The 39th annual Cowichan (“Cow”) Bay Regatta was sailed at the beginning of the month. In those 39 years a lot of marks have been rounded and a lot of Canadian food and beverages consumed in that northern nooke adjacent to the Saanich Inlet. It remains BC’s summertime destination regatta, a chance for PHRFers and one-design fleets to get away from the big cities and hone in on equal parts racing and fun. I see a great appeal to Cow Bay as a likely jumping off point for a summer cruise. It provides great racing and a nice event for transitioning from racing mode to Gulf-cruising-mode. Thanks to Alex Fox for providing this racing rundown. Heidi Leckenby helmed their T-Bird Scooter to second in PHRF 4.
Cowichan Bay 2018
By Alex Fox
This year was everything Cow Bay’s advertised to be. Great venue, fine social activities and a kind 8-12 knots of breeze, with enough shifts and current variations to open the course options up, keeping the fleets tight and competitive.
The multihulls held, as always, their Northwest Championships, with 12 boats this year ranging from the F-24 Geneva up to the 40′ Dragonfly. Duncan Gladman’s speedy new (to the area) Dragon came out on top with great consistency, seeming to like it when the breeze was up a bit. One point behind in second was Bad Kitty, Bob and Ron’s ever-present yellow cat, with Geneva, last year’s winner, settling for third.
Division 1 was a mixed PHRF fleet, SC 50, Aerodyne 38, J-109, Flying Tiger, Henderson 30 , CM1200 and more. The battle came down to the 109 Tantivy, from Seattle, just edging out Baaad Kitty, the Henderson from Royal Victoria, again by a single point with Kairos in third.
Division 2 was something of a sportboat fleet. Three Melges 24’s , a Left Coast Dart, Elliot 770, no fewer than four Dash 34’s, or variations of and a Ross 930. The Melges and the Dart waged war on each other and the bigger boats, with the last race deciding the overalls. Mike Bond sailing the Melges with the ever changing name (ed. note: apparently Hold My Beer for this regatta), came out on top, with Paul and April’s Ogopogo edging the Melges 24 Sunnyvale for third. The Dash’s had their own battle within the fleet and interestingly that went to the one in original form, Optical Illusion.
Division 3 was pretty much dominated by Stephanie Schwenk and crew on Wild Rumpus. The little Santa Cruz 27 came, saw and conquered after a series of runner ups in recent memory. This division had a big range of boats from the Ultimate 20 and Pocket Rocket, a gaggle of Hotfoot 27’s, to a couple of J-29’s including second place Godzilla from Vancouver, a regular on the VIRS circuit, and her sistership Rhumbline in third. Most everyone had their day in this 13 boat fleet, with seven boats recording top three race finishes.
Division 4, the small boat division came down to a battle between four of us. Vidas Stukas on his much modified Turbo-Bird, Zig Zag, won it. Heidi making her regatta helming debut aboard our T-Bird, Scooter. Brian Robinson was third on the Cal 9.2 Flight and Windward 30 Pitoraq ended up fourth. Zig Zag dominated day one with three bullets to our one, then Flight really found the gas pedal on Sunday, winning two races. They might have finished third, had their spinnaker not blown. This was fun, tight racing with Graham Heath on Pitoraq, the 2017 VIRS series Overall winners, being a bit unlucky to fall to fourth, after mostly second and third place finishes. It was close racing with some very different boats, showing that handicap racing is alive and well.
The Martin 242s held their North Americans at Cow Bay as part of the regatta and Michael Clements on Wicked won going away. Second was the always contending Dirty Dog with third and forth filled by two Orcas Island boats, Crazy I’s and Purple Martin, shaking up the usual pecking order. This fleet always wins the party, hiring a DJ and hosting the dock party on Friday night.
Cow Bay Regatta is run by a group of hard working volunteers, who come from all over. Brigid, a former local sailor, who now lives in from Oak Harbour, deserves special kudos though for coordinating everyone’s efforts over the past bunch of years. Way to go everyone!
Ed. Note: If any of the fleets (multihulls, Martin 242s) want to provide more specific info and pix, I’ll be happy to do a separate post. Just email me. Long live BC racing!
Ed. Note: Thanks to new contributor Justin Wolfe for sending this report and harvesting the Facebook photos by Shannon Buys and Stephanie Schwenk. Justin & Chris Wolfe live on Orcas Island. They are both UW Sailing Team alum and nowadays they enjoy racing and cruising Shearwater, mostly double-handed. Shearwater has taken them across the Atlantic eastbound, across the Gulf of Mexico, and to Hawaii before calling the Salish Sea home. If you would like to tell a story on Salish, report on a regatta or promote something coming up, email me! – KH
The Northern Century race has a reputation, and it is well deserved. Racing 100 miles around the San Juans in the middle of August is a challenge for sure. For extra spice, the race starts at 7:30pm on Friday in Fidalgo Bay east of Anacortes. Not content with this difficulty rating, half the fleet raced double-handed. It can be an emotional roller coaster too. Here are two quotes from this year’s participants: “Love this race! So much beauty…watching the sunset, sailing through the darkness breeze across the decks, starry night skies with meteor showers above, the blood red moon, sunrise out in the middle of the straight, whales, porpoises, and the scenery of the San Juan’s..wow! The race was challenging as always with plenty of highs and lows, good calls and bad, passing boats and being passed. ” – Shannon Buys, Vertigo.
And “If you wanted to get someone to hate sailing, bring them to Northern Century.” – Anon
The double-handed racers were sent off first, at 7:30pm, followed 10 minutes later by the fully crewed challengers. This is actually a setup designed to discourage the double-handers and quickly force them to take stock of the reality of this race before the sun sets and they can’t see the competition, because, you see, the start is really just a race to first wind hole and so, minutes after the gun, Hamachi (J/125), Vertigo (Buys 26), and this writer onboard Shearwater (J/120) lined up across the course, charging north with running kites strapped for the tight reaching. Only halfway up the east side of Guemes, the lead 3 used their limp, backwinded kites as a clear warning sign to the trailing fleet of the first wind hole. Heeding the “don’t follow me” signs, the fully crewed fleet reached up and over the struggling DH fleet, and literally sailed over the horizon before we could get moving again. Freja, the beautiful and rare Aerodyne 43 from South Sound, shifted gears to a Code 0, kicked it up a notch, and led the mono’s north towards the first mark of the course just south of Pt. Roberts. The lone multi, Big Broderna (F31r) sailing double-handed, also made good use of the switch from kite to screecher to reach up to the breeze and move into first overall. Onboard Shearwater, I missed the lesson where we learned there is more breeze closer to the leeward side of an island than further away (except where there isn’t…)
North of Sinclair the fleet enjoyed some rather fine downwind VMG sailing under starry skies all the way to Pt. Roberts, with the majority of the fleet rounding close to sunrise. It was then a short beat in 5-10 knots back south to the halfway point east of Saturna. Onboard Shearwater it was an excellent time to grab some breakfast and rest up before the next kite session. We listened to a few easy going conversations on the VHF between race boats and shipping as we all converged on East Point. Thank you AIS and AIS Transponders for making this easier! Big Broderna (BB) led into Boundary Pass followed by Freja and their little Aerodyne sister, Kahuna. Behind Kahuna the race started getting funky with no clear path west to Turn Point on Stuart Island. Hamachi just put their heads down and suffered to get west until they were met with a pleasant northerly coming out of Plumper Sound. Bat Out of Hell (BOOH, Farr 30) and Shearwater (J/120) were scared off by the glass south of Saturna and kept working south towards Waldron. Lawndart (SC50), working back through the fleet after their no wind timeout north of Sinclair, opted to follow Hamachi along the south shore of Saturna.
There are only two marks of the course in the Northern Century. The Pt. Roberts buoy #4 and Hein Bank west of San Juan Island. The rules indicate you can sail from Pt. Roberts to Hein Bank any way you like. And just like that, the fleet scattered across the San Juan’s various waterways. BB, Freja, Kahuna, Hamachi, and Lawndart persevered passed Turn Point to Haro Strait, where they were greeted with… a parking lot. On Shearwater we kept banging back and forth between going west towards Turn Point and south towards San Juan Channel before giving up the chase west, popping the kite and heading south along the east side of Johns Island, looking for an escape route west to Haro Strait. BOOH took it even further, taking the lonely road east of Waldron and into President’s Channel. While the leaders waited west of Stuart, BOOH poked their noses into Spieden Channel, smelled the northerly coming up from behind and bailed south into San Juan Channel. Shearwater backtracked while drifting with the currents along the east side of Johns and Spieden before finally grabbing the northerly breeze into San Juan Channel. But wait, Blade Runner (SC27) had made a break from Wild Rumpus (SC 27) and Vertigo to run down the west of side of Waldron, carrying a kite proudly into San Juan Channel, closing quickly on BOOH. Wild Rumpus and Vertigo, seeing the wisdom in Blade Runner’s move followed suit heading towards Cattle Pass.
And so it was, after almost 20 hours on the course, 5 boats battled down Haro Strait towards Hein Bank, while 5 trailing boats rapidly closed the gap by sailing through Cattle Pass on the beginnings of an ebb. It was quite a site approaching Hein Bank as you could throw a handkerchief over the first 8 boats with only 20% of the course remaining. BB was first to round, followed by Hamachi, and the biggest mover, BOOH. It was some mighty fine sailing east towards Rosario Strait, with kites up on starboard tack, and the smoke shrouded red sun setting behind us. Kahuna was the first to pull the trigger, gybe, and head north. This proved to be a good catch up move as the rest of the contenders spread out west to east across Rosario Strait.
Vertigo’s Track
Northern Century doesn’t stop dishing out the challenges, right up to the finish line. As the leaders approached the finish off Washington Park, west of Anacortes, they were greeted with a devious easterly coming off Allan & Burrows Islands, along with Fidalgo Head. Within site of the finish line BB, after leading 99% of the race, parked it up just off the shoreline in the lee of Fidalgo Head. Lawndart and Hamachi crept passed to the west while Kahuna pulled off the “Buffalo Girls” move to go around the outside of all 3 to take the gun and the Division 1 Fully Crewed win. Only a short time later the little SC 27, Blade Runner, snuck across the line to take a huge overall corrected win, almost 2 hours ahead of Kahuna. On Shearwater, after a timeout in the lee of Burrows Island, we turned around and sailed back south to the breeze, before taking the safe wide-to-the-left option to the finish line to take the double-handed win, only six minutes ahead of Vertigo.
The Moore 24 enjoyed yet another rockin’ good Columbia River Gorge regatta August 10-12, this time the Nationals. Moores love the Gorge. And Ben Braden loves the Moore 24 on the Gorge, winning the event in a tough battle with Peter Schoen’s Mooretician. If you want to learn about the timeless Moore, check out this web site.
Braden tells a great story. Here’s the first couple sections – follow the link at the end of this piece to read the rest of it.
Ben Braden’s Moore Uff Da sending it.
The Set –
Straight outa Wikipedia – Hood River is considered a “sports mecca” and offers some of the best spots for windsurfing, kitesurfing, Moore 24 Racing, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, skiing and mountain biking—all for which it draws considerable national attention from many media outlets, such as Sail Magazine, Pressure Drop and Sailing Anarchy.
Moore 24 Nationals in Hood River, Oregon, one of the most consistently windy places to sail in our country and if half of what is written above is true one of the most fun and active towns you can imagine. A sailing venue I always think of with a little trepidation in the weeks before – why are going here – man that’s a hassle to get down there – it’ll be too hot and too windy – things are going to break – we are going to wipe out. You know, all the normal stuff to be worried about. We’re going somewhere to race that the Opti’s don’t sail at, where the only keel boats to have a one design regatta at the venue is the Moore 24’s and where the sailboards and kiteboards shine and rip around in places with names like Swell City – but then you get there and take in the scenery as you are welcomed in and get to welcome in all the different players in the theatre that is a Moore 24 Regatta. The Sailing is always great, the wind is usually incredible and the sailors in the fleet are top notch, but it’s the players, the actors in this regatta that make it what it is.
The Cast –
Competing from Hood River Oregon and first on the entry list is Doug I’ll Make it Happen and I had the best holder 20 wipeout ever Archbald and crew on #111 Morjito with Matty I don’t need a life jacket McQueen (yes he’s related to King of Cool Steve, and yes he threw the vhf in the water) aboard.
Hailing from Alameda, California is Karl Offshore extraordinaire I’m so wired I don’t need sleep Robrock and crew on #121 Snafu with Steve Scuba McCarthy on the helm
Another Home town Hood River Oregon Boat is Dave Jelly Man Gee and crew aboard #23 Space toaster with calm and cool Tyler Splice Master DuroKnot Beck aboard.
Hailing out of Corte Madera (no it’s a city not a fortified bum wine) California is John skinny trailerKernot and crew aboard #118 Banditos with Dave Soft Ball King Hodges aboard on the helm.
Coming all the way south from Ballard Washington is Ben I like a hot lunch Braden and crew aboard #26 More Uff Da with Andy I got a joke for you Schwenk aboard trimming
Hailing out of San Rafael, California is Joel I like red Turmel and crew aboard #64 FireFly with local Hood River Native Bart Master sailboard king I got a sailboat for you Vervleot aboard
Slipping their way up from San Francisco, California is everyone’s favorite Wet Spot #51 with Mike I swim in my tiddy-whities O’Callaghan, John I can’t stop movin and doin Verdoia and their longtime, fun, We Send It, crew aboard
Hailing from Corte Madera (no it’s a city not a fortified bum wine) California is Peter no it’s not Schoen Yes that fanny pack is a lifejacket #89 Mooretician and crew with Joe is that a new breweryWilderman aboard pulling the strings.
Another Hood River Native is Ted I sail Express 27’s Lohr borrowing Andrew’s Seldom Seen #37 and naming her Nice One for the weekend and he wasn’t talking about that old jib…
Then you have the Hood River, Oregon fixture Brian I lost my shoes in that wipeout Petros and crew aboard #145 Electric Mayhem sporting their new, yes not used by somebody else before type new, sails!
Hailing from Aptos, California is wee little Scott Captain Offset Sorenson who not only can’t decide on a boat name but now has named himself Karl Hungus and #92 LogJammin’ (even though Kung Fu Sock Monkey is still the fan’s favorite) sailing with his 11 year old son Spike aboard on the bow!
Rounding out the actors and hailing from Hood River, Oregon is 6/16’ths of the local Junior sailing program sailing aboard Morgan I can’t find a cooler boat than a Moore 24 no matter what I sailLarson’s #127 Bruzer on loan due to Larson trying out yet another boat in another city.
12 platforms of actors in this year’s Moore 24 National’s regatta but trust me – there was plenty of personality and action to be had by all.
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.
If all you T-birders aren’t already aware of this, the dates for the Thunderbird West Coast Champs are September 1-2 and the location is lovely Port Townsend. I was hoping to gather some more enticements that the NOR – but for now all I can do is refer you to the Notice of Race link. (HERE!) and show you the first page below. If anyone wants to come up with a post regatta wrapup and some photos, please get in touch.
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.
I challenge anyone to find a more cost-efficient way to have competitive fun keel boat racing around here than in a San Juan 24. (OK, you Cal 20 sailors have a case but you guys don’t fly chutes…..) The SJ24 fleet is active, organized and competitive. And say what you want about that vintage IOR quarter tonners, they can have competitive racing when it blows or when there’s just a breath of wind. And you can actually sleep on them! Here’s the report from Ken Johnson on the North Americans a couple of weeks ago. Long live the San Juan 24! -KH
Ekono Juan from Orcas Island Takes Third Straight San Juan 24 North American Championship
Grauer Geist of Seattle and Renaissance of Oak Harbor Are Second and Third
By Ken Johnson
Fifteen San Juan 24s from around the Salish Sea lined up in Penn Cove on July 14th and 15th for the Fleet’s North American Championship but one, Ekono Juan from Orcas Island, dominated the event with 8 bullets in 11 races to claim its third consecutive championship. Despite Ekono Juan’s wins, the races were closely matched – six other boats claimed at least one second place, and often the race committee had to closely watch three or four boats crossing the finish line overlapped. One-design racing at its best.
Sailing with Ryan Forbes on Ekono Juan were Ian Wareham (helm), Chris Kaufman and Justin Blevins.
Jan Anderson photos. Click photo to enlarge. Full gallery.
Ekono Juan nailing a port tack start.
We finished second for the regatta with Grauer Geist, with consistent top four finishes in all but one race, followed by Dave Steckman’s Renaissance which finished the second half of the regatta strongly with two firsts, two seconds and two thirds, to claim third. Bruce, from Bellingham and skippered by Mike Kleps, which was 2nd in 2017, was 4th and Mark Bradner’s Return from Seattle, a previous North American champion, followed closely in 5th. Consistent good starts, sharp upwind tactics and downwind speed proved the difference among the top boats.
One challenge for the weekend were the significant tides – the low each day was between 12 noon and 1 pm, a negative two feet, an hour or two into the racing, matched between high tides of over 10 feet – thus the famous (“infamous”?) Penn Cove counter-clockwise current grew increasingly stronger during each afternoon’s racing. The westerly, with occasionally northerly components, came in just before 11 am on Saturday (the time of the first warning) and delayed racing a bit on Sunday – the early winds were not settled, providing a challenging series of lifts and headers irrespective of what tack one was on. Nevertheless, the race committee, heading by Byron Skubi of Oak Harbor as PRO, ran a series of excellent windward-leeward (some short, some long) races, quietly moving the marks between races to adjust for the ever-changing conditions.
Seven races were run on Saturday, exhausting the fleet, followed by a more moderate four on Sunday. The second race on Saturday proved a harbinger of the weekend – Grauer Geist had a good lead going around the last weather mark but sailed into a light wind spot before gybing for the downwind finish. Ekono Juan gybed earlier and ran a puff down the course ever-closing on Grauer Geist – just before the finish, with both boats on port, Grauer took Ekono Juan up and up until both boats were almost past the finish line, but Ekono Juan handled the tight reach-to-reach gybe back better to finish a foot or two ahead of Grauer.
Starts became increasingly tighter, with two general recalls before the fourth race, aided by the ever-stronger up-course current, resulting in the round-the-ends flag being posted to slow down the fleet. The race committee was not so patient on Sunday, and the one (and only) general recall was immediately followed by hoisting the I-Flag.
It wasn’t until the fifth race of Saturday, after four firsts, that Ekono Juan had a rare buried start and Dave Steckman’s Renaissance broke through to win handily the race – she rode the south shore current to the east to the deep set leeward marks to build a commanding lead. In the next race Ekono Juan’s no. 1 jib suffered a big tear after the start and she raced without a head sail for a considerable period while the crew found the no. 2 jib. Grauer claimed its only win of the regatta, with Renaissance and Bruce close behind. Ekono Juan put up its no. 2 sail and of course the wind built a bit for the last race of the day, and she claimed her 5th first place.
Going into Sunday’s race, Ekono Juan had a 4 point lead over Grauer, and with its one throw-out used up in last place finish in race six, she had actually little margin for error – one more buried start or bad first leg could give an opening for the trailing boats – but she claimed three firsts in the four Sunday races that overcame a 6th place in the next to last race and was the deserving champion.
The excellent Oak Harbor Yacht Club hosted the regatta, with dinners each night and coffee and sweets in the mornings before racing. Thanks to Club Manager Joe Catanio for the excellent food and drink and OHYC Commodore Larry Munns for welcoming all of us.
Dick Rose gave an excellent talk Saturday night explaining the complicated process that results in changes in the racing rule book; we are fortunate that careful people around the world take considerable time and effort to consider the rules and handle the multitude of suggestions that come in world-wide from the internet.
Ullman Sails was the principal sponsor of the regatta and contributed money, prizes and support. Other sponsors: Oak Harbor YC and North Coast Electric Company, followed by Dunato’s Boatyard, Jan’s Marine Photography, Whidbey Coffee, Samson Ropes, Swinomish Casino & Lodge and Oak Harbor Marina.
Jared Hickman chaired the protest committee, aided by Steve Hood from Bellingham and Liesl Mordhordst from Seattle. In addition to PRO Byron Skubi, others on the race committee included Larry Munns, Jane Mays and Avis Berney.
Penn Cove is an excellent racing venue, with challenging winds and tides, with gleaming mountains to the west and east, and Oak Harbor a welcoming place for sailors to assemble each year and participate in a competitive and fun regatta.
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.
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.
The Vic-Maui Race is more than half done, but on the tracker there’s still everything to play for. As expected, Firefly and Joy Ride are out in front and it looks like an epic battle shaping up as the two near the finish. Gemini’s Dream retired and is headed back to the Northwest. We’ll start our coverage with an overview of the first half of the race using various edited versions of race committee reports and Facebook Posts. I just spoke to PJ Baker, who reports that her husband Brad (navigator onboard Firefly) was “totally stressing” about what were shaping up to be weird conditions. Yep.
David Sutcliffe has been producing a weather outlook called “The Weather Eye” that appears on the vicmaui.org home page. Also check out the tracker.
I’ll be searching high and low for info as things come to a close. I’ve been away from Internet the last two weeks (eek!) so I’ve got some catching up to do. While there was a somewhat disappointing turnout for this Vic-Maui, the sailors out there are having a wonderful adventure and a competitive race, even if it’s not racking up double digits under spinnaker.
And the early classes are off in Pacific Cup (CA-HI) with some PNW boats scheduled to start tomorrow. Bruce Hedrick is doing a brief shortly and we’ll be reporting regularly on their progress regularly. -KH
The Race So Far
VM2018 Race Report Day 1 – Canada Day
by David Sutcliffe, July 1st, 2018
And they’re off! At 10:00 am Pacific Time, the 2018 Vic-Maui fleet sailed through the start line outside Victoria Harbour, tacking into a stiff, building Westerly breeze.
In the days leading up to the start, the sun broke out just in time for the fleet send-off Party which rocked the Wharf Street docks on June 29. Transient orcas patrolled the entrance to Victoria’s Harbour on a damp June 30.
Today, July 1st – Canada Day – dawned sunny, breezy, and warm (if not exactly tropical).
Firefly led the fleet across the start line, while Anjo went walk-about before starting five minutes back and sailing up through most of the fleet. Kraken stayed on the grid and blog-sailed, or is that sail-blogged? Salient and Turnagain exchanged pleasantries from too close range, and the red bunting flew on both boats. Joy Ride pressed hard through Race Passage and on west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After a hearty cheer on World Cup breaking news, with Russia beating Spain, Victor Mushkatin’s team on Sérénité sailed with increased enthusiasm. Geminis Dream worked their way up the course, shaking out reefs as they went. Oxomoxo stylishly swanned their way through the waves.
Day 2 – Past Cape Flattery and Onto the Rhumb Line
by Race Committee, July 2nd, 2018
After a great run down Strait of Juan de Fuca, most of the fleet rounded Cape Flattery before the sun set and got to see a sight that most people never get to.
After rounding Cape Flattery, the fleet has starting the sailing down the rhumb line. The fleet is relatively close together about 160 miles offshore of Ocean Park, Washington on Willapa Bay.
The weather pattern is setting up for boats to ride a path between the Pacific High hovering to the northwest of its usual location, and a low pressure zone along the Washington Coast that caused the cool weather and rain before the Start. If this weather pattern holds, it may result in a short, sweet ride to Hawaii.
The match race between the two performance boats in Racing 1 is a tight one with Firefly and Joy Ride taking turns with the lead. At roll call it was Firefly using its water line advantage to eek out a 10 mile lead. But leads are fleeting and it remains to be determined which has the right weather track.
Racing 2 is also close as the boats are evenly matched, even if there is disparity between their types. Salient is sailing right on the rhumb line and has a course slightly east of the competition with a 5 mile lead on Anjo and Oxomoxo. But Kraken and Turnagain are only another few miles back. Anything can happen with this group.
A little further back are the Cruising Class boats with Serenite has moved to a significant lead over the all female crew on Geminis Dream.
The next step for all boats is finding the sweet spot to stay in the wind that exists between the two weather systems – all the while knowing that sailing directly to Hawaii is rarely the path to first place.
Tracker lessons:
Lesson 1
Turnagain’s tracker stopped providing position updates early Monday morning. In a modern news cycle that likes to focus on bad things, some people lept to conclusions that something had happened to Travis McGregor and crew. But it was a simple matter of the tracker struggling with fixing upon GPS satellites to get a position. With some simple fixes aboard and by YB Tracking, Turnagain’s position had leap forward on the map by mid-morning. So don’t panic if a boat’s position does not update for a few cycles, and know that race committee is keeping a close eye.
Lesson 2
You can look at the Leaderboard positions using VMG from Start or VMG Recent. This number is a calculation of how fast a boat is sailing directly to the finish. If pointed right at Maui, then VMG is the same as boat speed. If not pointing at Maui, you have to use your high school trigonometry. Luckily YB does it for you. VMG Recent is how fast the boat is going to Maui averaged over the last 2 hours.
Day 3 – Who Stole the Wind
by Race Committee, July 3rd, 2018
After a day and half of blast reaching in conditions best described as “not martini weather,” the fleet has hit the wall. A low pressure zone has moved over the fleet substantially altering the weather and putting the brakes on the wind and boat speed.
The relief from turbulent seas and stress on the boat is welcome – one boat reports that everyone is eating again and for a lucky few the daily constitutional has resumed. But having to fight their way through region of relative calm is not.
At roll call, the boats are generally about 270 miles west of Tillamook, Oregon. If the wind stays light maybe they can go in for cheese.
The leaders in Racing 1 have slowed from 8 kts to 5 and the five boats in Racing 2 who are 40 miles behind have put the brakes on slowing to less than 2 kts. – OUCH.
In Racing 1 Bob Strong’s Firefly still leads John Murkowski’s Joy Ride. But while the lead had built overnight, it has now shrunk to 16 miles. The five boats in Racing 2 are essentially in a dead-heat with all within a few miles of each other. In cruising class, Geminis Dream plan to hold back is proving to work as they still have the wind and are closing on Serenite.
The next trick will be who is best positioned to get the wind first as the low pressure system moves toward the east and the prospect of wind filling in behind it. Will that be Firefly and Anjo who are positioned a bit to the east, or will be Joy Ride and the other Division 2 boats positioned well to the west of the rhumb line. And for the arm-chair sailors taking bets, it would be wise to consider that multiple winning navigator Brad Baker is calling the weather shots on Firefly.
The over-arching concern is what happens next with the experienced veterans knowing that the fastest route to Maui is not usually the straight line.
Oh and did we mention Hurricane Fabio? Fabio (who makes up these names) is churning away well south of Cabo San Lucas and is forecast to dissipate well before the fleet arrives. But big low pressure systems coming from the south usually disrupt the trade winds.
Whatever happens, the navigators and weather dudes aboard the boats are going to earn their keep this year.
Day 4 – What A Difference A Day Makes
by Race Committee, July 4th, 2018
The low that boats ran into around roll call yesterday has mostly moved to the east and strong northerly winds have filled in its wake. What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to see all boats moving quickly again. But the sustained winds of 20 kts or better is starting to take its toll on gear – Kraken reported an accidental gybe that blew their traveller apart. And taking its toll on people as even the seasoned veterans were calling last night “challenging”. At roll call today, the fleet was generally about 400 miles west of Florence, on the Oregon coast still more or less pointing straight towards Maui. And going fast.
The light airs and challenges after the low passed last night compressed the fleet together. In Racing 1, Firefly and Joy Ride split apart last night but are now approaching each other; both sailing over 9 kts. While 45 miles apart on the race course, Firefly’s lead (measured in distance to finish) has shrunk to less than 10 miles – pretty much a dead heat.
Racing 2 has also compressed with Salient, Turnagain and Kraken all more of less the same distance to Hawaii. Oxomoxo is about 35 miles back, but because of their time allowance, they are still very much in the mix. Anjo got caught being a little too far to the east, but have now moved back to the west where better winds are and making up ground quickly.
In Cruising Class, Serenite used the rules on running their engine in gear to good use during the lighter winds and are now only 25 miles behind Anjo as both move into stronger winds. The girls on Gemini’s Dream are now in the lighter winds that the others have moved out of. They report the easing came as a relief – but it looks like the relief will be short.
And the first fish was reported today on Oxomoxo with a tuna going straight from the line to the fry pan leaving a bloody mess on the deck. Kraken had company with a couple of Humpbacks for a while – that must be good luck after several gear failures. But Joy Ride had company with a Minke, a Humpback, and porpoises – perhaps even better luck.
Now the fleet is onto the next challenge – better described in today’s Weather Eye. How are the boats all going to manage crossing the “plateau” and be first into the trade winds. At least it looks like Hurricane Fabio will not be an issue as the National Hurricane Centre is reporting it is already weakening and will be a remnant low by Sunday, well ahead of the fleet.
Day 5 – The Middle Sea
by Race Committee, July 5th, 2018
Thank you to Kraken for the cool drone photo out on the Middle Sea.
Day 5 Roll Call finds the boats generally about 550 miles west of the Oregon/California border and the leaders are now about 1500 miles from Hawaii. But the winds are easing. This is definitely the Middle Sea and the most difficult part of the race to figure out. The fleet continues to chase the sweet spot between the Pacific High and low pressure trough well west of the rhumb line; with most boats 75 miles west of the direct route and Anjo and Serenite another 75 miles west of that.
The wind was generally strong overnight after the trough passed and most boats were beam reaching speeds of 8 kts or more. But the wind has now abated with most boats seeing wind from the NW about 15 kts, and speeds have slowed accordingly.
In Racing 1, the duel between Bob Strong’s Firefly and John Murkowski’s Joy Ride continues without a break. While Firefly currently has a lead of about 20 miles, at this point that is insufficient to make up the handicap difference. Both boats have top navigators aboard and Brad Baker and Bron Miller are focused on the best path to the next wind pattern – and keeping a close eye on each other through the YB tracker.
In Racing 2, the first 3 boats have spread apart a bit with Travis McGregor’s Turnagain eeking out a slim 7 mile lead, Mark Malacek’s Kraken, and Christof Marti’s Salient are very much capable of catching as the separation can produce rewards for those who get the line right and risks for those who do not. Doug Frazer on Oxomoxo is in the middle of the lines of the 3 leaders and now 50 miles behind as the lead three boats got the stronger winds sooner, but is still capable of closing the gap and using his handicap to correct ahead. That leaves Clayton Craigie’s Anjo a bit behind and way to the west hoping that is the line that will propel him closer.
In cruising class, Victor Mushkatin and his Russian crew on Serenite is way out to the west keeping company with Anjo and staying in contact with the racing boats,; having used their engine (as allowed by the rules) to pass quickly through the lighter winds yesterday. Shannon Rae and her all female crew on Gemini’s Dream are the only boat on the rhumb line and might already be captured by the weak winds associated with the low pressure “plateau”.
The roll call notes indicate that the flurry of activity overnight in the higher winds took its toll on gear. Oxomoxo and Joy Ride are both having communication issues, Kraken sailed over a blown spinnaker, and Turnagain has noticed cracks on their steering quadrant in same place as a failure in 2016 (good thing they brought a spare this time).
The forecast shows more weakening and backing (that means moving counter-clockwise for the land-lubbers), causing lots of angst on all boats. They want to get to the next stage – the downwind sleigh ride on the warm trade winds to Hawaii. But that is still a few days away with a middle zone of “scooge” (a sailing slang term related to food debris falling out of the taco) to pass through. Who will get through the Middle Sea the quickest?
Day 6 – Window of Opportunity
by Race Committee, July 6th, 2018
Day 6 Roll Call finds the fleet well offshore and now about 750 miles off Cape Mendocino and still sailing west of the direct route to Maui. As the photo shows, there is a window of opportunity to get the course to Maui right. But this morning’s Weather Eye lays out the myriad of issues facing the fleet as all boats look to pick the right weather route, with choosing the wrong window likely to be costly.
In the Line Honours race (first boat to get to Maui) Firefly leads the fleet with about 1450 miles to go, Joy Ride is 28 miles behind, followed by Turnagain (+75), Sailent (+82), Kraken (+90), Oxomoxo (+154) and Anjo (+189).
Boats are reporting sailing in lighter conditions that yesterday. That is a good thing on Firefly who reported that yesterday they went from a missing gooseneck pin to a broken carbon fibre spin pole to a blown out jib top in quick succession. But the Tuna Challenge issued yesterday by Oxomoxo was answered on Joy Ride within minutes of putting out the lure – no word on how bloody the decks got. Also reporting tuna on board are Turnagain and Kraken again. And to show they are not left out of the damage from pushing too hard, Serenite reports a crack on their oven door from overuse delivering good food.
In terms of corrected time, the 28-mile lead held by Firefly is not that much when potential boat speeds and handicaps are considered and the most recent ETA puts Joy Ride only 30 minutes behind. With more than half the race left, it is still a dead heat.
Look Out, Kraken is Coming Through
Kraken coming through
In Racing 2, the conditions allowed Kraken to launch their drone again with spectacular footage. Too bad none of their competitors are nearby to share in the media spotlight. While Turnagain is slightly closer to Maui, Turnagain, Salient and Kraken are all very close. And Oxomoxo is still hanging in based on time corrections. It all depends on who gets the wind at what time.
In cruisng class Serenite is now in full race mode and trying to catch Anjo who is only 18 miles ahead, while Gemini’s Dream is still in the heavier winds playing a bit of catch-up.
Day 7 – Warmer and Drier, with a faint whiff of Tuna and Gray Whales
by Race Committee, July 7th, 2018
Day 7 Roll Call shows the fleet still fairly tightly clustered, with one notable exception.
Geminis Dream has experienced mainsail furling equipment damage, has retired from the race, and has altered course. All onboard are reported safe and well. Race committee will stay in close communications with Geminis Dream until they reach their next port.
Firefly continues to lead the fleet South, with Joy Ride hot on her heels. The next wave of boats includes three Vic-Maui veterans, Turnagain, Salient, and Kraken, followed by OxoMoxo. A relatively short distance back, Anjo and Serenite are soaking down onto Salient’s line, and these three boats are farthest west. The leaderboard is in a state of flux.
This afternoon, the fleet looks to be sailing on starboard tack with W-NW winds in the 7-13 knot range. Barometric pressures reportedly range from 1022 – 1025, with some dubious outlier readings from boats whose barometer calibrations may have fallen off the pre-start job list. All the boats appear to be navigating a fine line to avoid light air on their left (to the east) and to stay in pressure either ahead or to their right, on the slope of the High (to the west).
Conditions onboard the boats are reported as warmer and drier, with a more-than-faint whiff of tuna on some boats and gray whales near other boats. It looks like tomorrow will be the half way mark for a number of boats; traditionally there are some wild and wacky celebrations which are sometimes akin to a sailor’s traditional equatorial crossing. With the magic of modern wireless communications, photographs, including drone images, and stories have been coming ashore from the boats and appearing on blogs and social media including the Vic-Maui Facebook group at www.facebook.com/vmiyr/
Joy Ride Team Update: July 7th – from Facebook
Well here we are, a full week in and we have another 1100 miles to go. Foulies are off most of the time with day time temp at 73F/22C. The occasional squall with bigger winds and or rain make you want to put them back on. Skies are pretty with all sorts of cloud formations, the sea is a most amazing colour of blue. Both are hard to capture in a picture, I guess you have to come out here to see it.
The sailing has been a test of our patience with wind direction too far forward and too light to get exciting. We’re making ok progress though and the conditions allow us to continue to fix what is broken. Bron is very particular about all the chores on board showing us what good seamanship is about. And the quest for more of that delicious tuna is still on. We’ve had a bite but haven’t landed more fish so far.
No other humans insight, yet every now and then we see a floating piece of plastic. A lovely reminder of how we trash our planet. We store our trash in the anchor locker in the bow; I hate to say it but its mostly plastic….
Day 8 – Half Way to Maui
by Race Committee, July 8th, 2018
Most of the fleet reached the half-way point in last 24 hours, or will shortly. But it is also time to contemplate how far the boats are from anything – nearest land is over 1000 miles away. But from now on, the nearest land will be Hawaii – how good is that?
The weather seems to have improved and with boats now at the latitude of Carmel, it is certainly warmer and most boats report that the foulies are finally starting to come off. There are some complaints about the lack of spinnaker sailing (as promised in the brochure) with boats reporting they are close reaching with Code 0 sails in 10-15 kts of wind. And they could use more wind.
In the Line Honours race (first boat to get to Maui) Firefly leads the fleet with about 1048 miles to go, Joy Ride staying a consistent 27 miles behind, followed by Salient (+98), Turnagain (+111), Kraken (+134), Anjo (+208), Oxomoxo (+217), and Serenite (+253).
In terms of corrected time, the 28-mile lead Firefly is enjoying over Joy Ride at the moment is not that much when potential boat speeds and handicaps are considered. It is still very much a dead heat and both boats know it.
In Racing 2 Salient has managed to build a small lead over Turnagain and Kraken. Perhaps Turnagain is spending too much time fishing (crew member Vern Burkhardt is an inveterate fisherman and crews have been known to tie him into his bunk to keep him away from the fishing rods) and perhaps Kraken is falling too much in love with their drone photos. Oxomoxo is still working hard and hanging in the mix based on time corrections and Anjo has made significant in-roads on the gap and opened up a gap over Serenite. But Serenite is reporting better winds than the boats ahead and may turn that around.
The trade winds and the promised spinnaker run to Hawaii are out there, but there is still a zone of changeable winds ahead that needs to be navigated. This race to Maui will be determined by who gets to those trade winds and hoist the spinnaker first.
Gemini’s Dream are making good progress towards home having rigged the trysail to replace the damaged main and have even had time for fishing themselves. They are about 400 miles from Juan de Fuca and working with race committee to find the best path home based on their reduced sail plan, available fuel, and weather forecasts.
Firefly Blog post #5 July 8 10:45
Will Strong and Brad Baker
Mileage wise at 1800 we passed the half way point for the trip yesterday July 7 (happy b-day mom). To celebrate Master chef Tim prepared a slow cooked roast and root vegetables which were excellent though our dehydrated beef stroganoff from a few days ago were a close second for me. We cracked a nice 2011 cab I brought rather than going with the fine boxed wine-our first alcohol of the trip! 8 guys shared a bottle so we didn’t nor did we have any interest in going overboard in our sleep-deprived states. Spirits were high for all of us as we contemplated what we have been thru and the warmer weather and more pleasant reaches to come.
To date this has been an amazing experience for me, in part along the lines of what I expected in part more intense in both good and “interesting” ways. We truly have a wonderful group of people, some who know each other well and others not-all great guys. The sailing experience of those with lots in fact does rub off on the rest of us and the trip has been every bit as educational as I hoped with more to come.
Being in the middle of the friggin’ pacific on a sail boat is every bit as cool as I thought it might be. As noted so far we haven’t seen a lot of sun but it has warmed up and we have peeled a layer-even only shirts when the sun peeks thru. Lots of 50 spf and we are ready for the trade winds and full on sun. The sky, different sea states, wind, sailing and incredible vastness and soul of where we are all pretty great!
And today is Rueben day!! Bob out.
Day 9 – Stuck on Starboard
by Race Committee, July 9th, 2018
The trade wind run under spinnaker to Hawaii beckons, but more changeable winds are still in the way of the Vic-Maui fleet. The boats are stuck in a form of purgatory close reaching in wind speeds are fluctuating from non-existent to 12 kts – not exactly prime conditions for an ocean race. And the boats are soooo tired of seeing the white sails hoisted on a perpetual starboard tack and are getting frustrated by the time it is taking to make southing to the trade wind latitudes. And they are getting nervous as everyone has now figured out that the boat that finds the right path to the trades will likely win the race.
And they are now clearly in the North Pacific Gyre (aka the Garbage Patch) with Joy Ride quite surprised by the amount of plastic garbage floating by. With Salient also report seeing lots of whales, you have to wonder how our leviathan friends are faring in a sea of fish nets, plastic cups and other urban detritus.
At roll call Firefly is 901 miles to the finish. Joy Ride +22, Salient +84, Turnagain +115, Kraken +1034, Anjo +190, Oxomoxo + 224, Serenite +278
In Racing 1Firefly has increased its lead over Joy Ride by 5 miles over yesterday’s report. But the last 24 hours has been a game of snakes and ladders as one boat, then the other, loses wind pressure and finds it again. This will likely be a dog-fight right to the finish.
In Racing 2, Breaking News ….. at 1515 HST Salient just raised their reaching kite – a change is as good as a rest. But at roll call Salient had also increased its lead by over Turnagain by 18 miles and by 14 miles over Kraken since yesterday. But all boats have lost distance over Anjo who is coming up from behind. But this has also been a game of snakes and ladders and as the first 4 boats have very similar time allowances, the battle for first to Hawaii is also a battle for first place, corrected time. And don’t forget Oxomoxo who the other boats owe roughly 17 hours on corrections. Serenite, in a battle to keep up with the Racing 2 boats, lost a little distance overnight and has dived east to try something different.
The crew on Gemini’s Dream, still disappointed that boat issues have stopped their adventure to Hawaii are making good progress and now about 350 miles from home motor-sailing under jib and trysail.
Joy Ride Team Update: 9th July 15:00
The latest quest is the Rubik’s cube – oh and cribbage. We’re doing some intense racing here. All fans in the boat are on (Bron installed 7 of them) to keep the air moving. With the temps going up the salty, sweaty air needs some help. All in all this is some luxury sailing we’re doing; we’re ready to take it up a notch when the wind kicks in 🙂
Weather conditions are the same as the last few days, we can’t seem to shake the edge of the high or the jib/code zero set up. We remain hopeful, make the most of the windspeed and keep watching the grib files. We all take turns driving; which keeps us focussed.
We’ve gone through our stores to see what food we have left and make sure nothing gets spoiled (so far a bit of dry pasta got wet). We also check in with our spinnakers, making sure they are still in good shape. They’ve been sitting in their bags patiently waiting to get their turn.
Life at sea has been peaceful – aside from the ruckus made by (Ballard) hillbillies. One of our night watches got a visit of some dolphins/porpoises that played around our bow for quite some time. With the phosphorescence and the dark sky it made for quite the spectacle. We noticed the phosphorescence out here is different from what we see in the coastal waters, larger but fewer “chunks”. Would be neat to know what the difference is. Where is google when you need it.
The Weather Eye, July 10 – This Too Shall Pass, and Which Way Will the Cookie Crumble?
by David Sutcliffe, July 10th, 2018
This morning the fleet is in the grips of … almost no wind.
The overall weather situation has developed in line with the outlook given in the previous The Weather Eye. The two highs have consolidated into one, the center of the combined High has drifted east, the Northerly Low has migrated North and out of the picture, and the Southerly “Low” (the Tropical Storm formerly known as Fabio) has become a remnant disturbance in the Trade Winds.
So why oh why is there almost no wind?
The fleet is now South of the center of the High, and the normal clockwise circulation around the High is still disturbed by the merging of systems. The High is also quite a bit weaker at 1028mbar, compared to 1036-1038 a few days back. That means there is less wind gradient, or pressure differential, which is what causes the wind in the first place. Each of the racing class boats is making less than four knots as of this writing.
July 10, 0800 PDT Ouch!
What’s next, and why doesn’t it matter, yet?
The big picture is that the High will strengthen again, the fleet will sail into the promised Trade Winds, and they will finally make the last multi-hundred mile dash to Mai Tais in Maui. But, I bet that nobody on the boats cares a whit about that right now. They’re probably wondering whether it is a brochure trick, a dastardly delusion, a siren song of the sea. Sailors hate calms. Passionately. Calms corrode the very soul and fray the temper. Given the choice between weathering a storm and slatting about in a calm, most would readily choose the storm!
What will save the day?
It’s possible that the remnant pressure in ex Fabio will actually be helpful in getting the boats moving quicker. If so, boats could experience some larger than usual squalls with potential quite sporty localised conditions. Building pressure and the Trade Winds will eventually make themselves felt, with favorable winds from ten through fifteen and possibly building to twenty knots. It’s all going to happen soon!
July 11, 0800 PDT ex Fabio gives a wave?
Which way will the cookie crumble?
After sailing for nine days locked in fairly close division level combat, no boat has an assured finish result. The whole thing still hangs in the balance. There is hard work involved – some boat is going to claw their way through the calm. There is skill involved – some boat is going to find the wind first. And there is luck involved – the wind is going to find some boat first. So, as it usually does, the cookie will crumble based on hard work, skill, and luck.
The Weather Eye is going out on a limb and predicting that by this evening, Tuesday evening, the lead boats will be sailing on port gybe in 10-15 knots with spinnakers, and that by tomorrow morning, Wednesday morning, most if not all boats will be sailing in this refreshing breeze. From there, it’s anyone’s race to Maui. And they will be sailing in brochure conditions!
Firefly Blog Post #6 7/10/18
Will Strong and Brad Baker
The last 24 hours have been rough, or should I say incredibly calm. We have been working our way east in search of some additional wind, but haven’t been very lucky on that front. We have been discussing the definition of becalmed and have formed a consensus that we are not, but there have been periods over the last day where the question has been posed. The monotony was broken this morning when some of the crew rinsed off in the ocean. It felt amazing! After 10 days of stink there’s nothing like tying a rope around yourself, jumping off the stern and letting the ocean wash you from head to toe. The water is crystal clear blue and there’s about 10,000 feet of it between you and the bottom. But enough of that, this is a race we are in some seriously light conditions. Until now! Finally, as I sit here writing, the wind has begun to build and we are sailing along at 6kts in 7kts of breeze. It feels like we’re on a rocket ship compared to the last day. Is this the freshening breeze we’ve been waiting for or just a tease? Time will tell, but Brad’s antennae are up and it looks like our swimming days are over. Maui lies just over 800 miles in front of us and we are now beginning to discuss the first round of cocktails in Lahaina. But before that we have some sailing to do!
A note from one of the less experienced sailors on the boat: There are many parts about this trip which were more or less expected, but many more which were not. While I expected some of the mental challenges such as the requirement of patience, importance of crew morale, and dealing with some of the monotony, I was unprepared for the physicality of the endeavor. The lack of sleep, recurring sail changes, and grinding out of tough late night watches has given me even more respect for the crew onboard who does this stuff on the regular. It’s hard, but satisfying and I wouldn’t trade this experience, the good and the bad, for anything.
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.
I guess the good news is that the entire Vic-Maui Fleet has committed to the Great Circle Route and have (wisely) decided to follow Brad Baker on Firefly. The bad news is that as we pointed out last week, the high has built to 1039MB, we said 1040, and it is centered well west at 161degrees W, we said 160, and instead of a 28MB spread from the center of the high to the Islands it’s only 24MB. That is still plenty. The problem will be that between the Pacific High and the coast are persistent troughs of low-pressure off the coast and a very weak ridge of high pressure along the coast. This has created some very breezy conditions north of the Bay Area and will impact the starts of Pacific Cup but only for the first couple of days of the race. After that, it appears there will be a nice band of wind to get south and get set up for the final approach to the Islands. Navigators will really earn their keep this year as from about 140W to 155W there will be unsettled areas of light air.
Surface Analysis July 6
Surface Forecast July 7
Surface Forecast July 8
Surface Forecast July 10
The Vic-Maui Racers have a more complex problem. They’ve all committed to sailing the shortest possible route which will take them into a large area of light air by the 10th of July. This caused by the fact that the jet stream is simply not around this summer. By the 8th to the 10th of July it make dip as far south as the Aleutians, otherwise, there is nothing to really push the these weather systems around.
For the Pacific NW our mild summer will continue with an unusually strong southerly breeze off the coast today which will diminish as this trough pushes through. Onshore flow will build behind this trough creating strong westerlies in the central Straits. Wind over the rest of the area will remain light and variable. You should still check the VHF weather readings and log the barometer before you head out on any cruise. Just be the prudent mariner.
Enjoy the weekend!
Ed. Note: I’m coming back from a terrestrial vacation in WI. Lots of news to catch up on and put out there on sailish.com. For example, once again Hanne Weaver is the US Singlehanded Women’s Champ! And Firefly and Joy Ride are going at it hard. -KH
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)
There’s the “other” adventure race going on at the same time the Volvo Ocean Race. It all comes down to Mapfre, Dongfeng and Brunel. One can say it’s not nearly as cool as the R2AK, at least for us, it’s still exciting. In fact as I write this Dongfeng and Mapfre are in a dead heat with about 500 miles to go.
And leave it to the Europeans to make it a spectator sport. The fleet is routed through an inner harbor at Aarhus, where thousands of people can watch the boats do a quick maneuver. While this may drive the crews a bit crazy, it’s pretty interesting. I’ve set the link to this video to right before Dongfeng makes rounds a mark and heads out to meet Mapfre on the way in. (There’s actually a Part II to this video)
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.
