Racing

505 Pacific Coast Championships – Breeze on in Bellingham

Kurt Hoehne 505 Dinghy, Racing 0 Comment
505 Pacific Coast Championships – Breeze on in Bellingham

5-ohs forever. These sailors are a tight-knit group, and the boat can sail in zephyrs and full-on blows. From their rabbit starts to freely trading all their boatspeed “secrets,” these sailors have figured out how to keep sailing fun internationally and here in the Pacific Northwest. –KH 

By Paul Pihl

Bellingham Yacht Club hosted the 5O5 Pacific Coast Championships on June 15-17 on Bellingham Bay. Seven professionally run races occurred in varied conditions over the three days by PRO John Pedlow. Thirty-two teams attended the event and the pool of talent was deep. Several current/former world champions were present including Mike Holt, Rob Woelfel, Mike Martin and Howie Hamlin. The list of titles won by the top talent would exceed the limits of this brief report and perhaps even bore the reader. The competitors also included weekend warriors, college students and recent graduates. In fact, there was at least one competitor who graduated that same weekend from WWU. Teams traveled down from BC and up from Oregon and California. Doug Hagan flew in from Maui and the former International Class President and current class liaison, Pip Pearson came all the way from Australia. The father-son team of James and Ethan Brown drove all the way out from Alberta to race together on Father’s Day weekend. Walking around the boat park before racing it was clear that a great range of talent and ages were present, it was also equally clear that 5O5 sailors are united by their passion for the boat and class. Something that sets 5-oh sailors apart is their openness and congeniality. Boat set-up, sail trim, and tactics are openly and enthusiastically discussed by all competitors before, during and after racing. The goal seems to be to go faster together. Indeed the unwritten class goals seem to be, go faster, learn more and have as much fun as possible.

These Jan Anderson photos tell Saturday’s story. There are so many more good ones at her smugmug gallery.

 

Many of the competitors arrived early on Thursday, rigged and practiced on the bay in 10-15 knots from the south in champagne sailing conditions. The forecast for the weekend was for wind from the northwest, an unusual and often undependable wind direction for Bellingham Bay. Friday the wind lingered in the high single digits and was shifty. In race one, abundant weeds and lulls in the middle and left were painfully experienced by those on that side. In race two, the weeds had cleared and the left seemed favored. On Saturday, before racing many were busy making weed sticks to clear their rudders. As it turned out, the northwesterly filled in early with an unusual vigor. The wind and waves seemed to clear the bay of the eel grass, or maybe the boats were just going so fast they didn’t see or care about the weeds as they blasted by. Four races were run in 14-18 knots, at times gusting higher. It was full-on planing conditions. Finding pressure and lifts led to big gains at the higher speeds. There were abundant thrills and more than a few spills too. The racers returned to shore tired, sometimes bruised but always smiling.   The 5O5 is pure joy to sail, whether you are in the front or at the back of the fleet. Jim and Susan Holstine hosted a fleet party at their home on Lake Samish after racing on Saturday and it was a fantastic finish to the fabulous day of sailing. Mike Martin said it was, “the best regatta party” he had ever attended, a notable comment from someone who has attended a plethora of sailing events around the globe. Sunday the northwesterly filled in late with its more typical, lackadaisical tendency. The RC got off only one race. Initially, there was some wiring upwind. However, by the end the wind shifted and faded to a whimper.

Former world champion, Mike Martin and his crew Adam Lowry took away the gold. They had sailed amazingly consistently with 2-(11)-1-1-2-2-2 finishes. Current world champions Mike Holt and Rob Woelfel finished second. Former world champion and legendary 5O5 sailor Howie Hamlin and his crew Jeff Nelson were awarded third place. But by the looks on all the faces after, everyone was a winner. Thanks for Mike Poulos, regatta chair, for organizing a fantastic event and to all the BYC volunteers for making it all possible!

Thanks to competitor Paul Pihl for putting this report together. If your PNW class wants some digital ink, email me and we’ll set something up. 

Dieter Creitz Third at St. Francis YC Opti Heavy Weather Slalom

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, PNW sailors around the world, Racing, Youth Sailing , , 0 Comment
Dieter Creitz Third at St. Francis YC Opti Heavy Weather Slalom

Dieter Creitz is at it again, putting PNW youth sailing in the limelight. This time down in San Francisco Bay where the St. Francis YC is putting on a heavy weather regatta, the slalom portion of which just concluded. Format details are a little unclear, but it looks like 35 boats started in groups of four or five, and after each heat the top 2-3 boats moved to the next round. Dieter (can we call him “our” Dieter?) made it all the way through to finish 3rd overall. Here’s a gallery of photos, a video of what I believe is the final race and then the results sheet.

 

Here’s a video from the St. Francis Facebook Page:

Click to enlarge results:

Melges 24 Worlds End on a Breezy Note

Kurt Hoehne Racing 0 Comment

The Italians came, saw and conquered over the last few days in the Melges 24 Worlds held in Victoria. You might be forgiven for not realizing this was going on – quite a few 24s were parked unmoving around on trailers around Puget Sound. But for those who made it to the rarefied field of largely professional crews, the light air regatta ended on a windy note which made for some great photos. Alyosha Strum-Palerm, who seems to race about 9 days per week, was aboard 12HappyThoughts, which finished 9th overall out of 41 boats. Alyosha was kind enough to provide this report. 

The Melges 24 Worlds Aboard 12HappyThoughts

By Alyosha Strum-Palerm

Alyosha Strum-Palerm driving while Stephanie Schwenk trims.

Longtime 505 and M24 sailor, Mats Elfs, first contacted me sometime in early April. He asked whether I wanted to join him, Gavin Brackett, Nick Andrewes and owner Dave Brede on the first CYC Wednesday night race of the season aboard USA 675, 12 Happy Thoughts. I said yes, and had my very first sail on a Melges 24 in a classic cold, rainy and light air Seattle southerly. Over the next few months we sailed as much as possible given all of our complex sailing schedules and prior commitments. Gavin and I were preparing for Hawaii crossings in the summer, and Mats is preparing for 505 PCC’s in Bellingham as well as 505 Worlds down in Fremantle Australia this coming December.

With that being said, we got in a few good regattas as a team (winning both) and felt good about our light-medium air boatspeed and boat-handling. What we hadn’t gotten was the opportunity to sail the boat as a group in more than 15 knots of breeze, something that luckily was not a factor at the Worlds. So there we were at the Worlds, Brede on the helm, Elfs doing tactics and jib trim, me as the spinnaker trimmer, Brackett as the floater and strategist and Andrewes as the forward hand. Somewhat blasphemously, we collectively wished for a light and shifty regatta where we could best utilize all of our extensive dinghy experience and general comfort with sailing in wildly unstable and variable conditions. Much to our delight (and many others’ horror) the 2018 worlds were primarily sailed in 6-12 knots of breeze, with races 9 and 10 being the only exceptions. Quietly, some of us on the boat had made a goal of finishing in the top ten. An ambitious goal when you looked at the depth and quality of the fleet. From Olympian Richard Clarke on one of the MiKEY boats, to 2013 World Champion Brian Porter and the Full Throttle team, to Alan Field’s WTF with Steve Hunt calling tactics, to the Italian entry Altea, and perennial contenders Monsoon and War Canoe. Finishing anywhere near any of these tried and tested teams would be considered a victory for us as very new team in the M24 at our first Worlds together.

Days 1 and 2: Light breeze graced the opening two days of the regatta, with race organizers only able to complete two races. It was a classic PNW convergence with the westerly in western Straits fighting a south easterly in the east entrance to the Straits. It made for tight and tricky racing, with current being a deciding factor in whether you were gaining or losing. WTF had an impressive win in the first race after being OCS, while the Italians showed an impressive light air upwind mode than no one was seemingly able to replicate, leading them to victory in race two. We were content with a 15th and 11th even after making some key errors while racing (double tacking at a windward mark due to current is slow). Regardless, it was a nice and consistent way to start an extremely competitive regatta.

Day 3: After a discombobulated race three where we finished 16th and never felt in phase upwind, we finally found some excellent light air pace and good clean starts that led us to a 3rd and 7th place in races four and five. We were over the moon, and likewise was the Italian boat Altea who scored an impressive 5,1,1. Altea was our dock neighbor and we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to tune up against them almost every morning. Helping them out with a simple boom repair certainly had its perks!

Day 4: Although we could never again replicate our day three form, we had made a collective jump as a team in terms of our upwind boat speed and ability to get off the line. We had a couple killer starts on day 4 that lead us to some high placings around the weather mark. This only heightened our collective excitement about this group’s potential, especially considering many of the crew’s relative inexperience in the M24 (this being my third regatta ever in the boat). We kept high number off the board and stayed in the low to mid teens for much of the remainder of the regatta.

Click to enlarge photos.

Day 5: Finally a day that was on the brochure, 3 races were completed in a ripper of a breeze from 14-22 knots and we finally got to uncork some of the speed potential of the Melges. Never quite finding a quick upwind mode, we resorted to grinding down boats on the downwind legs (something we had come to excel at) and in the regatta’s final race we managed to pass 15 boats over two downwind legs to finish 23rd in race 10, after having what can only be labeled as a tragic start. Personally, our sail back into Victoria Harbor was one tinged with regret. Thinking that we had slipped out of the top 10 with that final race. But much to our relief, and in some ways surprise, we finished 9th overall.

My biggest takeaway from the 2018 Worlds was not the end result, but rather the experience of sailing at such a high level with four other people who have all become such a tight knit group. Achieving a collective goal was made all the more sweet while sailing with one of the best groups I have had the pleasure of being a part of, I am both humbled and grateful to have been given the opportunity to sail with this competitive, funky, and fun loving group of guys. Stay tuned for more exploits from team 12 Happy Thoughts, this adventure may be just getting started.

PS. Huge shoutout to Steve Corcoran for being our awesome coach and cheerleader all weekend. Your support was invaluable to us and you always managed to give us some perspective on our each and every result. Steve, you rock.

Thanks, Alyosha.

I asked how the Italians were as neighbors and Alyosha reported they were “chill and very open to us.” That’s one of the best things about sailing big international regattas, one never knows who you’ll raft up next to. Alyosha’s Pacific Cup ride is Freja. We’ll keep an eye on them as we will the other PNW entries.

 

Born Again Whidbey Island (or ?) Race Week

Kurt Hoehne Racing 3 Comments
Born Again Whidbey Island (or ?) Race Week

Schelleen Rathkopf is facing quite a challenge. When she and then-husband Charley purchased Whidbey Island Race Week, aka The Adult Summer Camp, the event had struggled through different owners and managers, hanging on as an event but with extinction always seemingly just one dropped sponsor away. When you think of it, kudos to all those who have taken WIRW on and kept it alive. Most other race weeks around the nation have met their demise.

And then there’s Oak Harbor. Despite the history, the Oak Harbor Marina has allowed their hoist to fall into disrepair and has failed to dredge the channels, and apparently has no plans to solve either problem.

Not one to shy away from a challenge or make bold move, this year Schelleen’s made the bold move to shorten WIRW to four days over a weekend. She’s added a cruising class with less crew work-intensive courses. And in recent years she’s added a kid’s camp. And, brace yourselves, there’s a real possibility the event could move away from Oak Harbor. To her great credit, Schelleen is putting it all out in front of the PNW sailing community so we can discuss and help. But let me get out of the way and let her tell all:

Sailish: What are the changes for this year? What classes taking shape?

Schelleen Rathkopf

Obviously the big change up this year is the shift from a 5-day regatta that runs Mon-Fri to a 4-day regatta that runs Thurs-Sun. For years, people have suggested that a shift would help skippers find crew so people would have to take fewer days off work. We’ll see if this shift works to build the boat count. It is interesting to note that when we look at all the competitors at Race Week for the years 2016 and 2017, the shift has attracted 16 new boats who are brand new to Race Week. The other change is that we added a casual cruising class to the mix in an effort to attract sailors who just want to come up and have a casual distance race each day. As the event has a 35-year history of buoy racing in Penn Cove, attracting the cruising classes out there will take some time. But, we currently have three boats signed up for this new class: Pearl Jem (Jeanneau 42DS) Pangaea (Baltic 39) and Vela Volta (Bav 35 Match). Of course we’d like to see 6-10 boats in this new class. Additionally, we added a new overall trophy to this year’s mix: the Molly Kool Cup, a perpetual trophy to recognize an outstanding female skipper.

Classes taking shape: Last year we had 13 J105s and 8 Melges 24s but so far this year 6 J105s and 2 Melges 24s are registered. The word on the street is that some skippers are not pleased with the 4 day shift Thurs-Sun due to delivery challenges (despite early delivery options being offered the weekend before WIRW this year). Also, many Melges 24s are racing Worlds and then headed to San Francisco so WIRW not part of their program. We have some efforts at play in the J80 fleet and hoping to get at least 5-6 boats this year. Our PHRF registrations are shaping up as well with the addition of 16 brand new boats.

Penn Cove is an absolutely stunning place to sail but we’re facing some very real challenges to grow the event in this venue which may necessitate a venue change in the future. The hoist at the Oak Harbor Marina is no longer functional (and there are not plans to fix this) and the channel into the Oak Harbor Marina can be very shallow at the negative tides that hit in July. These two challenges prevent us from appealing to those boats on trailers and also to the big boats who need more water to move about safely. We’re committed to staying put in Oak Harbor through 2019, but are seriously considering a new venue starting in 2020 that can deliver on what is necessary for us to include more sailors in the Pacific NW and provide a wonderful summertime destination that the entire family can enjoy.

Sailish: What are the lessons learned in the last couple years? 

The last couple of years have been tough. It’s no surpise that Charley and I were divorced in 2016. And when we agreed to take WIRW on, our partnership was very strong as he brings the rock solid race management experience to the table and I brought event marketing and promotions experience to the table. With me taking on the business as sole producer following the divorce, I’ve had alot to learn. Thankfully, Charley and I have a fine working relationship and he continues to be the event PRO and is part of the Advisory Board for WIRW.

Other things I’ve learned:

-Fleets want to have their own events. Despite WIRW offering up an amazing infrastructure and race management model, many fleets still want to conduct their own Regionals, Nationals or NA Championships. We’re continuing the efforts to talk about this as it can save so much time and $ if fleets used Race Week as a turn-key approach to their own events.

-People want a fun, destination in the summertime! Don’t necessarily need expensive regional bands (tho we have these again in 2018, including the Paperboys out of BC) but they want a fun party where they can chill out and have fun after racing.

-Racers are also looking for something new and fun. The events that are growing are interesting and fun. Buoy racing is great, but it would be nice to expand our offerings at Race Week to include some fun and interesting distance races vs. windward/leeward races.

Ultimately I’d like to see 4 race areas at WIRW: dinghies, big boats, youth sailing and a fun casual cruiser class.

Sailish: Is there a crew list? 

Yes: https://yachtscoring.com/crew_list_report.cfm?eid=4546

Sailish: What are your thoughts about race weeks generally?  Why does Charleston succeed?  

Participation is down nationally (internationally). It’s an expensive, time consuming sport. And there is a huge learning curve required to be successful (for those wanting to be on the podium). There are more demands on people’s time than ever. My gut tells me that people still want to sail, but possibly not at the same level of intensity. And I think as a whole, the sport targets a very specific demographic and people age out of that demographic, start families, and priorities change. I also think that boats are super expensive and require seasoned crew and “keeping up with the Joneses” when it comes to boats is daunting for many and frustration happens when the same boats win over and over and over again. There’s been alot of debate around ORC, PHRF and handicap scoring systems as we all try and make things as easy and accessible and fair for racers in a sport that is full of rules and regulations governed by the RRS that already can make things fairly complicated and intimidating for the new racers to break in.

This “keeping up with the Joneses” thing is really interesting as we look at OD fleets that come/go. I can still remember the days when the Olson 30 fleet in Seattle was the largest fleet racing! And then there was the Nationals hosted here and almost overnight, the fleet just went away. It was replaced by the next, sexier boat. What happened to the Farr 30s? J80s are growing steady here but not nearly as quickly as in other cities. J24s are solid (though they seem to prefer lake sailing) The current sweethearts seem to be the J105 fleet, as it’s a great boat for the PNW and there is a tight community of boat owners who know and respect each other. The fleets that seem to succeed for the long haul are those who recognize that iron sharpens iron and they’ve formed a cohesive community that encourages each other to get out and go racing.

Events that are succeeding are those that offer a fun destination experience for racers looking for something new and perhaps even some untraditional courses that shakes up the competition and gives more skippers a chance of winning.

Sailish: Why have Key West and the Seattle NOOD regatta failed?

I think Key West went away because of proximity for racers was time/cost prohibitive. NOOD? My understanding that it went away (in Seattle) because of WA state liquor laws – not that the OD participation wasn’t there. The costs to produce a regatta are super high – costs that many don’t even think about: staging, tenting, registration software, website development, special event permits, special event insurance, regatta insurance, security, fencing, liquor, permits, portable toilets and handwashing stations, race committee assets, awards, staffing, security. It takes alot to produce and event sponsorship $ is getting harder and harder to get (especially when boat numbers are under 100 boats). No one who produces Race Week events are making any money. And it takes alot of work throughout the year to get it done. Working with local jurisdictions can also add to some of these challenges and in the case of Key West, there was definitely some politics at play that made producing the event cost prohibitive in the end.

Given the history of this event in the PNW, we’re doing everything we can to continue to offer up a great event that appeals to the longtimers (who build their summer plans around WIRW) and at the same time draw in new players to the sport. With our reputation for superior race committee and race management work, combined with excellent post party events, we want to see more fleets using WIRW’s established infrastructure to conduct their own regional or NA Championships in future years. And ultimately, we’d love to offer a dinghy and a big boat race experience and I’ve always wanted to add a youth sailing component. 

 

Final Kurt Words

Few events have the history of WIRW. From the IOR days ’til now, the Adult Summer Camp has entertained thousands. Trophies have been won, rum consumed and children conceived (yes, fact). And really, Penn Cove is a great place to race in summer. But 3/day buoy racing and bacchanalian excess have both lost a lot of their appeal, and the organizers and sailors haven’t nailed down exactly what to put in their place.

With the announcement that WIRW was going to a 4-day weekend format, there was the expected groans from the hard core racers. And while Schelleen’s efforts to make the event more family and kid-friendly have succeeded, they haven’t yet convinced enough sailing families out there to produce a big fleet.

That all said, if my family was into racing (it isn’t – yet) I’d set aside time to do WIRW this year in the cruising class. I’d carry the cruising gear onboard and head for the San Juans immediately after. –KH

And, you know, please SHARE!

 

Swiftsure Multihulls Enjoy Great Races on Two Courses, Memorial for Ian Farrier

Kurt Hoehne Racing , 0 Comment
Swiftsure Multihulls Enjoy Great Races on Two Courses, Memorial for Ian Farrier

As I was watching the Swiftsure Race on a monitor from the feeling-left-out comfort of my desk chair, one thing kept leaping out at me. Among all those little boat icons littering the Strait of Juan de Fuca was an inordinate number of three-hulled icons. Of course there was Dragonfly, predictably making mincemeat of the monohulls on the Cape Flattery course. But she wasn’t the only one. Then there was an entire fleet doing the Juan de Fuca course, and they were going really fast. After getting over the fact they took up so much monitor real estate, I thought I better look into this. I put out the word to the PNW multihull faithful and some answers bounced around via email, which I’ve edited and included here.

I asked my Seattle contact Vincent DePillis what was going on and he reported “I think the additional turnout is due to John Green and Tim Knight energetically promoting the Clallam Bay race as a memorial for Ian Farrier. The shorter course attracts a lot of skippers who are not fond of flying the spinnaker at night, in log-infested waters.  (Ed. Note, I guess it’s not something we leadbottomers going 6 knots don’t think about as much.) With Clallam Bay, you can at least tell yourself that you will get through race pass in the light.”

In short, the multihullers decided to roll up their sleeves and encourage skippers to get out there. A vibrant multihull fleet is a great thing, and by the sounds of it the sleeves will remain rolled up. Race organizers take note! Here’s the report from the Canadian multihullers who did the sleeve-rolling.

For more information on PNW multihull racing, check out the Northwest Multihull Association or the Vancouver Island Multihull Group.

 

John Green, Sauterelle, Farrier Trimaran

I am still licking my wounds and getting Sauterelle cleaned up for summer cruising, but yes, the new course to Clallam Bay is what did the trick, and remembering Ian Farrier (ed. Note: Farrier died in December) added to it all. We had 10 Farrier tris here, and they performed very well. I have to give full credit to Tim Knight for thinking of it all. I have been doing this a long time and kind of got stuck in a box of “it has always been this way” until Tim suggested change.

We had had the very short inshore course, but in 2017, not one multi registered, and in 2016, only one did. A race committee cannot support that, but with Clallam Bay, there is a chance to get home before dark and as you said, see where you are going. 

I think what adds to it, and not blowing my own horn here, is the sense of camaraderie that exists within our group and the Friday gathering at the yacht club. I actually had a waiting list as we were full. There were 3 more Farrier boats that had wanted to come and had signed up for dinner, but personal and health issues caused them to drop out. This race is suitable for the smaller tris as well so maybe next year some of the F24s and more F27s will be tempted. Probably will need a bigger dining room!

I like to think of Swiftsure more as an event over 3 days than merely as a race.

 

Tim Knight, Slice of Life

The turnout was a concentrated effort by myself and John. I’m the behind the scenes guy and John is the guy on the phone, sending emails and generally being the best Farrier/multihull ambassador there is.

After we created the Callam Bay Race to celebrate Ian’s life and contribution to multihulls and sailing we got some blowback from some long time competitors, they thought it was underhanded and unfair to them, we explained that times change, we no longer go to the Bank, and we went from a high turnout back in the day of 20+ boats to only 5 last year. After their feedback our solution was to create two races keep the Neah Bay and carry on with the Clallam Bay race.

The rational behind the race was just as Vincent stated, avoid the wind dropping at Neah Bay and then spend the night dodging freighters and logs, sometimes at high speed. We also felt it would be fair to have the rest of the multihull fleet have a shot at getting back before last call. As our skippers and crew are aging and everyone’s expectations are changing, most folks are looking for the adventure, but comfort and fun are paramount, so the shorter race addresses this reality. In future years when the wind isn’t so good the race benefits will be really appreciated…

The rest is history. John resurrected his legendary dinner that started back when Ian Farrier agreed to come to Victoria, and if my memory is right John arranged the first multihull dinner in his honor. This year we maxed out at over 65 sailors and family and what a great dinner it was. Multihull sailors are so smart, we are the only fleet that dines together and takes advantage of RVYC’s Dining area, great food and some good deals on beer!

There still is some feelings harbored by the Neah Bay Boats, they started referring to the Clallam Bay event as the “Clown” Bay race and other derogatory terms, as a person who has tirelessly worked and spent thousands of $’s and endless hours to support and grow multihull and sailing in the NW I am a bit befuddled by this attitude especially since the Idea John and I had was such a success! It would be great if those folks could get past what ever negative feelings they have and use that energy to increase the Neah Bay Fleet for next year, as will John and I for both races.

On another note I started the NW Multihull Championship many years ago, back in  2004(?), I created it as Cow Bay was a great venue, and we were starting to attract a big fleet with a good portion coming from the US, so it seemed like a logical step to take to try and encourage more boats to get together for a really fun weekend of sailing.

Back in those days my sail loft bought a lot of advertising I used that to leverage Pacific Yachting, 48 Degrees North and Northwest Yachting to all promote Cow Bay and the NW Multihull Championships.

The one change we will make to this years event is to go back to PHRF NW’s basic philosophy of TOD instead of TOT. We have reviewed who wins at Cow Bay and as it is very balanced between all sizes of Multi’s we will stick with the one Fleet format, as in all racing you want to do better sail better!

One review needed is if a boat’s rating was generated with a crew of 3-4 then the boat should race with that number or have a rating review…

Lets keep this momentum going and get a great turnout at Cow Bay…

Wet Wednesday Video in Naptown

Kurt Hoehne Racing, Wet Wednesday Videos 0 Comment
Wet Wednesday Video in Naptown

Is there anything better than weeknight racing in summer? We’ve shown those great drone videos of Tacoma weeknight racing already. Here’s another look, this time at the Annapolis Yacht Club scene. It’s impressive. Four PHRF divisions plus Alberg 30s, Farr 30s, Herreshoff 12.5s, Etchells, Harbor 20s (21 boats!) plus a whole host of J-classes, J/80, J/30, J/105 and J/35. Check out this video from AYC, fun to watch even if it is out there on the other coast. Then make sure you get out there this summer in one of our own great weeknight series!

 

 

Tri Island Series Goes Down to the Wire

Kurt Hoehne Racing , 0 Comment
Tri Island Series Goes Down to the Wire
This picture of Glory and Smoke courtesy of Patrick Doran’s Facebook page. Nigel Barron, who was aboard Crossfire, took the shot. According to Barron, Crossfire was “first to the wind hole” and had to watch as the TP 42s put several miles on her. The decision was made to drop out and get the boat ready for the Downtown Sailing Series (racing sails to remove etc) Watch for the big white boat there!

 

It’s clear from the Blake Island Race, Seattle Yacht Club’s Tri-Island finale, that summer sailing conditions are definitely upon us.  As light air and moderate breezes trade places, first from one direction and then another, and the currents complicate matters, crews are kept guessing. Bruce Hedrick explained what would happen before it happened here. The results (click here) tell much of the story. Take particular note of how many classes had three-way ties for the series, including ORC 1, Class 2, Class 5 and J/105s. 

We have two reports from last Saturday’s race, first from Andy Mack, skipper of the J/122 Grace. Mack and team played the shifts as well as they could be, finishing first overall in the PHRF for the race and the series despite a DNS in the Vashon Island Race. Mack does a great job of explaining the winning moves.  

Then we have a report from Jim Marta, skipper of the Farr 395 Eye Candy, which won all three Tri-Island races overall in the ORC division. As he’s raced under every handicapping system, I also asked him to share his thoughts on ORC handicapping.

 

Andy Mack, Grace

Our fleet started on time in ta 6-10 knot southerly, and onboard was our “light air” crew of Dan Falk, Wendy Robards, my wife Jaimie Mack, Kent Sisk and me.

After tacking up under West Point for relief from the ebb tide and we neared the tip of West Point it became very clear the ORC fleet that had started 5 minutes before us were headed straight across, running out of wind and drifting north. A few boats ahead of us had tacked at the point to sail what was left of a SW breeze dropping to 2 – 3 knots. The goal was to keep the boat moving and hope a new breeze filled in. As we progressed south, the breeze progressively swung to the north and continued to drop. We went from a cracked off jib reach to a kite, keeping the foot out of the water as it sagged in the lulls.

A few of us had managed to escape the middle of the Sound: Ace, Ocelot, Grace and Hamachi. The early boats attempting to sail across the Sound, the TP52’s and smaller boats suffered longer in less breeze. As we approached the Bainbridge shore the wind started to fill from the northwest and built, allowing the rich to get richer, especially those closest to the shore who could gain current relief and a bit more thermal velocity effect.

We gybed, heading us straight at Blakley Rock, eventually having to drop the kite and beat to clear Restoration Point and reset for the run to the south end of Blake Island. We were overhauled by the two TP52s, Absolutely, and Hamachi with Ace and Ocelot battling for position into the first gybe to round the island. Eye Candy and a Flying Tiger were in close pursuit with the rest of the fleet well behind. As we hit the halfway point, we were halfway into the time limit hoping the breeze would fill as forecasted. There was some positioning and tight fleet action around the bottom of the island, with Ocelot, Ace, Absolutely, Hamachi and Grace close behind entering into the filling NE breeze. There wasn’t much action from here other than a little positioning for clean lanes, avoiding adverse tidelines and light air holes.

Looking back on the rest of the fleet, it wasn’t pretty. The wind must have dropped off stranding the majority of the fleets behind the island. On the long tack across to Magnolia, we gained ground on Ace. After a few tacks and a tight cover, Ace split tacks with us into Magnolia, following Hamachi into the bluff while we continued offshore for what looked like better 6 – 7 knot breeze. When we tacked back to consolidate it was clear we had made a large gain by staying in more breeze, crossing Ace by a quarter mile and cutting into Hamachi and Absolutely’s lead. The final approach into the temporary West Point buoy was straightforward, with a starboard rounding in the filling northerly and straight run into the finish

We couldn’t have been happier with our result, feeling like we did the best we could have with what we were dealt. It looked much more difficult not far behind us. At least the rest of the fleet got the building breeze to get them to the finish with no worries of not making the time limit.

 

Jim Marta, Eye Candy

We sailed three good races. My crew is a very experienced bunch and add to the effectiveness of my boat. We did just as well in the series two years ago using the IRC system of handicapping…another system much like the ORC.

Of interest is the fact that we race in the ORC division against other ORC boats. We go with our division where their course tactics take us, not with PHRF boats and that makes the comparisons with the two fleets difficult to understand if one compares just how one fleet does with the other.

You asked about impressions ORC system. Thus far, it seems to be a decent, and currently, a much better system of rating boat speed in each type of condition or course. The system doesn’t produce boats that have unfair advantages. On Eye Candy when we sail well, we seem to do well, and if we falter too many times over the race we don’t do well. We can’t appeal the rating of a boat as all ratings come from the international body, based in London, England. Again predicted speeds based on hull, equipment and sail configurations are used.

I recommend boats that are not pleased with the PHRF system go with the ORC rating system. It has a fairness that can’t be lobbied for a “fair” advantage.

Since I’m probably close to completing my racing career and am now 82 years old I have seen a lot of changes in how we determine just how fast boats are and how we rate them. And, it looks like the future of yachting is still uncertain due to water ballast, foils, and the construction of a “freak boat” in some new types that are probably not as safe as most mono-hulls have been in the past. I’ve raced over 55 plus years using ratings as: CCA, an IOR, an IMS, an IRC, and ORC ratings of my many boats, plus I have been member of PHRF since 1966. PHRF maybe its own worst enemy in that ratings are arbitrary and can be lobbied to improve one’s favored speed potential/rating. In my experience it would seem that many/maybe most of the handicappers are not really long term racers. I’ve seen boats that were once rated in the 30+ seconds per mile using PHRF and now are rated in the 60+ seconds per mile…a half a minute per mile is a significant factor and in a Smith Island Race this can mean over 40 minutes in the race results. Have the boats gotten slower? Not that I have seen for well-skippered, crewed, maintained, and equipped boats.

A national system of PHRF would be a real step forward as boats could be rated the same if the boats are the same, nationwide. We say that our conditions are not typical of other areas. Barry Carroll, of Carroll Marine and U.S. Sailing, indicated when in Seattle, at CYC, that within a radius of 50 miles a Boston area boat might have three ratings. We all have wind, water, and often tides. What is really different from area to area?

 

The Dream of Winning Swiftsure – The Le reve story

Kurt Hoehne Racing 0 Comment
The Dream of Winning Swiftsure – The <em>Le reve</em> story

The following story by Ron Rosenberg originally ran on Scuttlebutt last week. Very thoughtfully, he and Scuttlebutt’s Craig Leweck suggested it could run on sailish.com. While it’s a great story on its own, I dug a little deeper on some of the facets of the race and the boat to provide a little additional framework. Le reve translates to “The Dream” in French, because “I am living in a dream when I’m on the water,” according to owner Michael Breivik.

All photos by Jan Anderson.

The Owner: Le reve’s owner, Michael Breivik, came into sailing very recently. He grew up in the Seattle area he cruising and fishing with his family aboard powerboats, though sailing was always on his mind. In 2014 his new girlfriend Ingrid Velsvik started getting interested in sailing, and in the next two years they chartered in Thailand and the Caribbean. Breivik bought the Beneteau Oceanis 45 in 2017 primarily for cruising. Alas, he admits to “getting bitten” by the racing bug. He sailed Swiftsure last year on a J/35, and thought “why not with my boat.” Why not indeed. He steered virtually the entire beat and, according to Rosenberg, “just got better and better as current changed and the waves got bigger.”

It’s important to note that the boat will spend the summer between Seattle and Roche Harbor, getting plenty of cruising and enjoyed by son Tor and daughter Lilliana. Tor’s been on a couple of races and is really interested in how this game all works.

The Crew: While Rosenberg may have been a Swiftsure “rookie,” his sailing resume is impressive with more than 5 World Championships and 50 national titles to his credit, though by profession he’s a marketing guy for McLube. He’s also a part time coach and has “coached others to many more meaningful wins than I’ve had myself.” One of those he coached was another crew member, Derek Vranizan, who’s been at or near the top of the US Laser field for more than a decade. Ken Monaghan of Signature Yachts, who sold the boat, has been a fixture with top crews around the Northwest and elsewhere for decades and brought an abundance of big-boat knowhow. The final member of the crew was Matt Darbous, whose enthusiasm was key. As the team prepped for Swiftsure, “he was out there all the time.” So, while Le reve didn’t have an entire team of hard-core Swiftsure veterans, Mike had plenty of support.

All photos by Jan Anderson. Click to enlarge.

The Sails: Le reve has a 3-sail inventory. Yes, you read that right. Jack Christiansen of North Sails Seattle made a few tweaks in the sail design to get the most area out of the in-mast furling main and the furling genoa, which were made of a fairly standard kevlar scrim/dacron combination for cruiser-racers. He managed to design in a little positive roach with vertical battens. The spinnaker was basically an A-2 runner made of Airex 70 sailcloth. It was on a short (1-2′) sprit that required outside gybes.

Rosenberg was involved in an important part of the sail inventory via McLube. “I helped develop the new Sailkote PLUS Water-Based Coating that Jack/North Sails Seattle applied to Le reve’s roller furling Main and jib…this product really helped our sail handling performance and reefing/furling on the go, and I think this will become the go-to product for all furling sails,” Ron explained. I understand one area in which this comes in handy is the in-mast furling main, with the lubricant allowing the main to have a tighter furl.

The Boat: The Oceanis is a luxurious cruiser and now we know it sails in a stiff breeze very well, both upwind and downwind. At first I took a double-take at the rating, 75 for a 45-footer with all that waterline? No wonder it won…. But when I checked, its rating was accurate, in fact in it’s 93 in New England. After sailing the boat several times, including light air, Rosenberg felt a rating in the 80s would be fair. I believe that in less than 12 knots of wind (not that we ever get that in the PNW) Le reve and her big transom would get a little sticky pretty fast.

The Race: A couple of things here – the crew called a great race and crossed to the American side of the Straits quickly. (Read sailish’s wrap on the race for some fascinating tactical reviews). On the return leg they played it smart as well. They sheeted that all-purpose headsail to the rail, heading bow-down and fast. The conditions for the race were perfect for this boat and sailplan. They didn’t have to furl the headsail, but it was enough power for the beat. And the Oceanis is just about all waterline and this was pretty much a waterline race.

My Impressions: I’m happy for Michael, Ron, Ken, Derek and Matt. They sailed a great race, and obviously the boat sails very well even with all the furniture! I hope that non-racing owners of other modern cruiser-racers take note. Breivik is one happy guy and yes, it’s fun winning, but he made a point of saying, “even if we hadn’t won we would have enjoyed it. It was a great experience.” He suggests, “as long as your boat is seaworthy, go with the boat you have!” I second that motion. If I close my eyes for a few seconds, I can happily imagine several full classes of cruising boats with electric winches and solid dodgers plus several full classes of racers with eight sets of legs dangling over the side.

Swiftsure winner Le reve.

 

Published on Sailing Scuttlebutt on May 30th, 2018

The Swiftsure International Yacht Race is the premier long distance sailing race in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia area. Starting and ending in Victoria, BC, Canada, the 75th edition on May 26 attracted one design expert but distance racing rookie Ron Rosenberg.

Here Ron tells the story of how this unlikely team succeeded on the race course, but more so, gained an appreciation of what has even greater importance:

My Rookie Swiftsure ExperienceI knew my teammates onboard Mike Breivik’s Beneteau Oceanis 45, Le Reve, felt my nap time was over when they tacked without telling me and I reverse somersaulted across my plush mattress to the new low side and crashed into the far leeward side of the hull, face pressed against the hull window, looking down into the deep blue 400’ water outside… kind of a fish-finder meets Finding Nemo aquarium feeling.

Nap over, time to get back on deck. Which is also pretty comfy as we opted to keep the enclosed hard top dodger up and in place for the race once we saw that more than 25 knots were forecast. That turned out to be a smart move on three key fronts:

1. We never got wet, not even sprayed. It felt more like you were in an iMAX theatre watching the race as if you were really there, but never actually feeling a drop of water as the huge dodger windshield provides a wonderful, unobstructed view of the race. We pretty much dressed up in our foul weather gear just to play the part of a racing team. Fake it until you make it.

2. I think our nice big dodger had a bit of a staysail effect under the boom any time we were sailing off the wind. At times we were going so fast downwind I think the bow thruster even came out of the water… I figured this was the case because that barely detectable low gurgling noise in the bow would sometimes go silent when we were surfing down a wave at more than 10 knots.

Everyone who docks a boat this size should definitely have a bow thruster. You dock like a Rock Star. Too bad we’re not able to use it during racing as it could have come in handy as we were trying to lay the pin end and would definitely have helped our pointing upwind if you could just tap that leeward bow button now and again.

3. None of our 60 in-class competitors seemed to take us even remotely seriously when we went to take the pin at the start. One competitor even waved us right on by with about a minute to go as if we were mistakenly in his racing area and the parking area for RVs was the next lot over.

Prior to the start our hard top dodger seemed to attract a lot of attention at the dock and as folks on the docks would ask if it was going to be removed prior to racing, other nearby sailors would say, “Of course they’ll take that down-those aren’t for racing…” Newsflash: these hard top dodgers are awesome for racing!
————–

Our stock Beneteau Oceanis 45 must have been a true design challenge. Imagine the design brief: 3 luxurious staterooms, 2 with private bathrooms and showers, a well-appointed kitchen with all the appliances, spacious salon, all to be driven upwind (well, almost close-hauled) at more than 7 knots by a roller furling mainsail (maybe 20% smaller with no roach?) and roller furling jib.

The designers of this new breed of performance cruisers deserve big credit; they knocked it out of the park. This boat had me the moment I laid eyes on the Harken electric powered self-tailing winches. No kidding, you tack, push a button and off you go! Now, THAT is some phenomenal engineering right there. Add that to the same wish list as bow thrusters. We really need to change these sailing rules to make it easier for more people to try racing… Man, our tacks were SO MUCH BETTER in practice than in the actual race.

Like many of you, I’m a day racer. I prefer one design racing and I enjoy being on the water competing and improving, with and against friends during the day, then returning ashore for a hot shower, sharing a few laughs, have a nice meal, and then sleeping in a warm, dry bed.

If I can occasionally have a day or two like that, I’m energized for weeks. Surprisingly, my first experience in the Swiftsure International Yacht Race was really not so different than some of my very best one design racing days. In some ways, it was even better!

Imagine getting to go racing with about 150 other boats sailed by people who are similarly passionate about the sport you love, and it all takes place in this beautiful natural setting with magnificent, untouched rocky coastline and evergreen trees surrounded by breathtaking mountain ranges completely covered in snow. Throw in clear blue skies, lots of sun, and a nice 10-25 knot fresh breeze and that’s what we enjoyed for nearly our entire 17 hour race.

There was also a pretty nice sunset around 9 pm and by that time we were surfing downwind at more than 10 knots of boat speed enjoying a hot meal of cannelloni, garlic bread, and salad too. I found nothing to complain about with my entire rookie Swiftsure experience. Part of me is left asking, “Is it possible all 74 previous Swiftsure Races have been like this?” I’ve only done this one so far, so I don’t know for sure if the veterans are pulling my leg or not.

Our Overall Approach To Swiftsure
We approached the 75th Swiftsure just as we would a one design world championship: we prepared ourselves the best we possibly could given our respective constraints, we learned and improved significantly at every opportunity, we asked literally hundreds of questions to our more experienced friends in the local Seattle sailing community, then we listened and learned and we kept things as simple and as enjoyable as possible.

There were some surprises along the way, but the biggest surprises for us were how much non-stop fun and laughter we had together on this extraordinary adventure race. Later, after we finished in the middle of the night, we awoke dockside to the morning sun to learn that we had won our division and we won overall also. Yes, I know… surprise! 😉

This is the story of our rookie Swiftsure experience onboard Le Reve, sharing what we learned along the way and how we managed to pull this off, and have so much fun together every step of the way.

Our story began just about four months ago in January at the Seattle Boat Show when a friend of mine asked me to meet with a friend of his who had recently purchased a beautiful new Beneteau Oceanis 45 cruising boat… ahem… sorry, I mean Performance Cruising boat.

In the Pacific Northwest Mike Breivik, is well known as a smart, successful, goal oriented Seattle businessman. We met for breakfast and he told me about how he enjoys cruising with his family and friends. He told me he was interested in learning to race and that he had a rather near term goal in mind.

So far so good, I liked the way this all sounded and we all know that we always need more new, fresh sailors to enjoy our racing scene. I was pretty sure he was about to tell me that he wanted to experience the vibrant evening/after work casual racing scene we have here in Seattle. Well, I was wrong.

Surprise
My coffee nearly shot out my nose when he looked me in the eye and said the words, “My goal is to do the Swiftsure Race this May… You know, Cape Flattery, The 101 mile course from Victoria out to Neah Bay-the mouth to the Pacific Ocean and return.”

I managed to swallow my coffee, tried to compose myself, took a slow, deep calming breath and casually looked at my watch just to check the date. As I suspected it was late January and we were already late for the start on May 26. Okay Mike, please tell me a bit more about yourself and your sailing experience, the team you have in mind, and the boat.

Turns out that while Mike is relatively new to sailing, he’s racked up far more recent ocean miles than any of the rest of us. He actually had a pretty good idea of what he was getting into all along. He was clear in his goals and together we began to chart a course to achieve that goal and discuss the initial steps toward the steep learning curve of how to best prepare ourselves for this specific adventure on this specific boat.

Early progress proved sporadic as lengthy interruptions caused by the fact that sailing comes secondary to work, family, and life for all of us and Mike’s work-related travel made finding on-the-water-practice time challenging. All in all, I think we may have sailed only about five times together prior to departing for the Swiftsure Race.

Our Strategy for Success: Work With Our Local Sailing Community
As it became clear that we weren’t going to be able to spend much time on the water practicing together and gearing up the way I had hoped, and we didn’t have time to re-invent that wheel ourselves, we agreed on a plan to work smarter, learn-it-all, and make good decisions together.

In other words, we didn’t possess all the right kinds of knowledge and experience we wanted, so we spoke with those local experts that did. That meant reaching out to those among our community with more experience that would be able to help guide us along this journey. Here is a short list of each of those key people, and what we gleaned from each of them as they generously and freely shared their wisdom and experience to help us, just for the asking.

All Mike and I did was prepare a list of questions for each of them and then listen closely to their sound advice, and try not to waste their time. It became clear that each of them are great role models and so completely willing to give back to the sport and build the sailing community, help fellow sailors improve and pay it forward… through us.

I wish to openly share the names of these high value individuals, commend them for their willingness to help us, and offer each of them a well-deserved, heartfelt thank you. We all can think of a few key individuals in our respective sailing communities, these are the ones that we came up with:

• Jonathan McKee kindly allowed me to join him for his own Swiftsure pre-race homework/strategy planning session, and patiently answered all of my questions. Jonathan is not only a great and extraordinarily accomplished sailor, but he is a truly gifted coach and communicator.

He easily provided me with the prioritized knowledge and perspective necessary to understanding each critical chapter of the Swiftsure Race, including many nuances that only a very good sailor would have picked up from years of experience on a specific race course. I love working with great coaches as they help speed up my learning curve and always seem motivated to help others enjoy the game of sailing.

• Jack Christiansen of North Sails Seattle began helping us right there at the Seattle Boat Show by talking us through his own Swiftsure experiences and through a series of follow up conversations he helped us understand early on that this is not typically a reaching race, but more of a windward-leeward race except that the beat is 51 miles long. Jack helped us come up with a great furling main design that once coated with a new McLube Water Based Sailkote PLUS slippery coating, proved remarkably versatile.

We could adjust the size of our mainsail reef by 1 foot increments along the boom without even letting the sail flap once. Jack McLube’d our furling main and jib so not only did we build heavier cloth/more durable sails with bigger battens (a McLube’d sail rolls 30% tighter than normal so it fits in the same mast tube space), but it’s now protected from mold, mildew, dirt, salt and grime.

Oh yes, Jack is wealth of information and he was more than happy to come sailing with us and help us to learn the best ways to deal with each of our onboard sail handling systems. Ultimately we determined that all we really needed were three sails for Swiftsure. Furling main, furling jib and an A2 spinnaker…and that’s all we used the entire race.

• Nigel Barron and Greg Barckert at CSR Marine were so knowledgeable across so many topics related to our boat and Swiftsure, they helped us with everything from rig tuning (how do you keep an in-mast furling mast from pumping so much in chop?), to rigging and special needs such as attaching a mast track to the front of our mast (remember there are wires, halyards, and a mainsail furled up inside there!) for our combo whisker/spinnaker pole. These guys would make the time to help us think through any questions or good ideas we could come up with, right up to the day before the race!

• Lisa Vizzini of Port Townsend Rigging is a wonderful problem solver to work with and she was the only pole supplier that could promise an on-time delivery of our whisker/spinnaker pole given our short timeframe. She even had our pole delivered directly to the start of the Swiftsure thanks to Jonathan Cruse and his Freya Team.

Knowing this would be a long windward-leeward course, this pole allowed us to bring the tack of our A2 spinnaker back to square up our spinnaker and allow us to sail deep on the 6-7 hour run toward the finish. This pole was also our back up plan whisker pole in case it got too windy for the kite we could use it to go wing and wing with the jib.

• Ken Monaghan is the local Beneteau Dealer at Signature Yachts here in Seattle. Ken not only sold the boat to Mike, but he also offered to step up and sail with us as our most experienced Swiftsure veteran. Ken is a great lifelong sailor in his own right. Ken was great about making sure the boat was always in excellent working order and he does a great job of keeping his clients all very happy.

Local Current And Our Upwind Speed Testing Program
48 hours prior to the start, Mike, Derick and I slipped Le Reve’s dock lines in Seattle at 5 am in a cold, light drizzle to make the roughly 10 hour delivery up to Victoria, BC, Canada. We dressed appropriately, with foul weather gear and lifejackets and all safety gear in place. We began motoring as we were joined by about a dozen other boats along the way in what turned out to be a virtual convoy of racing boats coming together from different parts of Puget Sound and converging toward Victoria.

As we began our delivery we talked about something we had discussed more than a month prior and that was the fact that the first chapter of our Swiftsure Race would have this same adverse current just starting to ramp up against us right at the start of the race, and we could expect to have that same strong adverse current for the first few hours of the race at least. We also knew the same applied to our delivery as we turned and headed north just as the tide began to flood and flow against us.

It was sobering to see, feel and experience the raw force of about 3 knots of water pushing against you while you’re trying to work your way against it. Trying to sail against a 3 knot treadmill of water can be daunting when there is really no good place to hide or seek relief.

Five hours later and nearly halfway there, we entered the famed Strait of Juan de Fuca, the large channel if you will that separates the Northwestern US border with that of Canada’s Vancouver Island as you head west toward the Pacific Ocean. If you live in the Pac NW and you spend any time on the water, you’ll have heard how hard and strong the wind can consistently pipe through there. It only rarely makes it as far inland as Seattle, but the Strait can be a windy, unrelenting kind of place.

As quickly as the rain stopped, and the skies cleared, the cool westerly breeze was ushered in and we unfurled both our only main and our only jib. That’s right. One in-mast furling main and one furling jib. Makes sailing fun and super easy. That’s our entire upwind sail inventory. That’s all we have to take us 51 miles upwind regardless of the wind strength. The upside is that makes proper sail selection pretty straightforward. I must say, there is something empowering in knowing you’re always using the right jib in every condition.

We Have To Be Creative In Finding Solutions
We’re underpowered in anything under 7 knots, and we’re overpowered in anything over 18 knots. Once the wind gets to a solid 18, we had better have a good depower plan. We worked on this new system on the delivery to Victoria. There is only one jib track on these boats, and no toe rail you can attach turning blocks to, so we simply lashed turning blocks to the top of our amidships dock cleats and use those as our outboard jib sheets.

We had talked about that, but over the five times we had sailed the boat together (we referred to that as practice), we had never seen more than 16 knots and had never tried it. This was our critical testing opportunity to see if they were going to work. Now, if you’re a Grand Prix sailor you’ll know that the newest TP 52s in Europe can point quite high upwind with their jib cars as far inboard as 1.9 degrees… that’s right, that translates to sheeting your jib LESS THAN 2 FEET from the leeward side of the mast!

Yet, as we became more overpowered it made sense to move our lead outboard and aft closer to the cleat on the rail of the boat in order to flatten, reduce drag and open up the slot… I was afraid to actually measure the precise distance, but my guess is that’s more than 7 feet off our centerline! This allowed us to use the same all-purpose furling jib well up into the high 20s, but of course we would have to sacrifice pointing in order to do so.

This is okay for VMG as long as we’re going faster while we’re going lower. Believe it or not, during the Swiftsure race in 20+ knots, we had Le Reve going more than 7 knots through the water at times on our upwind leg. Albeit our pointing was not very good… our entire fleet of monohulls and most of the trimarans were outpointing us, but we did have a good low and fast mode!

At the windiest part of the race we rolled up the main so the foot was about 4 feet shorter on the foot. That translates to a pretty deep reef. Then as the wind decreased, we could easily and gradually unfurl the main to the desired size… without ever slowing down. That made for surprisingly efficient gear changing as the conditions were always up and down between 12-22 knots throughout the 51 mile beat.

The Race Itself
The most fun part of all, and the part that flew by was the race itself. It was the perfect windward-leeward course with 51 mile beat and a 51 mile run with incredible scenery and natural beauty. We followed our game plan which was to start left, go left, stay on the lifted tack and sail the shifts. We just hadn’t planned on all the fun and laughs we would enjoy along the way… that seemed to really speed up the clock.

I was reminded how nice it was to just escape out on the water with a great group of people you really enjoy being around and actually relaxing and bonding. Seems like we just don’t do enough of that anymore. Funny, but for a boat full of rookies, I think all of us were a little disappointed when we arrived at the finish line and the ride is over.

Le Reve Team
Our winning team onboard Le Reve was made up of five friends, and three of us had never done anything like the Swiftsure before.

Mike Breivik is the boat owner and our primary driver-I think Mike steered for more than 10 hours of the 17 hour race and clearly loved every moment. Mike is the president of Glacier Fish Company in Seattle and possesses an extraordinary range of management skills which sure came in handy as our time on the water became limited. Mike knows how to build a great team and help everyone perform at their absolute highest potential. He has recently sailed across the Atlantic and it appears that he may have been bitten by the racing bug.

Matt Darbous sailed with his brother and father as a youth and has recently rekindled his interest in sailing through his friendship with boat owner Mike Breivik. Matt has a full time job in international trade and is currently getting his masters degree at the UW here in Seattle.

Ken Monaghan is a lifelong competitive sailor with lots of experience in both inshore one designs and offshore sailing and Ken is also the local Beneteau dealer. Ken served as our primary downwind spinnaker trimmer for the downwind half of the race in addition to historical perspective and strategic input. I think Ken knew most people on every single boat out there.

Derick Vranizan, our fearless young bowman/upwind trimmer/back up driver (I think Derick was the only one to actually venture forward of the cockpit throughout the entire 17 hour adventure!). Derick is well known for his sailing talent and a decade worth of experience with the US Sailing Team racing Lasers at the highest level internationally. He’s also a great young coach. Derick is currently in Law School and is working part time.

I’m in Marketing and I’m a fairly experienced as a sailor and a coach, primarily for Olympic classes, one design keelboats and grand prix boats. I’ve been passionate about sailing since I was about 8 years old. I’ve been lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of some great coaching and mentoring along the way, and thankfully my mentors eventually taught me to be a learn-it-all rather than a know-it-all. Now I’m thoroughly enjoying giving back and paying it forward at every opportunity.

As a kid growing up in SoCal, I had done tons of Catalina Island overnight races with my Dad and our family and friends on our family J/24 and then an Olson 30, but I think the last time I overnighted on a race had to be more than 3 decades ago. Sure, I have lots of one design and Olympic class experience too, but I couldn’t help but wonder how much of that may or may not directly apply to a Swiftsure Race.

The Best Surprise Of All
The entire Swiftsure experience from the great dockside boating scene and the warm welcome you receive from so many volunteers when you first arrive into Victoria Harbor to the hot bowl of delicious soup they hand you immediately upon finishing, the hospitality and overall vibe are remarkable. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones too.

Sure, Mike and the entire team onboard Le Reve sailed a great race tactically and practically, and that alone sure feels good. I’ve been fortunate enough to have enjoyed my share of success in this sport, and I know enough to realize that luck and Mother Nature don’t always play your way and even the best laid plans may not come together. I just try to continue to learn all I can and help others to improve and find as much joy and rewarding satisfaction as possible within their own sailing.

I learned long ago that the real trophies come from lifelong friendships and being part of a thriving sailing community. If my experience in last weekend’s Swiftsure Race is any indication, then this kind of competitive sailing has a lot going for it. Momentum is strong and appears to be building, and I think this bodes well for the future of our sport.

 

Bruce’s Brief’s: 1, 2, 3 June, SYC Blake Island Race Happy First Day of Hurricane Season

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing, Weather , 0 Comment
Bruce’s Brief’s: 1, 2, 3 June, SYC Blake Island Race Happy First Day of Hurricane Season

After Swiftsure, this week certainly went by fast and now we’re racing again tomorrow. One thing is clear, we won’t have the onshore flow we had last weekend and into this week. I don’t think I’ve seen so many days of 30+ knots of westerly at Race Rocks for so many days in a row. It did make for some great racing unless of course, you were on Mist. We had a great time on Tahlequah but now it’s time to catch up on all the deferred gardening. One day you’re the king of the Straits having a great time sailing with your buddies and the next, you’re on your hands and knees pulling weeds.

June 1 Doppler

This weekend in the Straits will be much different as we’ll have a weak frontal system reach the coast tonight and then dissipate as it moves over land tonight. The onshore flow will return Saturday afternoon and continue into next week. You can just see the leading edge of this system starting to show up on the coast on the coastal Doppler.

For the last of the Tri-Island Series Race don’t expect much wind until mid to late afternoon on Saturday. Just don’t forget the sunblock before you leave the house! The other minor difficulty will be the tides, not exactly helpful.

 

Tidal Currents at West Point

0724    Slack

0912    Max Ebb         .32 knots

1106    Slack

1648    Max Flood     .94 knots

2024    Slack

 

The first gun is supposed to be around 0900 hours however if you look at the surface charts you’ll notice the remains of a trough moving to the east and unfortunately that will leave a large gap in the pressure gradient. This will result in a light downslope, drainage breeze from the east in the morning. With some clearing and no gradient, this could be the perfect set-up for the Swihart Effect which says the northerly will start down the Sound once the flood tide gets rolling which will mid to late afternoon. When this will build will largely depend upon when we get enough clearing over the Pugetopilus to start some heating and draw the breeze down the Sound. If the clearing continues, look for the northerly to continue to build through the late afternoon.

As is typical for the Blake Island Race, you can pick your poison deciding which way you are going to go around the Island. In almost all cases it’s best to leave the Island to starboard. This is because of the ebb that continues to roll up Colvos and the back side of the Island. The flood may not get all the way to the bottom of the Island, however, there will be more wind on the east side of the Island.

The star marks the distance you need to be off the Island.

If the breeze is northerly in the starting area, you’ll probably do a starboard set just don’t go west too long. Before the start, watch the flag at the West Point lighthouse and if it’s showing any easterly at all plan a gybe to port to be at the West Point Buoy. If on port, you’re aiming at Alki, hold that gybe until you get lifted to Spuds Fish and Chips, then gybe and aim at the Island. Just don’t get too close to the Island especially at the south end. See the picture. If you swing wide enough at the south end you’ll carry the northerly into the light zone. Just be ready to smoothly transition into what little breeze there will be on the backside of the Island. Headsail up, in the starboard groove, spinnaker down, all without changing course and hopefully without slowing much.

Since you’ll be swept along with the ebb up the backside of the Island, sail the favored tack, usually starboard and don’t get too close to the Island. By the same token don’t too far over to the Manchester shore as it will get light in there as well. Work your way up to Bainbridge Island since the current tends to set from west to east along that south shore. Once you get to Restoration hold on to port tack. If you are aimed at Four Mile Rock, just keep going right up to Magnolia Bluff. If you end up being headed below(east of) Four Mile, take a short hitch until you can once again be above Four Mile. Really watch your depth sounder coming into there as it gets very shallow, very quickly. If the breeze has built as you’ve come across you’ll want to do your tack change here going from the light #1 to the heavy #1going from port to starboard tack. You should be right under the Bluff and it will be puffy so the mainsheet/ traveler person is going to be working very hard to keep the boat on its feet.

Once you clear West Point hold on to starboard tack until you can lay the entrance to the Ship Canal. Of course, this also depends on where the finish line is located. You’d like to get close to the entrance so it will be easier to call the tack to the finish, finishing on starboard and probably in more breeze than the boats on the outside. There will also be a nice push from the current coming out of the Ship Canal.

Be safe, use lots of sunblock, and have a great time.

 

A Good Swiftsure from (almost) any Angle

Kurt Hoehne Racing 0 Comment
A Good Swiftsure from (almost) any Angle

Some years those of us who miss Swiftsure say smugly, “I’m sure glad I didn’t go this year!” This was not one of those years. If you missed it like I did, read on and regret.

Due to the amazing response by plenty of sailish.com racers on the course, we have a number of different expert perspectives. Basically, it was the standard issue “good” Swiftsure, with a hard beat into and across the Straits, a modest temporary drop in breeze at sunset, but plenty enough in the Straits to have a good run home. Out by Swiftsure Bank it died overnight. If you happened to be a Sunday daytime finisher, the breeze came up again strong to bring you home. There was a sad casualty when the TP 52 Mist broke the top of her rig off early in the race.

I’ll do a separate post on the whys and wherefores of the great multihull turnout.

Results here.

A word about these stories. There’s a lot here – tactics, strategy, emotion, seamanship, humpbacks, sea lions and boat handling, all straight from the sailors’ mouths. There’s far more here than just a sailing scribe trying fit everything into 2000 words.

Here are those stories, starting with our own Bruce Hedrick aboard Tahlequah, which won her division and was 9th OA in the Flattery PHRF fleet:

 

Bruce Hedrick, Tahlequah, J/35

Our weather guru Bruce Hedrick has been a long-term member of the Tahlequah crew. Email Bruce for private weather routing and consulting. 

This will be the one people talk about and hope that the next race will be like. A strong onshore flow courtesy of a stable high-pressure system offshore created almost perfect conditions at least for all the courses that stayed within the Straits of Juan de Fuca. The long course, which goes a mere 18 miles out into the ocean had great sailing out to Neah Bay, but then it went light as the sun went down. Except for Crossfire, the calm held the fleet overnight offshore until the breeze filled again. Crossfire was 1/2 way down Puget Sound on the delivery back to Seattle before the next boat finished. Congrats to Lou Bianco, Nigel Barron and the rest of the Crossfire team.

The start set up was such that the committee boat end was heavily favored. There was still a bit of ebb in starting area however as you came off the line on starboard. You could see that as boats followed the traditional route by tacking to the west, when they tacked back it was clear they had lost ground by getting into less wind and the start of the flood. The boats that held starboard were treated to better breeze as well as up to 2 knots of ebb tide. This route also took you outside of Race Rocks, which while not the usual way to go, absolutely worked. The breeze also continued to clock around the Northwest which kept us on starboard all the way to west of Clallam Bay. We took one tack to change down to the #3 just past Race Rocks as the breeze got to 18 knots. Then we tacked again to change down to #4 as breeze built to 23-25 knots. We took one more short tack to stay well clear of bulk carrier that was headed out. Other than those tacks we just stayed on starboard which, in addition to the lump and slop, started to take a toll on people’s backsides who simply weren’t used to sitting on a hard,cold, pounding surface for hours at a time. The skipper finally relented and allowed seat cushions to be handed up.

It was on that long tack we suffered our only gear failure. While on the head a crew member got bounced off and tore the seat off the hinges. The engineers have already designed a fix so that won’t happen again.

After Clallam Bay we started banging into the US shore in anticipation of a shift to the WSW. It worked for two or three tacks but as we approached the mark it went back to the WNW, dictating a gybe set at the mark. Some consternation from the foredeck crew but they got it done.

We rounded with a lot of much bigger boats at around 1830 hrs with no sign of our favorite rivals, Elusive and Distant Drummer. We needed to be a long way ahead because those guys are so much faster than we are downwind.

Once we got squared away and headed roughly back towards Race Passage, it was time to get a hot meal (an incredible from scratch lasagne, thank you Sonja) into the crew and check the wind speeds and baro readings in the Straits, so we could develop an approach plan for Race Passage. Sure enough, 25-30 at the Race and 20 at Sheringham so we set the limit at 18 knots for the .6 and talked through a kite change to the 1.5. Right on schedule, just before Sheringham, we did the change and made sure we were where we thought we were. After two easy gybes in 18-20 knots of westerly, we were on final approach to the Race with a plan to hoist the #3 and drop the 1.5 if the wind got up to 25. Luckily that never happened and with an additional boost from the flood tide went through with no drama. The most we saw 23 knots of wind.

After Race Passage the wind stayed in the 15-20 knot range and continued to clock around to WNW. This made it easy to sail the great circle approach to finish. We only had a couple J-120’s and the J-133 around us so it wasn’t a complicated approach. At Albert Head, the wind started to drop so we changed back to the .6, stowed the #3, and tee’d up the #1 just in case. The breeze continued to drop as well as get very shifty but the team did a great job adapting and we sailed through the finish at about 0200 hours Sunday morning. The earliest we’ve ever finished a Cape Flattery Race.

We were welcomed to the inspection dock by the ever gracious RVYC team who made sure everyone had a large bowl of hot broccoli cheddar soup and did we ever need that! It was a bit of a cold race and that hot soup absolutely hit the spot.

Then it became a matter of following doctors orders and rehydrate to avoid scurvy while listening to boats call into the finish. Sure enough while we had been 14.5 minutes ahead of Drummer at the mark, they took 5.5 minutes out of us on the run to easily beat us on corrected. We were an hour ahead of Elusive, they took 16 minutes out of us on the run. You just can’t beat that combination of more waterline and more sail area. We did save our time on Elusive but only because of the big lead we had at the mark. In the post race postmortem we went absolutely the right way, did the right sail changes at the right times, and had no sail handling problems. We ended up winning our class and being 9th overall. We’ll take that and we’ll be back next year.

A big thank you and congratulations to the Tahlequah team for a job very well done in some, at times, very difficult conditions. The team consists of owners Don and George Leighton, Sonja Riveland, Marsha Hedrick, Laurie Turay, Ricky Chodek, and Ryan Stoller. An excellent and fun group of people.

 

Brad Baker, Firefly, Morris 45

Brad Baker, skipper Bob Strong and the crew of Firefly are preparing for Vic-Maui. Brad is an owner of Swiftsure Yachts.

It was a great Swiftsure! The most consist breeze for a Swiftsure we’ve had. I’m sure there are some long course folks or slower Neah Bay racers that would disagree as I believe the conditions faded, but as long as you finished in the early morning you had consistent breeze all the way. With very few exceptions it blew 10-20 for the entire race. Very civilized.  We ended up 3rd, 20 minutes out of first. Rating wise, we sailed a good race, but there was definitely 20 minutes to be gained in tactical decisions alone. I feel pretty darn good about our performance.  And we were the first boat to finish for the entire Flattery monohull group.

We had a great start front row nearer the boat end with good speed. We took a tack to weather which got us inside on the lift.  The first tactical mistake was taking another tack up and getting in a spot where we had to go through race passage.  The boats that went outside the rocks did better. Also there were a couple boats that went through race passage the waited to tack into that area late that did better as well.  Most the rest of the beat went well, but as we neared the turn mark, we got out of sync a bit with the shifts allowing Joy Ride to catch up quite a bit. We were first to round with Joy Ride just minutes behind. Joy Ride wasn’t in our class, but we will be racing against them in Vic-Maui, so obviously we wanted to do well against them. We jibe set. Turns out it would have been better to initially play the right for perhaps ½ hour to hour before heading over to the left. This was mistake #3. We were heading toward the Canadian side, but didn’t hit it all that hard and took a jibe to the right because it looked light to the left. In retrospect it would have been better to continue left and take advantage of the shift. The wind held for those that did go all the way left. This was mistake #4.

The reality is we went mostly the right way, just not all the way the right way. We were too conservative I suppose. What is interesting is the plan I had in place would have been perfect! We sailed a pretty good race, but not a great one and finished where we should have from a tactical stand point. It was fabulous sailing in the goldilocks zone!  Not too light, not too windy!  And hey, we finished just before 1am. The crew learned a lot and I learned a lot about the boat. The next race for us is Vic-Maui! I can’t wait.

Alex Fox, Joy Ride, J/122E

Alex Fox is a long time BC sailor and works at Trotac Marine. He sailed this race on John Murkowski’s Joy Ride.

This was one of the best most enjoyable Swiftsures in memory. The beat out to Flattery featured perfect conditions, 10-23 knots of breeze is the range we experienced, with favourable current a large portion of the time. This year the Juan de Fuca boats were sent off first, followed by Flattery then Hein Bank and Swiftsure. We, Joy Ride, had some really great racing with Firefly, 65 Red Roses, Riva, Raven and few others at the front of the Flattery fleet, and it was fun mixing it up with a few multis and bigger boats from other races as well!  

The general strategy of staying on the long, lifted starboard tack to the American shore, all the way to Clallum Bay in some cases, payed dividends and for sure anyone who invested at all in the Canadian shore suffered deeply. Once on the US shore, we generally played the shifts and tried to stay in the pressure while keeping an eye on the competition. Firefly extended on us when the breeze was up but we seemed to be able to claw back when it dropped below 15 or so. 

Coming to the Neah Bay rounding mark we were very happy to be within 10 boat lengths of Firefly, with Jam, a Hein Bank competitor almost overlapped behind us. What a treat to round at 5 o’clock something, setting the A2, off on the homeward leg in good shape saving time, with a bit of a question mark on the J-120 Shearwater, they seemed a little too close. The breeze held at 12-14 knots making for a lovely rhumbline run home, plus we were joined by a humpback whale that startled us, surfacing a mere boat length away, pretty amazing! Just before dusk, the wind dipped below 10 for the first time . Jam had split to the American side earlier and they looked to be in better breeze so both Firefly and ourselves gybed back that way, and it wasn’t long before we were back 12 knots of breeze again. As darkness fell, the two of us were again back on port gybe heading only a few degrees high of Race Rocks. Closer to the Vancouver island side a few miles back and threatening, were Red Roses and Riva. We were very aware of them, while we remained focused on trying to sail fast and staying with Firefly. 

Fifteen miles from Race Passage the breeze began to build a bit to maybe 16 knots and we elected to peel down to our A2+, a full sized but slightly heavier runner. The expectation of building breeze through Race Passage didn’t really materialize for us topping out at 18 knots or so. It was fantastic and rare to come through in positive current with the homeward leg to the finish yet to come. We were conscious of not getting sucked into sailing too high into lighter air as we trailed Firefly, Raven who’d come from behind and damn it, Riva had slipped by sailing DDW with a squared back pole straight down the Vancouver Island shore, Arrghhh! Roses was also within ten boat lengths, so we reset our sites on holding them off. The breeze held at 12-14 knots most of the way in making for a very nice reach and then, you guessed it, began to die and lift us as we approached the breakwater. Of course, this is Swiftsure! We held our nerve as Roses closed up to within five lengths and with one more gybe we were across, just pipping Raven who’d opted for the breakwater end.

A very pleasant, competitive, and yes even though we knew we’d been beaten by Riva, a successful Swiftsure. Turned out that Shearwater also corrected over us for Division win, by 20 seconds. And surprise, surprise, a Beneteau Oceanus 45 La Reve, twin wheels, in-mast furling and a hard dodger won the race overall. Good on them!

This was a very successful 75th Swiftsure, with a great atmosphere on the docks and around town. I know the organizers worked very hard to make it an even ore welcoming event than usual, good times!

 

Nigel Barron, Crossfire, R/P 55

Nigel Barron manages much of the Crossfire program and is the Sales and Marketing Manager at CSR Marine. Crossfire opted for the long course in hope of setting the record. Alas, this year was not the year to do it!

Wow, what an awesome Swiftsure!  We rounded the lightship a bit before 7pm, in lighter breeze than we were hoping for.  It was a nice beat out there.  We started the race on a J2 on our fractional halyard anticipating that we would peal to the J3 near Race Rocks, so that we could peel to a locking halyard. Winds were a steady 15-20kts on the beat out, and as we got past Neah Bay they started to lighten to the 4-6kt range.  We rounded the lightship on our A1.5 and started heading home. While it was light, we never saw zero for wind or boat speed. We never saw more than 12kt of wind until we got to Sheringham, so spent the night peeling between the A1.5 and A2 depending on if we were in the 10-12kt wind or the 6-8kt wind. We finally started seeing better pressure as we approached Race Rocks, but not more than 20kts. We finished right around 5am, so around 19 hours for the long course. Not a record by any stretch (record is 15h), but close enough to make everyone realize we could get a record, and will go back again next year.

Bravo Zulu coming up to Sheringham Point. Photo by Ian Faulks.

Denny Vaughan, Bravo Zulu, Beneteau 40.7

Denny Vaughan is a past commodore of Corinthian YC-Seattle and skipper of the very successful Bravo Zulu program.

The good news is Bravo Zulu was the first boat in the fleet through Race Passage.  The bad news is that we stayed on the Canadian side until after Sheringham. Ed. Note – pretty much says it, doesn’t it? The post-race emails indicate that despite BZ’s Canadian escapade, the crew had a great time.

Brian Huse, Leapfrog, C&C 40

Brian Huse is a serious racer, now with a C&C 40 set up for cruising. He’s also a broker with Fraser Yacht Sales.

We had a really fun time. We bought the C&C 40 last year and use it exclusively for cruising, though the lure of the inshore day race was too much for us so we have done that race the last two years. It is pretty funny sailing with sails from 1980 on a boat from 1980. It is a bit of a time capsule. We sailed with a bunch of friends and family 13 in total. We used a borrowed spinnaker from Ross and Marcia MacDonald’s X 41 which fits really well. 

We actually sailed a pretty good race and came third. I think we benefited from some local knowledge at the end of the race. We did a good job of managing the ridiculous amount of current around Chatham and Discovery Islands.

I think Leapfrog‘s best racing days are behind her but the boat was certainly fun enough last Saturday.

 

Peter Salusbury, Longboard, Bieker Riptide 35 Mk II

Peter Salusbury is a longtime BC sailor. He was integrally involved in the development of the innovative Bieker-designed Longboard. Here’s the story of that design. 

Overall, a very classic Swiftsure – nice medium air beat to Neah Bay, a very light, lumpy slog from Tatoosh to the turning mark, a challenging light, downwind battle to get back into the Strait until the NW built again east of Port Renfrew resulting in a very nice downwind ride down the Strait and through Race Rocks to the finish on Sunday afternoon.  

We had an interesting rounding of the Swiftsure turning mark during the night in 0 to 2 knots of wind and we were no more than a boat length away from the ship in rolling seas.  One minute we are gaining, one minute we are losing.  And then a completely mad sea lion decides to get aggressive between ourselves and the ship by jumping out of the water, barking at us, and at one point we thought he was going to jump in our cockpit through our open transom!  We eventually slid down the length of the Navy ship and the sea lion left us alone!  Never a dull moment on Swiftsure Bank!

Click to enlarge any photos. All photos by Jan Anderson unless otherwise noted. Check out her Swiftsure gallery.