed with a lot. But when you are on the water there are no friends.
I am going to keep sailing my Radial. I love it so much. I’m doing the Olympic campaign and right now in Long Beach for NA’s. Then I am going to Worlds and maybe Japan for future events.
My life is pretty much sail, gym, travel. Enjoying every minute of it. I couldn’t ask for a better life! Sadly I’m not as home as I was last year but still training out of Gig Harbor and Seattle when I can.
Here’s US Sailing’s report:
U.S. Singlehanded Women’s Championship:
For the second straight year, Weaver proved to be the top eligible Laser Radial sailor in the U.S. Singlehanded Women’s Championship competition. She won by a single point over Lillian Myers (Sarasota, Fla.). Kelly Cole (Charleston, S.C.) took home third place honors over nine races. Weaver and Myers changed leads multiple times throughout the Championship. Ten of the 80 sailors in the Laser Radial event were eligible for this title. Weaver placed seventh overall in the Laser Radial Class Nationals which was won by Ricky Welch (Long Beach, Miss.).
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
