Racing

Salish 200 Distance Race Now “Official”

Kurt Hoehne Racing , 0 Comment
Salish 200 Distance Race Now “Official”

Many of you will remember that time in COVID when races were being cancelled and others trying to take root as alternatives? One of them, the Salish 200, has taken root with Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle. The press release below explains the event. A couple of things to note – if you want to do half the course, sure thing! Also, double-handed boats will be scored in their own class in addition to overall. Sounds like fun to me. Watch for further information in an upcoming issue of 48 North.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 

            The Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle (CYC) is excited to announce that it is adding a signature distance race to its 2024 racing calendar. CYC has agreed to become the Organizing Authority for the Salish 200, a 204-mile distance sailboat race starting in Port Townsend.

            The Salish 200 began in 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic when sailing as we knew it was put on hold. Local sailors Shawn Dougherty and Jason Andrews, of the J/125 Hamachi, cooked up the idea to host a low-key, fun, local adventure race. The idea was simple, two-100-mile courses around the Salish Sea that create a figure eight around the San Juan Islands and Vashon Island, do one or do both! But this wasn’t a “sanctioned event” – it was a seat-of-your-pants-affair where the racers were the race organizers and start committee, and everyone self-reported their finish time.

This race quickly gained popularity amongst the top Seattle-area teams and has now outgrown its roots as a “pick-up game of sailboat racing.” Now CYC is excited to bring the Salish 200 race to their calendar, where it will use its expertise and resources to host the race as an official event and hopefully as a new namesake in the Pacific Northwest racing scene.

Jason Andrews from Team Hamachi said: “We are super excited by this development and for what it will bring for PNW racing. Further, by being sanctioned, it will now count as a qualifying race towards larger offshore events such as Transpac or the PacCup.”

The Salish 200 race is scheduled for June 21st – 23rd. Boats start at 7pm on Friday June 21st in Port Townsend and can either go North around San Juan County or South around Vashon as they make their figure eight for the 200-mile race. Boats finish in Port Townsend by 7pm time limit on Sunday June 23rd.

Registration for the Salish 200 race will open May 1st and is open to monohull and multihull boats with an ORC or PHRF rating.

A new CYC perpetual trophy that pays homage to the Coast Salish People of which the waters sailed and the event itself is named after, will be introduced for this race.

Visit www.salish200.com for more information about the race and for the links to register.

Southern Straits Recap

Peter Salusbury Racing 0 Comment
Southern Straits Recap

By Peter Salusbury (Skipper – Longboard and Regatta Chair)

The 2024 Southern Straits Race is in the books and was a beauty.  The 58 boats racing across four courses started Good Friday morning in a light easterly that built to about 10 knots as the fleet sailed into the Strait of Georgia.  As predicted the easterly died off in the early afternoon and a light NW started to build across the eastern and northerns sections of the Strait, creating compression between the Long and Medium Course fleets.

On the Long and Medium courses, the fleet beat up the southern shore of Lasqueti, most tacking inside Sangster Island where there was much more favorable current.  As the NW died further up the Lasqueti shore, it was evident the north flowing current and light to no wind conditions was going to make coming south after rounding Sister’s Islets challenging.  More than a few boats reporting getting swept past Sister’s only to fight hard to make their way south to Sangster Island.

The other interesting observation was the apparent wind shear between Sisters and Sangster Islands – it was evidenced by the huge gains the longer waterline boats with taller rigs made versus their smaller competitors – gains that weren’t there all day when sailing downwind in light air.  It became obvious there was more wind aloft than at sea level and the taller rigged boats generally did well in this stretch of the second leg to White Islets.

Once south of Sangster, the NNW wind settled in nicely and we all enjoyed a nice downwind sail to White Islets with a gorgeous moon rise over the city.  The race hasn’t visited White islets in decades and it was fun to revisit the sea lion colony who were hilariously barking all night long – and that stench when you got downwind!  On the Long Course, we then had one long starboard tack beat/fetch all the way to Ballenas that featured a beautiful dawn and sunrise. 

From there the Long Course boats that did the best stayed on starboard gybe all the way down to almost Nanaimo Harbor before gybing to port for the long ‘great circle’ route back to the finish line off Point Atkinson.  This last leg was relatively fast and fun with true wind speeds hovering in the low to mid teens for the faster boats.

On the Inshore Course, Rob Mulder’s Melges 24 Ferdinand was the elapsed and corrected time winner in an eight boat fleet.

The Short Course enjoyed solid wind conditions and the elapsed time winner was Bruce Townson’s J/112E Kajofi finishing early around 10:30 in the evening.   Nick Conti’s J92 Live Wire took PHRF 5 on corrected time, David George’s J/29 Rhumb Line won PHRF 6 and Vatche Yerevanian CS3- Alatus won PHRF 7.

The Medium Course elapsed time winner was Theo Arsenault’s Solana 44 Rogues just nipping out Jason Saunderson’s Ultraman by 37 seconds and Tolga Cezik’s J/111 Lodos (sailing doublehanded!) by a further 62 seconds!  With Charley Macauley’s Farr 39 ML Absolutely finishing a minute later, the Medium Course’s first four boats finished within 3 minutes of each other – close racing!

On corrected time, the timeless Cal 39 Chinook skippered by Noah Walcutt took the overall win in ORC and in ORC 3 with Rogues winning ORC 2.  On the Medium Course PHRF 4 division, the J/109 Spyhop skippered by David Schutte took the division win.

On the Long Course, Peter McCarthy’s TP52 The Shadow II took the elapsed time honours but it was Gord Wylie’s XP44 Phoenix prevailing on corrected time for the overall win, making it two years in a row for Gord as overall winner. 

Overall, it was another memorable, comfortable, and scenic Southern Straits Race with plenty of sunshine and no rain and great memories for all participants.  Thanks to all of the racers for participating and supporting the event and many thanks to all the volunteers, staff, and sponsors at West Vancouver Yacht Club for the race organization. 

Mother Nature Has Her Way in Possession Point

Kurt Hoehne Racing , 0 Comment
Mother Nature Has Her Way in Possession Point

Let’s just call it 50 knots of breeze. Anecdotally, reports came in of 50 knots of windspeed. Some said 48. On the water it seemed every bit of 50.

The Possession Point Race, the second of CYC’s Center Sound Series, was sailed Saturday in Puget Sound. Nearly half the fleet opted to stay at the dock, many having read Bruce’s forecast. The call was for breeze, but even Bruce couldn’t foresee the 50-knot blast that caused carnage for the later finishers.

The race started predictably enough. Boats were able to set spinnakers and hold them for most, if not all, of the run to Possession Point. The east lane paid off, and it was a fairly orderly rounding as boats turned up into the teeth of the southerly, which by then was steadily blowing in the 20+ knot range. The larger, faster boats charged upwind on a flood current and into some big seas. Many boats played the east shore until they saw those hitting the Bainbridge side gaining.

The following photos were taken at the start by Jan Anderson. See the rest here.

Mystic
Ace
It was crowded at the boat for PHRF 5.

Crews on the rails could see the squalls coming. It was clear there was going to be a dousing. Indeed it came, along with a bit of hail. There was the expected gusts to start with, but then it became clear something had upset Mother Nature. She packed the squalls with 30, 40 and ultimately 50-knots gusts. By the time the worst of it hit, the fastest of the boats had finished. There was a distinct line of demarcation when the biggest wind hit – boats behind that line were scattered with ripped sails, crews on the foredeck holding downed headsails while hoping it would soon be over. Some boats were trying to motor under bare poles. Some limped the finish after the worst of it passed. And the J/109 Eclipse broke her mast.

These photos were taken by Adam Yurret from the race committee boat at the finish. Thanks, Adam! More here.

Al Hughes skippered the lone J/105 on the course.
One Life finished with one sail.
Aurora’s rail stacked.
Carnage.

There were no reports of serious personal injuries, though just about everybody went home sore and cold and wet. Foul weather gear can only do so much.

Aboard Derek DeCouteau’s 1971 Ranger 33 Aurora, we had an excellent helmsman and afterguard, a new-to-the boat #3 and lots of rail meat. It was a good day.

As always – if you have some stories or photos from the race you’d like to share, send ’em.

2023 STAPYs (Sailish.com Totally Arbitrary Performance of the Year Awards)

Kurt Hoehne Community, Cruising, PNW sailors around the world, Racing, STAPYs 0 Comment

It must be said that the sailing and racing seems to have come up a notch in the Pacific Northwest in 2023. There’s a little more participation and a little more anticipation in the air before races. There are plenty of season champions and boats of the year out there, and I’d love to cover them all. Or at least a bunch. But time being in short supply, here are my STAPYs for 2023.

I’ve invited others to name their favorites, and now I’m inviting all the readers to chime in. Surely you can think of someone deserving of a Totally Arbitrary award. Remember, as a STAPY it doesn’t have to be a race winner or an expedition cruiser type. It could (and should) be someone who supports the sport or their fellow mariners, sets an example or provides inspiration.

Justin and Christina Wolff

The Wolffs have put an amazing program for the Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300 Red Ruby they own with Jonathan McKee. Perhaps their most jaw-dropping achievement was finishing second OVERALL in the 600+ mile Rolex Middle Sea Race. The first place boat? The 93’ fully crewed Wally Bullitt. The time difference? 24, count ’em 24, seconds. Here’s a little video of the couple after the finish:

In what seems to be an irreversible trend, doublehanded racing is gaining momentum. McKee and Peter Isler won the ORC doublehanded championships in Barcelona, Spain. Maybe Red Ruby will help as a springboard to the already growing doublehanded racing community in the PNW.

Adam, Daniela, Gunner (8) and Teddy (4) Lawrence

Easy Day under spinnaker for the first time.

You probably haven’t heard of Adam Lawrence. I certainly hadn’t when he inquired about my Swiftsure Yachts listing, the Swan 46 Freya. The cruising world was new to him. But true to his US Navy background, he approached it methodically and thoroughly. Adam recognized Freya’s solid construction and appreciated the pilothouse that Swan Fans wrinkled their noses at. That unique feature, Adam knew, would be a great place for his boys.

From overhauling the plumbing to renaming the Swan Easy Day, Adam and his team set an example I will point cruiser wannabes to for years to come.

Here’s the first of what I hope will be many videos.

Dan Falk 

Dan Falk

Dan won the RS Aero Worlds (9 rig) in Sardinia this year. It’s the second year in a row he’s done it. (Last year was on the Columbia River Gorge) He did it while sick and dehydrated, overcoming those issues plus a collision that knocked him out of a race.

That’s only one reason for the STAPY. He remains the mainstay of the Seattle RS Aero fleet, which is premier RS Aero fleet in North America. It also must make the rest of the world sit up (again) and wonder just what it is about the salmon we eat that makes the pointy end of the Seattle dinghy fleets so tough. During CYC’s PSSC Awards dinner, he bent over backward to applaud his training partner Keith Hammer for a well-earned victory. Dan is the kind of sailor that drives this sport. He sails hard, gives back and looks out for his fellow competitors.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 Jan. Duwamish Head Race, breeze in the Straits, not so much in the Center Sound, just wet and a bit chilly.

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing 0 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 Jan. Duwamish Head Race, breeze in the Straits, not so much in the Center Sound, just wet and a bit chilly.

As we projected, December was wetter than normal but not enough to bring the yearly average up to normal. We finished December with 8.48” inches of rain in the gauge compared to an average of 5.72”. For the year we finished with 34.97” compared to an average of 39.34”. While it’s still early in the month we are now about .35” behind for the month, and that could all change this coming week.

Right now, 1500hrs, we are still in a pre-frontal situation with the barometer falling rapidly in all locations in the Salish Sea and windspeeds continuing to increase into the 20s and low 30-knot range. You can see this on today’s sat pic and surface analysis chart. The low associated with this front is centered to the west of Ketchikan, while we have a lobe of a moderately strong high-pressure system (1033MB) just to the south of us associated with a 1036MB high about ½ way between Hawaii and San Francisco. As the front passes over us, this configuration will give us a strong NW surface flow over the area which will last through the weekend until another front arrives late on Sunday bringing more rain and wind to the area.

January 5 500MB
January 5 Surface Analysis
January 6 Surface Forecast
January 7 500MB
January 7 Surface Forecast
January 8 Surface Forecast
January 9 500MB
January 9 Surface Forecast

The problem with this NW flow over the area will be that the wind will come down the Straits with gale warnings and small craft advisories. It will also flow weakly through the Chehalis Gap and into the South Sound with this area being in the lee of the Olympics. Somewhere these winds will have to meet in a classic Putrid Sound Convergence zone.

For the Duwamish Head Race, it appears that we’ll have a nice SW wind of 6-11 knots for the start and this will hold with the SW building to 12-13 knots near midday as the fleet approaches Alki. After that, the SW will ease to 4-6 knots by mid-afternoon, and by about 1600hrs the SW will be down to 2-5 knots over the race course. At around 1600 hrs a weak northerly may fill down as far as Fauntleroy, but it won’t go much further. The SW will tend to last longer and stay stronger to the west of the rhumbline from Restoration Pt to Three Tree Pt. By 1800 hrs the SW will start to slowly rebuild to 5-8 knots until 20-2100 hrs when another blast of NW (10-12 knts) will fill down the Sound to maybe as far as Tacoma.

This will be a case where tacticians will want to be logging wind strengths and directions starting tonight so you can track what will be headed your way and maybe when the changes will arrive. You will also want to keep your head out of the boat to watch what is going on ahead and behind you. For the beat/close reach from Restoration to the finish, you will want to have those barber haulers ready and be aggressive about using them as it gets reachy. It will also help to keep you warm. 😊

Have a great race, stay warm, and stay safe.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 Oct. Pumpkin Regatta WVYC, PSSC CYC Seattle, and Eagle Island Race South Sound, Lots going on this weekend.

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing 0 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 Oct. Pumpkin Regatta WVYC, PSSC CYC Seattle, and Eagle Island Race South Sound, Lots going on this weekend.

Lots of sailing going on this weekend combined with plenty of weather. In other words, a typical fall weekend with an Annular Eclipse topping. We just won’t be able to see it because it’s going to be raining. Just about everywhere.

Today’s surface analysis chart shows a series of low-pressure systems aimed right at the Salish Sea. Until you look at the 992MB low just off our coast, which now is projected to move in a NNW direction and parallel the coast up into SE Alaska. The attached cold front will drag across the Salish Sea with gusty winds. With the coastal buffer zone in play, this front will weaken as it comes onshore. This means the strongest breeze will be along the coast, the eastern end of the Strait of JdF, and the northern part of the San Juan Islands.

October 13 500MB
October 13 Surface Analysis
October 14 500MB
October 15 500MB
October 15 Surface Forecast
October 16 Surface Foreast
October 17 500MB
October 17 Surface Forecast

The other interesting chart is the 48hr surface forecast chart 15 Oct, which shows the entire north Pacific. In the middle is a very large low-pressure system (950MB) which is actually the remnants of Typhoon Bolaven and at this point, it is aimed at the California/Oregon Border.  True, it is projected to weaken to 962MB and it should continue to weaken however if it does make landfall, it will still be a significant storm. It is particularly interesting that this week is the anniversary of the 1962 Oct 12 storm which was also the result of a weakened, post-tropical Typhoon.

How all of these will affect the racing this weekend is shown below:

Time                 Eagle Island                  PSSC                 Pumpkin Regatta

0900                 S 5-11                           SSW 3-7            SE 7-12

1000                 SSW 3-7                        S 3-7                 SE 5-11

1100                 S 2-7                             S 4-11               SE 5-12

1200                 SSW 2-6                        S 8-12               ESE 4-9

1300                 SSW 3-5                        S 4-8                 SE 4-9

1400                 SSW 3-5                        SSW 3-8            SE 4-9

1500                 S 6-9                             SE 3-10             SE 5-10

1600                 WSW 8-11                    SE 3-8               SE 5-10

1700                 WSW 0-5                      SE 4-9               ESE 8-13

Sunday

0900                                                     ESE 0-6             ESE 8-14

1000                                                     E 4-8                 E 6-12

1100                                                     SSE 3-6             ESE 6-10

1200                                                     L&V*                E 4-8

1300                                                     L&V                  ESE 3-6

1400                                                     ENE 3-5            E 2-5

1500                                                     NE 3-6              E 2-5

1600                                                     N 4-8                E 2-5

1700                                                     N 3-5                E 2-5

*Light & Variable

Not terrible conditions but mainly light with rain . A much stronger front will come through on Monday.

Enjoy the weekend and stay safe.

Bieker design Baby Blue Wins at Mackinac

Kurt Hoehne Pacific Northwest Sailing Industry, PNW sailors around the world, Racing 3 Comments
Bieker design Baby Blue Wins at Mackinac

The Chicago Mackinac race is known as one of the greatest races anywhere in the world, and with good reason. Conditions change with frightening speed, chunky waves test boats and, moreover, crews and the quality of racing is top notch.

The white boat in this Yellow Brick tracker image is Baby Blue approaching the Mackinac bridge and finish line at the Island beyond. All the other boats in the image are from Class 6 (her class), Class 5 (bigger, “faster”) and Class 4 (even bigger, even “faster”). Baby Blue won her class handily and finished 6th overall in the under 40′ Mackinac Cup division.

Paul Bieker’s 40′ Blue design caught people’s attention when she appeared a few years ago sailing around and in front of much larger boats. This year, the Bieker designed and Jim Betts built Baby Blue rocked the Mac fleet with a resounding Class 6 win. In the process, she beat all the supposedly faster Class 4 and Class 5 boats boat for boat.

Congratulations to Peter Heppel, Evan Walker and the largely PNW crew. Hopefully we can get some first-hand comments about the race.

Terramoto’s Triumph

Kurt Hoehne Racing, Seamanship 1 Comment
Terramoto’s Triumph

Countless stories will be told, retold and no doubt embellished about this year’s Swiftsure race, sailed last month. It was one for the record books, literally. There were dismastings and DNFs, shortened sail heading out the Strait and serious surfing coming back to Victoria.

The biggest story has to be the Terramoto dismasting, which was not enough to stop her from winning the Cape Flattery course and in the process also setting an elapsed time record. The Paul Bieker designed, Bill Weinstein skippered 35-footer has been wreaking havoc in PNW for more than a decade and appears to not be slowing down one bit.

Curious about the race details, I called Alyosha Strum-Palerm who was onboard. He and a crew largely made up of Tasar sailors had Terramoto dialed in, sailing a strong beat to Cape Flattery and then lighting it up after they made the turn for the finish. Coming out of Neah Bay close to Tachyon and Hamachi, Terramoto planed in a building breeze leaving those 40-footers in her wake. They played it conservatively, dropping the chute before Race Passage, then hoisting the A 2.5 masthead asymmetrical in the flat water east of the Rocks anticipating lighter winds.

Instead of the wind dropping, the wind piped up to 33-38 knots and then one last big gust hit while Tim Scanlon was forward pulling the lazy sheet around for a letter-box drop. The backstay crane peeled off the top of the carbon mast and the mast buckled at about the middle point between the spreaders. After pulling the spinnaker aboard, Herb Cole pointed out they were still going six knots toward the finish line. With the main still half up on the broken mast, and a storm trysail rigged forward, Terramoto crossed the finish line amid some humor about an unreadable sail number,

Terramoto ending it downwind
Still racing
Getting creative
The happy crew

The biggest challenge was probably getting the main down after the finish, which required breaking the spreaders.

Were they thinking about the record? “No,” Strum-Palerm said, “I wasn’t even aware of it until my mom texted me about it later in the morning.”

Strum-Palerm pointed out another dismasting story that played out behind them involving some “heroics” from Annapurna. The Terramoto crew had heard about Hamachi‘s dismasting west of Race Passage, so when the Canadian Coast Guard came roaring by and assumed it was Terramoto that needed help, they quickly pointed out that there situation was under control but there was another boat that might need help. It turns out that Hamachi broke her rig in heavy seas west of Race Passage, and Annapurna dropped out of the race, managed to get a tow line over to Hamachi, and then towed her through Race Passage. The Canadian Coast Guard took over from there, and Annapurna went on to the finish where she was given redress and finished third.

These stories aren’t really in much need of embellishment….. The question is, will Van Isle or Round the County top them?

As Flattery Course Falls, So Does a Mast

Kurt Hoehne Racing 0 Comment
As Flattery Course Falls, So Does a Mast
A happy crew, a record and a broken mast. Photo by Bruce Hedrick.

There will be stories (and maybe even songs) about the 2023 Swiftsure Lightship Race(s), and our intrepid weather prognosticator will share some soon. In the meantime, we do know that Terramoto broke her rig and the Flattery course record. And, by the looks of things, the corrected time win as well. Results.

By the way – I’d love it if any of you have stories or photos to share. Send them!

ORC Measuring In More, Smaller Boats. Three Classes for Protection Island Race

Kurt Hoehne Handicapping, Racing 1 Comment
ORC Measuring In More, Smaller Boats. Three Classes for Protection Island Race

Over the weekend of April 22-23 US Sailing Head Measurer (and PNW rigger for many years) Chris Tutmark got out his measuring tape (and more) to bring more boats into the ORC handicapping fold.

Tutmark explains the ORC progress being made: “There are a bunch of smaller boats in the processing queue- Pell Mell, Moonshine, Scheme (Pyramid 30), Blur (B-25) a J109 well as J111s along with a number of boats signed up for VI 360- J99s, Grand Soleil 40, Cal 39, C&C 115, J120, Cal 40,  and a Club Swan 42

“For production boats like J109s, J35s, J122s and the like once we have an application along with crew weight and sail dimensions we can generate a certificate pretty simply and quickly since there are a good number of examples already in the ORC system.”

Fittingly, the measurement fest was followed by Seattle Yacht Club’s Protection Island Race on April 29 which featured 16 boats in three ORC classes.

Alex Simanis took this shot aboard class winner Rush. Lots of downwind in this race!

It will be particularly interesting to see how disparate boats correct out on each other in a variety of conditions. Currently there are no ORC-targeted designs in the region, and it’s up for discussion as to whether or not those exist right now.