Judging by the tracker and the reports I’m getting in (isn’t technology amazing – er – frightening?) they’re all having a great race. Read the following knowing that I’m winging it a little from my computer in the basement, so what I’m understanding might not be the whole truth.
Nigel Barron has been sending me updates from Crossfire, which is sailing the long course and I think they have an eye on the elapsed time record for the long course. they must be going after it, because they’re not mixing it up on the Hein Bank course with the TP 52s. At any rate, the concern aboard Crossfire was that they hoped the race committee would get to the turn before they did. Barron sent the following photos earlier.
As I look at the tracker now (the tracker’s burping a little so I’m not sure) it looks like Crossfire has indeed rounded as is on her way back at 6.5 knots. Way behind are Westerly, Blue and Rage.
On the Flattery course, the Morris 45 Firefly and J/122 Joy Ride are duking it out for the lead on the water. They’re both going a tad less than 5 knots. The J/111 65 Red Roses appears to be gaining on them. I’m sure I’ll be able to get Brad Baker (aboard Firefly) to give us the blow by blow when it’s all done.
Also on the Flattery course is our very own Bruce Hedrick aboard the J/35 Tahlequah. They appear to be having a great race, going toe to toe with faster boats, not that far behind Firefly. Again, we’ll squeeze a report out of Bruce soon after the race.
Those TPs on the Hein Bank are having fun for the most part, with Glory leading followed by Smoke and The Shadow II trailing. Mist appears to have dropped out of the race quite early.
Bat out of Hell is going just like her name in the Juan de Fuca race, and is approaching the finish as I write this.
I’m sure there will be plenty of stories when all is said and done. It looks like it’ll all be over well before breakfast.
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.
Due to technical difficulties there was a big delay in getting this posted. We’re sorting out who’s responsible right now, but speaking as a dinghy guy I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the (damned) instruments. Our apologies.
It is setting up to be a glorious weekend just about anywhere you want to go on the water. As you can see from the surface charts, we’ve got a nice high-pressure system setting up offshore and all it is going to do is get stronger over the next 5-7 days. This is going to provide us with a strong onshore flow which will create gale conditions in the Central and Eastern Straits of Juan de Fuca especially in the afternoon and early evening hours. Currently it’s blowing 35 knots at Race Rocks, 28 at Sheringham, 27 at Hein Bank and 24 at Smith Island. This afternoon and this evening will probably see the strongest breezes over this area. The next strongest breeze will be in the northern part of Admiralty inlet and the Strait of Georgia south of Nanaimo. As always, check the local conditions before you head out. The pressure gradient will ease somewhat over the next three days dropping the peak windspeeds by 5-10 knots per day.
What does this mean for Swiftsure? Should be a great race especially for the big boats that can make it around the mark and get back into the Straits before sunset. This will be true for any of the courses as the breeze will tend to drop after midnight the further out the Straits you are. Then it will be time to start watching the tidal currents.
Tidal Current Race Passage
0905 Slack
1159 Max Flood 3.9 knots
1457 Slack
1825 Max Ebb 3.2 knots
2109 Slack
2346 Max Flood 3.0
0158 Slack
0627 Max Ebb 5.1
0939 Slack
1240 Max Flood 4.5
1544 Slack
1919 Max Ebb 3.5 knots
Luckily, it appears the wind will hold in the central Straits so no reason to do any extreme rock hopping as you fight the tide. With the 0900 start we should be able to make it through the Race before max flood at noon. Once through the Race it will be time to get to the US shore and beat your way out the Straits. For the long course, the breeze will begin to ease around sunset but will stay from the WSW at around 10 knots. The old rule still applies and that is don’t sail below the port tack layline as you approach the mark on the Bank. If you find yourself headed below the layline, tack back on to starboard and get back above the port tack layline. Do the starboard pole set at the mark and then sail back down the center of the Straits until you start to get lifted, usually about ½ way between Neah Bay and Clallam Bay, then gybe to port and sail the short course to Race Passage hopefully riding the flood and getting through before 0200 hrs Sunday morning.
For the Cape Flattery boats, it’s pretty much the same except you may have to take a quick gybe out into the Straits at the mark to get back into the wind. Once back in the wind, gybe back to starboard and work your way down the center of the Straits. If you’re not going to make Race Passage before the big ebb starts, you’ll need to work your way to the Vancouver Island shore to get some tidal relief.
As usual, it should be mandatory life jackets and safety harnesses from the get go. Then monitor the wind reports on the VHF and log the pressure gradient readings at Forks and Bellingham to get a feel for how much wind you’ll have going through the Race. If it’s blowing hard in the Race, set up your approach so you are on port well ahead of where it will be windy. Do your chute change early and get the number three up under the kite to help stabilize things. Talk every maneuver through before you do it and make sure everyone is clipped on.
Above all else, be safe, have fun and have a great weekend.
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)
It’s hardly like the old S.O.C.K.S. regattas of the 1990s, where there were up to 9 one design dinghy fleets (including Europe’s-!-, 28 Lasers and A-class Cats). But there was good racing last weekend off Shilshole, including an ever-stronger fleet of RS Aeros. In a sense, CYC’s POD (or PNW) regatta is a grandchild of the old S.O.C.K.S. regatta, with the NOOD regatta in between.
The weekend’s POD was largely keelboat one-designs, with J/105, J/80 and Melges 24 fleets. The bright spot in the dinghy side of things was the RS Aero fleet, with seven boats competing in at least one race.
Thanks to Matt Wood and Diana Yuen for giving us the lowdown from the committee boat:
On Saturday there were mostly shifty north to north-easterlies, and light but moderately building all day. By mid afternoon it was 8 to 10 knots, with a VERY large ebb pushing to fleet to the North. On the RC side of things, it was tricky to set and keep the marks in place in that amount of current.
It started light on Sunday and shifted to nothing – we had to recall the first start and postpone the rest. After lunch it picked up quite a bit and the best race conditions were at the end of the day. In one memorable moment the lone Hobie 16 started paddling by hand before the start – when the wind was really dead. In the last race, Underdog’s main halyard sheared off and Stellar J got its spinnaker tangled up under the boat and both had to retire. Aside from that, the classes were all fairly competitive and fun to watch.
And this from our man in the RS Aero straps, Jacques Garrigues:
It was out of the south on Saturday and started mid range and slowly dropped down towards the end. Although the participation was low (5 Aeros and no Lasers), those of us on the water commented over beers what a good time we had. On Sunday the first start was in dying southerly, no second start, Aeros heading in, no wait a minute – a northerly is on the horizon. Cool. Fills in nicely and we are racing. The breeze built all day from the north against a HUGE ebb, therefore a big and CONFUSED sea state. It was full on hiking so a really good workout and the boats were close, sometimes overlapped at the finish. At beers we were all feeling good about being on the water and we all agreed that each time we get in our boats we learn something NEW.
It is an incredible sport in that with the ever changing conditions a new scenario always plays out which you need to deal with. We were happy to be out there even though it would have been nice to have more company. I would say the race management was very good, pretty much incident free but approaching the weather mark in an Aero and a group of Melges 24 you need to pick your battles very carefully.
Help requested for the Leukemia Cup – June 9
By Matt Wood, Fleet Captain Race Corinthian Yacht Club Seattle
I am co-chair of the Leukemia Cup this year. We’re looking for people to volunteer day of event (contact me : matthewewood@outlook.com ) and to sign up or sponsor boats. It’ll take place from Elliott Bay Marina in it’s Thursday evening format, but will be on Saturday June 9th.
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.
Update: AkzoNobel now has both the record (which stands at 601 miles) and the lead. Post here.
There’s a new 24-hour speed record for the Volvo 65 class. For the moment it stands at just about 560 miles. That record may fall in the next few hours as the other six boats chase Brunel. Check out the video for some footage and typical Kiwi nonchalance from Peter Burling. I for one, would need at least a week to shop shaking after those 24 hours. Note that this falls short of the outright 24 hour record set by Comanche (618 miles) and a 596 mile run set by the Volvo 70 Ericsson 4 in 2008. After the two deaths and one dismasting associated with this race, it was time for good news.
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.
One of the more challenging races in BC is the Round Saltspring Race. This year we’re lucky to have two reports. First up there’s Alex Fox, longtime master of the BC currents and zephyrs, who was aboard Joy Ride as the J/122 sailed to victory. Pete McGovern, Race Chair, also sharea a report. Remember, we love posting about BC racing, so if you have a story, please share it on sailish.com. And don’t forget, Bruce Hedrick is generating several weather reports on sailish.com for Swiftsure, starting tomorrow. He’ll also be giving an in-person brief in Victoria on Friday! (results)
By Alex Fox
This year’s Saltspring dawned like many other past years, a light southwesterly blowing at the start and a forecast for not much more than 5-8 knots. There was a friendly favorable current flushing fleet out of Ganges Harbour though. Joy Ride was in Division 1, the seventh start and we had a nice fleet of mostly similar rated boats to race against, plus the two “Bigs,” the SC70 Westerly and TP 52 The Shadow II. It was nice to see one of our Van Isle competitors back from rudder failure in last years race the J 111, 65 Red Roses. We knew they would be tough and a good yardstick. There was also Jack Rabbit and Kairos, always tough.
We managed a good start at the committee end of the line and got a nice jump on our immediate competition, even crossing Westerly and the TP52 a couple of times! Before long the breeze had picked up to 8-10 knots as we headed towards Beaver Point and a clockwise rounding. As it inevitably does, the breeze lightened as the fleet made its way across the south end of Saltspring. Historically, the best strategy here is to get away from Saltspring and head over towards Portland Island, anticipating another fill from that side. This represented the first compression of the fleet and we were fortunate to be able to see where the breeze was, take advantage, and sail right through the early starters. Lucky for us, not so lucky for the smaller boats.
Getting through this transition, we used mostly the code zero, which kept us moving and then ultimately we were able to peel to the A1, The Shadow II had punched through pretty seamlessly and we trailed only them and Westerly at that point. The breeze began to build again as we got into Cow Bay, a lovely run down to Sansum Narrows. Up ahead we could see the two leaders had stalled in fickle air and a tide gate that had yet to open. We sailed a cautious entry into the narrows, trying to stay in the fingers of pressure, alas we slowed to couple of knots over the bottom. The fleet behind was bringing in a filling breeze, led by the Aerodyne 38 Kairos. They sailed up to within ten boat lengths of us before we finally got the fill, nice relief!
From that point on our goal was to watch the big boats for what breeze might be coming up, while keeping a close eye on Kairos. The conditions were typical Saltspring shifty! Coming out of Maple Bay there was yet another transition between Crofton and Vesuvius. Westerly got swallowed up for a bit, while Kairos and ourselves had a much easier time skirting the edge with less down time. Code Zero again and a good fast reach to Southy Point, the north end of the Island. The beat back up Trincomali Channel was in a beautiful 8-12 knots of breeze and our strategy was simple! Joy Ride loves these upwind conditions, so it was sail fast, stay in the same water and try to extend on Kairos. That worked out for us and we probably doubled our distance on them approaching Captains Pass. Heavy sigh, we knew the wind would lighten there, with adverse current, this was going to be tough. Twenty tacks or so later, hugging the Saltspring shore we managed to work through. Kairos was not going away and they closed up in the compression again we were in a real battle again. Once through the Passage, we were able to crack sheets for the run back into Ganges and the finish. Wind was lightish but solid, and with the A1 up, we did what we could to stay in the pressure, focusing on sailing fast. Once across, we didn’t say much, all eyes were on Kairos and our watches. Three minutes, forty two seconds, That was enough!
Fantastic race as always, put on by the members of the Saltspring Island Sailing Club. Great hospitality and by far the very best regatta prizes anywhere, with class prizes of a carry bag full of locally produced goodies, bread, cheeses, jams, smoked salmon, Beer, Cider and more! Good times.
And this from Race Chair Pete McGovern:
Round Saltspring 2018.
The visiting boats have packed up their gear; crew and skippers bleary eyed from lack of sleep or too much revelry, have headed back to their home ports and after the disappointment of last year’s race when only 10 boats finished, the 45th Round Saltspring Race will be a race to remember.
Race Officer, Rich Ballantyne called a clockwise course around the Island, as favorable currents were expected to help all boats at some stage of the race.
With light south easterly winds the first challenge for all eight Divisions was clearing the start line and getting out of the harbour and into the fast moving southerly current down the course as quickly as possible. With slower boats starting first, the added challenge for faster boat Divisions was to pick a course that best navigated through the moving obstacle course of previously started boats.
The second challenge was navigating the light fickle breezes and negative current around the Fulford Harbour entrance, before positioning into the right place to catch a growing breeze and tide change at the south end of Saltspring. Once the big flood tide got going, boats blasted through Sansum Narrows under spinnaker with a big push from behind. Emerging from Sansum Narrows in first was The Shadow II, followed by the Multi-hull Dragon and then Westerly followed a few minutes later by Joy Ride, Jackrabbit, and Kairos. The damage had been done as these boats then kept the lead through a big wind shift off of Vesuvius before rounding the north end of Saltspring and then mostly keeping the breeze down Tricomali Channel until the Finish in front of the sailing club.
The rest of the fleet was not quite as lucky, as the wind that had propelled them down Tricomali Channel started to die as they approached Captains Passage and a week ebb tide was sufficient to set up a parking lot of 30-40 boats spread across the passage. Fingers of wind plucked boats randomly out of the pack before the current finally released the hoards for a slow clawing back to the finish line. Mayhem ensured, as an overwhelmed Race Committee had to deal with 40 boats finishing within 10 minutes, some groups crossing the line 3 or 4 abreast.
With only two boats retiring from the race, we had a full house on Sunday morning for the Lions Club pancake breakfast. This was followed by the much anticipated awards ceremony where prize bags of local produce and sponsor prizes are handed out to well deserving winners.
Peter McCarthy’s The Shadow II, a TP-52 hailing form West Van YC crossed the Finish at 6:26pm and won Lady Minto Hospital Foundation Trophy for Line Honours with an elapsed time of 7 hours, 46 minutes. Bron Miller aboard the J-122E Joy Ride from Seattle Yacht corrected out ahead of Kairos from Royal Vic and won Divison 1 and the Marshall Sharp Trophy for First Overall. Vincent Argiro’s, Velica won the No Flying Sails Division and the Doug Thomas Trophy as first boat from Saltspring Island Sailing Club. Duncan Gladman’s Dragon Dragon overcame a start-line altercation to win the Multi-hull Division.
In a remarkable story of perseverance, Tracey DeVaney and crew aboard Miss Runaway, a McGregor 26, stuck it out until after sunrise and for the first time in 11 tries completed the Round the Island course and in doing so, won the Tar and Feathers Trophy as last to finish. A full list of winners and race photographs can be found on the race website at www.roundsaltspring.ca
Thanks go to all our sponsors, the local community and the great volunteers from the Saltspring Island Sailing Club that make this event happen every year.
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.
There’s a civil, productive conversation going on in the Sailing Anarchy forums entitled “PNW small boat ORC.” To summarize, it’s a number of owners contemplating making the leap to ORC. In that discussion, one of the forum’s participants brought the following article to everyone’s attention. It’s presented by the folk at Charleston Race Week, and does a great job of explaining the rule and why they’re switching (and clearly its purpose is to support their position). Obviously we have our considerations around here, and no rule is a panacea, but for the more serious racers among us it deserves a clear, close look. – KH
ORC Explained
Why is Sperry Charleston Race Week making a change from PHRF to ORC?
Race Week has always tried to provide the best possible racing for its participants. For those racing under handicap systems, we feel the ORC system provides the most fair and competitive scoring possible given the diverse boat types that are attracted to this event. The ORC system is the largest measurement-based system in the world, serving thousands of boat types and nearly 10,000 boat owners, and we’re pleased to be one of the first regattas in the U.S. to offer this system that has proven so successful elsewhere.
What is better about ORC than other rating rule choices?
Because ORC’s features are accessible online, and because they’re objective and consistent for all users and scientifically developed, flexible and affordable, we feel this system is the best choice for Race Week competitors. ORC’s features are proven and we feel they fit well with the needs and expectations of our handicap classes.
ORC ratings seem to vary depending on the race course type and the conditions. Why is this, and how will the race committee know what choice to make among the scoring options?
The power of the ORC system to provide fair racing is in its recognition of the differences in performance potential among boats of different designs, with ratings that change according to course type and wind speed. Single rating number approaches simply cannot offer that kind of versatility. So, we’re trading simplicity for fairness.The two basic types of courses are windward-leeward and non-windward-leeward, which are described on ORC certificates as Coastal/Long Distance. ORC Triple Number scoring recognizes wind speeds as either Low (<9 knots), Medium (9-14 knots) or High (15+ knots), which will be signaled by the Race Committee – the Sailing Instructions for the ORC courses will give further details.
Can the scoring be in Time on Time or Time on Distance?
ORC ratings can be either Time on Time or Time on Distance – the Sailing Instructions will specify which will be used for scoring at Race Week. Once the ratings are received for all boats, tables will be provided online to estimate corrected time allowances among competitors for each course type and wind speed.
Does ORC have a favorite boat type or bias towards particular designs?
ORC can model the performance of nearly every style of monohull, from sportboats to superyachts, and by providing a range of ratings there is no tendency to favor a particular boat style or type as may be typical in single-number systems. The ORC Rule has been developed based on its test fleet of some 1,500 designs, most of which are typical production boats seen all over the world, including the U.S. In ORC world championship regattas, podium finishers are typically of both racer and cruiser-racer boat types, with the top teams being those that sailed the best on their racecourse rather than those who had the most “favorable” ratings.
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.
Seattle YC’s second of three Tri-Island races, the Vashon Island/Pt. Robinson (short course) Race, could hardly have been sailed in better conditions last Saturday. The solid northerly whisked the fleet to the south end of Vashon Island, and after some predictably screwy conditions at getting around the end of Vashon, the fleet enjoyed a solid beat in great breeze to the finish.
Long Course
Steve Johnson’s TP 52 Mist picked up its first big victory, finishing third on the water to Smoke and Glory, but correcting on both in the ORC 1. The three boats were within four minutes of each other on the water and on corrected time. Jim Marta’s Eye Candy scored her second series win with a 20+ minute victory in ORC 2.
On the PHRF side of things it was Bob Strong’s Firefly (with her rating straightened out) that won her class and overall. Madrona and Absolutely finished second and third. Brad Baker of Swiftsure Yachts provided some insight into Firefly‘s race:
The race really played into our hands. We were short handed, so basically tried not to get fancy both tactically and maneuvers wise. Consequently we really didn’t bang any corners on the way down and actually did pretty well against the first three fast boats, Madrona, Absolutely and Constellation. The wind got funky after Point Robinson, but managed to fill in right with us as we headed to the south end of Vashon. This kept everyone close. At the south end the transition again shortened up as the wind filled with us again and we were very close to Madrona and Absolutely and actually passed Constellation at the south end. We managed to have a reasonably good sail change from the #1 to the #3 as we headed into Colvos Passage. Other than a jib halyard cover failing we had a pretty error free time of it. Thanks to Pete McGonagle’s quick reaction and a quick change to another halyard we kept losses to a minimum. Again on the beat back we realized we were in a very good position, so we tried hard not to do anything stupid and just hold on. The biggest risk/gain on the beat was deciding to follow Madrona on the west side of Blake Island. This was the way to go and cemented our lead on Constellation, caught us up to Absolutely and kept us hot on the heels of Madrona. We pretty much did what Madrona did for the rest of the beat to the finish. It was as good as it gets as far as the sailing goes and the wind gods conspired with us to for a good day for Firefly!
Short Course
A number of great rivalries and very close scores mark the short course classes. Last Tango won the J/105 class and overall, giving her the lead in J/105 class for the series. Different Drummer won the Vashon Race, but the Beneteau 36.7 Helios barely sits atop the class 5 for the series by virtue of her win in Smith Island. Actually, four boats are within two points, so it’s all to play for the final race of the series. And in class 7, Madam Pele and Kiwi Express have developed quite the rivalry, with each winning a race and going into the last race of the series tied.
The cruiser/racer classes have fully established themselves in the Tri Island series. A dozen boats split into two classes competed, with Jim Medley’s Bavaria 38 Puffin winning class 8 and Ryan Helling’s Velella winning class 9. Ryan Helling (who lives aboard Velella!) gave us this synopsis of the race:
The race was great. We were really all in awe of the weather. Our course was from Shilshole to Blakely Rock to Duwamish Head and back to Shilshole with consistent breeze that built steadily after rounding Duwamish. The whole racer/cruiser class was flying sails which keeps things interesting. It was a broad range of boats but all quite competitive. There was only about a 20 minute spread of corrected time over the full class of 12 boats! We finished shortly after noon, barbequed back at the dock at Shilshole, then sailed to Port Madison for the night!
And how about these photos from Jan Anderson. Click here for the rest.
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.
From our friends at Pressure Drop, an update on the Oregon Offshore. I just checked the tracker and Rage is just turning the corner into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
24 Boats signed up for the 2018 edition of the Oregon Offshore, which departed Portland yesterday for
the 193 nm jaunt up to Victoria BC. A feeder race for the Vcic Maui for some, a start to summer cruising in the
PNW for others
Report from Thursday afternoon:
Looks like a steady windy velocity from the East/Northeast doesn’t leave room for much tactics. Just point the nose up the coast and head North.
This could change later in the day and evening as wind is expected to switch North with an increase in velocity. We could see a split of the fleet based on tactics.
If you have not heard the news about Free Bowl of Soup, unfortunately ran over a river log on the way to Astoria.
They sailed into Astoria Wednesday for an emergency haul out to inspect the damage and found both prop blades sheared off!
After a last ditch effort to borrow a prop from a fellow J105 in Portland, the fit was not right. We wish these guys the best and and expect them to return to reclaiming their glory in 2019.
Enjoy the warm beds and dry clothes boys!
Boats set off from buoy 2 at 0900 this morning with a great start! Wind conditions have been stable all day from the W/NW at 15-17kts shifting N.
Most boats pointed straight up the coaston Port tack. Spar Trek hugged the closest to the coast and made great progress until an afternoon tack to join the fleet.
Many years you can see boats up to 25miles offshore but westerly breezes told the boats to head straight north.
In the last few hours we saw two great crosses between Anam Cara and Hana Mari with Anam Cara crossing 500 meters in front.
Salient and Abstract seem to be playing nice and are less than 200 meters apart! Wow!
If breeze continues over night we should see progress from the fleet up the coast with the A fleet passing Neah Bay into the Straight de Juan de Fuca Friday morning
*********************
Rage on Rage
There is nothing more frustrating than light, shifty winds while trying to round the mark. Oh wait, yes there is when the rest of fleet has wind behind you!
Rage’s lead may diminish here as they fight to round the buoy outside of the straight in light winds.
They have two more hours before high tide and winds are not predicted to pick up for a few more hours as well… just in time for the other yachts to round…
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 question came out with all of Nate Creitz’ overflowing, bubbling, enthusiasm for last weekend’s Race to the Straits (RTTS). The double and single-handed Sloop Tavern Yacht Club event from Seattle to Port Townsend and back (with an overnight in the unique sailing town Port Townsend) hit its limit of 125 boats several days before the race, and it’s no wonder. The atmosphere before, during and after the event is special. Let’s get to his question later. First, the race.
The Leg North
It was hard to find a frown in Port Townsend Saturday afternoon. The fleet had just spent 4-6 hours beating in 12-18 knots of breeze all the way from Seattle, with a boost from a strong ebb much of the way. The winners, of course, had something to smile about. But the staggered start (starting times reflecting each boat’s time allowance for the race) meant that the slow boat crews got to watch as much of the fast boats came thundering by.
Kirk Utter and crew Pete Dorsey didn’t get to enjoy that. Since Utter’s early 1970s Cal 33 Teaser II is one of the not-as-fast boats at a PHRF of 153, he was one of the early starters. And in a breeze upwind that Lapworth design just rolled on through the earlier starters and stayed well ahead of the later starters. “She just loves that stuff,” reported Utter. Carrying the #1 from start to finish, Teaser II showed a lot of folks who weren’t born before her that old boats are not necessarily slow.
Following Teaser II, the next monohulls in were Carl and Carol Buchan’s Madrona and Frederic Laffitte’s Kyrnos which finished virtually overlapped.
Boomer Depp’s video from Saturday:
The multihulls flew in the conditions. The Corsair F28R Aliikai was first to finish of all the boats, and Corsair F31R Freda Mae was the second catamaran in.
The winds were perfect for those non-overlapping headsail boats that could keep up the performance by flattening out the main and not change headsails (or have to sail with the wrong one up!) Boats like Madrona, the J/120 Shearwater and the J/105s all thrived. Boats like the Evelyn 32 Poke and Destroy and a trio of Santa Cruz 27s were stuck changing down to #3s when the wind built and changing back up to #1s as the wind lightened up near the finish.
There was the usual puzzle of fitting everybody into Point Hudson, and nearly all the fleet fit. The classic Q boat Grayling had engine issues that required a tow.
Somewhat surprisingly, there were at least three collisions out there including one between Mark Brink’s Tonic and the quarter tonner Bingo that resulted in Bingo‘s DSQ.
The Return Leg
The race back to Seattle presented a different challenge – the beautiful northerly of Saturday teased the fleet with some great conditions that disappeared at times and the wonderful tides of the day before played havoc with the fleet, especially getting around the Double Bluff buoy.
The orca J-pod made an appearance in Admiralty Inlet, presumably to help Dieter Creitz with his orca science project at school.
The conditions meant a lot of gybes seeking out the right breeze while staying out of bad current. It took a toll on all these shorthanded crews, especially in the flying sails classes, and especially in the flying sails/singlehanded class. In that class, Different Drummer‘s Charles Hill figured neither he nor anyone else was going to finish the full course by the 7pm time limit, so he quit just a bit early. Sure enough, Bill Gibson on Latitude stuck it out, and finished before the deadline to take the class win for the weekend.
Jan Anderson’s photos. Click on any to enlarge and by all means visit her site to order yours. Click to enlarge.
That was a theme for much of the fleet on Sunday. Where few if any were expected to finish the full course, several did in a building southerly. “It was really weird,” Alex Simanis reported. “We were trying to stay away from Edmonds but ended up there and did quite well, finishing within the time limit on our light #1.”
Not so, however, for everyone. Father Nate and son Dieter Creitz missed finishing the full course by 7 seconds, with Dieter counting down the time. As nobody finished in Class 5, the class was scored for the halfway finish and Three Ring Circus won handily anyway. There were no finishers in classes 2, 4, 5, 6, and 11.
But it was Ben and Jen Glass on the lightweight Ocelot that mastered the light downwind work on Sunday, finishing about 25 minutes ahead of Madrona among the fastest monohulls. Madrona had a fresh crew, with Dalton and Lindsey Bergan stepping in while Carl and Carol Buchan stepped away.
The results show a familiar list of winners including Madrona overall, Al Hughes on the ex-BOC boat Dogbark in the non-flying sails class, Moonshine, Tonic, Dennis Clark (btw, Dennis, give the boat a name), Poke and Destroy, and several others. But the thing that is truly special about this race is how welcome everyone feels, even the skippers who aren’t the serious types and the boats that haven’t seen a new sail in 15 years. There were kids, dogs, dodgers, grills hanging off about half the rails, moms and pops, and liveaboards. There’s no doubt each and every one adjusted their expectations for the racing part and had a great time pursuing them.
Accident For Dan Randolph, Recovery Expected
The details are still a little unclear, but our fellow racer Dan Randolph suffered a serious accident while motoring his Farr 30 Nefarious home on Sunday afternoon. Randolph and a crew member apparently hit a gray whale, hard. Randolph was sent flying forward into the boat, and reportedly broke some ribs. He was in the hospital Monday. At this time, I haven’t been able to get many details, but I’ll be seeking those out in the coming days. Our thoughts are with him.
UPDATE: I spoke to Ray Hines, part of the Nefarious team (apparently they refer to themselves as “Nefarians”). Dan is scheduled to be out of ICU today, and had surgery yesterday to repair internal bleeding and perhaps more. He is expected to recover. His crew Scott Petersen suffered some cracked ribs, but Dan got the worst of it when he hit a corner of the companionway, and subsequently blacked out. It happened near Meadow Point, so Scott was able to get to the dock where help was waiting, as was a ride to Harborview. No news on the condition of the whale, but the boat appears undamaged.
The Question
Now, regarding Nate’s question about when will other clubs notice and copy the success of Race to the Straits.
I’m pretty sure they have noticed. In my experience, the traditional clubs have a hard time changing course. It is not like destination racing and shorthanded racing haven’t been mentioned before. (they have, multiple times) But there’s something special in the Sloop Tavern mindset that the leaders responded “why the hell not?” and just did it. Make no mistake, it’s a logistical challenge get all the staggered start times, provide the not-usually-a-racer crowd with ratings so they can do this one event, dealing with the folk in Port Townsend (who are eager hosts). Add to that a pizza punctuated skippers meeting and the big dinner Saturday night, and it’s a lot of work. But it sure seems the STYC folk are having fun doing it!
Maybe the task is too daunting for clubs used to doing everything from Seattle?
I’ll add a question to Nate’s: When will the sailors come up with some new courses and new formats? For whatever reason, the round-the-buoys race until you drop thing just isn’t as appealing to many keelboat sailors as it used to be while the less predictable, more organic racing like RTTS, Round the County and Van Isle 360 thrive. Personally, I think there are places for both. But in the end, no matter how intransigent the clubs are, it’s the sailors who get to decide. Want more shorthanded racing? Multiple stages? Season Championship series? Build it and they will come. Or not.
Is there the will to energize the racing scene with some altered or new events? Perhaps not. Last fall’s sailish.com survey indicated there is the will.
But judging from the scene at Port Townsend Saturday night and on the Sound both days, the excitement seems to be there.
A Quick Slipstream Word
A quick congratulations to my boat partners Joe, Becky and Charlotte. As I predicted in Bruce’s weather outlook, Charlotte managed the tactics on the return trip to lift our C&C 36 Slipstream‘s finish to 2nd in the non-flying sails class.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Once again, it looks like the Wind Gods (or Goddesses) are going to smile on the Sloop for their totally sold out Race to the Straits. This race is so much fun that even Kurt Hoehne is coming out of his retirement from Big Boat PHRF sailing to go this weekend! Good luck Kurt! (Ed. note, my partner Joe is letting me sail Saturday – he’s sailing Sunday with Becky and ace tactician 5 yo Charlotte)
While today may have started out a little gloomy, by this afternoon it’s looking reasonably nice. More importantly, it’s looking like clearing skies for tomorrow and Sunday with even some nice wind for tomorrow. The weather picture is complicated as you can see by the charts.
Today’s surface analysis shows a weak high-pressure system with one lobe centered on top of us, with the other center off the central coast of California. This system is sandwiched between two very weak low-pressure systems. This picture will continue to evolve with the northern lobe of the high strengthening and moving to the north while the southern lobe is weakened by another approaching frontal system. This means our weather won’t be very dramatic but it will be interesting as we go back and forth between weak onshore and weak offshore flows. This will mean 8-10 knots of northerly over the central Sound in the morning building to 10-12 knots in the afternoon. After you get around the corner at Point No Point the wind will gradually transition to the NW and drop back to the 8-10 knot range. The key will be to at least get in striking range of the finish before about 1600 hours when the flood will start to build.
Tidal Currents at Bush Point.
0918 Slack
1224 2.2 knot ebb
1524 Slack
1818 2.33 knot flood
2342 Slack
Sunday at Bush Point.
0718 1.26 knot flood
1006 Slack
1312 1.93 knot ebb
1612 Slack
1906 2.14 knot flood
While the early starters on Saturday will face the end of a weak flood, there should be enough wind to get you well up the Sound and in position to take the ebb to Port Townsend. There will be slightly more breeze on the West side of the Sound but you’re going to want to carefully watch your COG and SOG as the tide goes into transition. Plus in the upwind, flat water, the fleet will start to compress near the ½ way point at Double Bluff. Remember also that the breeze will drop slightly under Double Bluff as the ebb increases in velocity in the shallow water near the buoy so set up for your rounding early. That buoy is big and ugly and will leave a nasty mark if you hit it, as others have found out. After rounding, stay in the strongest part of the ebb off of the Whidbey shore but plan your tack across to Marrowstone so you’ll hit about mid-island. This way you can get the header as the wind goes from NNW to WNW along that shore. The ebb also lasts longer along that shore and if you’re in the start of the flood tide coming up to Marrowstone Point, there is a great back-eddy up that beach. Go around the point on port tack and then tack to starboard when you can safely clear the shallows and head towards Port Townsend.
Click any image to enlarge:
Sunday will be somewhat more challenging as there will be wind for the start which will get you back around Marrowstone and headed to the 1/2way mark at Double Bluff. It is that zone from Marrowstone to Point No Point where the breeze will drop as it transitions from the morning NNE to the afternoon NNW, the breeze will probably be closer to 5 than to 10. After Double Bluff, the tide will be ebbing so staying in the breeze out of Useless Bay will probably be better than trying to work across to the Pt No Pt shore where the ebb is stronger. The good news is that you’ll have plenty of marker boats around you and there are some very smart people sailing this race so keep track of where those guys are going. As you get closer to the slack at 1600 hours remember that the flood starts first down the west shore at Foulweather Bluff to Point No Point and then south along that shore. Remember also that there’s a reason why they call it Skunk Bay, it can get very light in there as the northerly is trying to build. From No Point south to the finish it will probably pay to stay to the west before you gybe across to the finish at Shilshole.
As always, use your sunblock and have a great time!
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)