Racing

Bruce’s Briefs: R2AK Leg 2, Victoria to Ketchikan 2019

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing, Weather 0 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: R2AK Leg 2, Victoria to Ketchikan 2019

Today’s weather picture presents a complex pattern with a little bit for everyone. The current Surface Analysis has a series of three weak low-pressure systems strung across the Pacific Northwest from east of the Cascades to off of the Strait of JdF to off of the north end of Vancouver Island. The attached frontal system off of the center low will cross over the coast this afternoon and is already bringing rain to the south Sound. By tomorrow morning all that will be left of these systems is a weak low-pressure system (1013mb) that will be drifting off the central Vancouver Island coast. This system will not move very much over the next 24-48 hours.

  • 5 June Surf Analysis
  • 6 June Surf Forecast
  • 6 June 1200 EC HR
  • 6 June 1500 EC HR
  • 6 June 1800 EC HR
  • 6 June 2100 EC HR
  • 7 June 0000 EC HR
  • 7 June Surf Forecast 2

For R2AK this will mean a bit of a light air start in a south to southeasterly breeze. Great for the rowers and paddlers. By mid-afternoon, onshore flow will develop bringing a westerly down the Strait of JdF. This westerly will become southwesterly through the San Juan and Gulf Islands of 10-15 knots, great for the sailors. Then it will be time for the first big decision:  Which way to get north to Nanaimo, go inside and up Trincomali Channel exiting at Porlier Pass or outside through Boundary Pass and into the Strait of Georgia, an additional 10 miles? And then there’s the current at Porlier Pass. Racers will have the big flood of the day with them until about 2030hrs, Thursday night. Rowers and paddlers will simply go the shortest possible course.

I ran both routes for the Melges 32 and if they go up the inside (about 10 miles shorter) I have them making Porlier at 2000 hours and arriving at Entrance Island at midnight. If they went outside on the longer course they would sail an additional seven miles on top of the 10-mile longer course and they would arrive at Entrance Island at almost exactly the same time.

This basically agrees with two of the models which will have more wind in the Strait of Georgia but to stay in the wind you’ll have to sail up the east side by Tsawwassen and the Roberts Bank. If you do go up the inside it will be lighter but a much shorter distance. Do ya feel lucky? Well, do ya?

After Entrance, the southerly-southwesterly breeze will drop as the onshore flow works its way down the Strait of Georgia creating a zone of light air. After which the breeze will build to about 8-12 from the northwest and that will last until about mid-morning on Saturday when it will go light once again as racers approach Campbell River and the big tidal gate at Seymour Narrows. As in the past, if one boat can make it through and close the door on the fleet behind, that can be the entire race. 

Good luck, have a great race and be safe. I’ll continue to update the weather as long as my boss will let me.

Bruce’s Brief’s: Wx for 5 June, Telegraph Cove to Port Hardy, Van Isle 360

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing, Weather 0 Comment
Bruce’s Brief’s: Wx for 5 June, Telegraph Cove to Port Hardy, Van Isle 360

I’m worried that racers are not going to know what to do with this forecast. There will be wind ( 4-14-knots), probably for the entire leg, it won’t be light,ok it might be a little light for the start and the first couple of hours but after that and more importantly, it will be from astern. In other words, you will finally get to fly those large, round, dangerous, colored sails. Pretty much all the way to Port Hardy where you may need a headsail to beat down to the finish inside of Hardy Bay.

The reason for all this optimism is the low with attached front approaching Vancouver Island. The wind has already gone around to the south-southeast at the East Dellwood and  West Sea Otter Buoys and the barometer continues to fall at those locations. As the front goes through about midday tomorrow, the wind will clock from the SSE to SSW to closer you get to Port Hardy.

  • 4 June Surface Analysis
  • 5 Jun 0800 EC HR
  • 5 june 1100
  • 5 June 1400
  • 5 June 1700
  • 5 June 2000
  • 5 June Surface Forecast
  • 7 June Surface Forecast

The satellite pic shows that there isn’t much to this front so it will move right along and after I’m sure what will be a welcome layday in Port Hardy, the onshore flow will build which should give you a nice beat out to Cape Scott followed by a nice reach down to Winter Harbor. Keep your fingers crossed.

As far as tactics go on this leg, it will pay to sail the shortest possible course. Keep Pearse, Cormorant, and Haddington Island to starboard. For your final approach to the entrance of Port Hardy, keep Masterman Islands to starboard. Yes, you can sail through there, just keep track of all the rocks that are in there.

Enjoy the day, have a great sail and be safe.

Bruce’s Wx Brief for 4 June: Hardwicke to Telegraph Cove

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing 0 Comment
Bruce’s Wx Brief for 4 June: Hardwicke to Telegraph Cove

Yet another interesting day awaits the racers tomorrow as our weather picture is not changing very rapidly. Offshore from San Francisco, we have a relatively weak high-pressure system (1026mb) that is being pushed around by a weak low-pressure system (1016mb) that is generally moving towards Vancouver Island. As we have said, when it begins to interact with the coastal buffer zone, this low and attached frontal system will slow and degrade. Again. For tomorrow this will mean a weak pressure gradient as the onshore flow will again be light in the morning until the breeze is drawn down Johnstone Strait.

  • 3 Jun Surf Analysis
  • 4 Jun Surf Frcst3
  • 4 Jun 2100 EC HR
  • 4 jun 1800
  • 4 Jun 1500
  • 4 Jun 1200
  • 4 Jun 0900
  • 5 Jun Surf Frcst

At 0800 hours expect a west-northwesterly breeze of 4-6 knots in the starting area. As you beat toward Telegraph Cove the breeze will become light and variable from Robson Bight to Port Hardy. Depending upon the amount of morning overcast, once it begins to clear and the land warms, expect a 4-6 knot WNW to fill down from Telegraph Cove to Robson Bight. By mid-afternoon, again depending upon the clearing, this WNW should build to 6-8 knots. By early to mid-evening this should build to 8-10 knots from the WNW.  After sunset, expect the breeze to start to drop.

You’ll have the tide with you until about 1300hrs so make the most of it.

Ed. Note: You can find links to all the results here. The TP52s appear to be taking turns ahead of each other while the 41′ Blue is having some great legs. 65 Red Roses appears to be having a good series in Division 2. I’ll try to get cumulative results out to you. The Jeanneau 51 Iris had an encounter with a log that put her saildrive out of commission (being repaired) and the catamaran Cheekee Monkee had to withraw because of a bum “torpedo drive” (assuming that’s an auxiliary system).

Bruce’s Wx Brief for R2AK: Pt Townsend to Victoria. The weather will show no mercy for the weak or unprepared.

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, r2ak, Racing 0 Comment
Bruce’s Wx Brief for R2AK: Pt Townsend to Victoria. The weather will show no mercy for the weak or unprepared.

We have gale warnings in the Straits right now and this will continue through tomorrow. Currently, we have 31 knots at Sheringham, 45 at Race Rocks, 20 at Hein Bank, 24 at Smith island and 26 at Port Townsend. With the GFS Model, Racers can expect 15-25 for the start at 0500 hours. This will ease as the sun comes up with the breeze from Pt. Wilson to Dungeness Spit dropping into 5-10 knot range. Think of a line from the tip of Dungeness Spit to Partridge Point. North of that line 15-20 knots of westerly, south of that line 5-10 knots of westerly at around 0700 hours. This will gradually change as the westerly fills back in so by 0900 expect 15-20 knots across the course. This will hold until the early afternoon when the next blast of westerly comes down the Straits bringing 15-25 knots of westerly. By mid-afternoon, the breeze will crank up into the 30-35 knot range in the vicinity of Race Rocks and extending as far east as Hein Bank. This will start to ease slightly after midnight dropping to about 15-knots right around dawn on Tuesday.

  • 3 Jun 0500 MM5
  • 3 Jun 0700 MM5
  • 3 Jun 1400 MM5
  • 3 Jun 1700 MM5
  • 2 Jun 1900 Hrs Strts of JdF

The other model I ran is the NAM which shows less wind than above and running the numbers for the Melges 32, it shows a max wind speed of 15.5 knots just west of Hein Bank. In these conditions, they should complete the course in just over four hours sailing on port tack the entire way across the Straits.

This scenario is also complicated by the fact that you’ll be starting in the big ebb of the day, (2.95 knots) and with wind against the tide, this will be like boating in a Waring Blender. Big steep breaking seas with a very short wavelength. The sailors with experience will get through this as long as they’ve got the right  sails and they know how to sail in these conditions. The rowboats and SUPS will be in for a tough slog.

Regardless of which model we look at, there will be wind,  so be safe and be very prepared!

Bruce’s Brief’s: WX for 3 June Deepwater Bay to Hardwicke (sort of), VanIsle 360.

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing 0 Comment
Bruce’s Brief’s: WX for 3 June Deepwater Bay to Hardwicke (sort of), VanIsle 360.

The models are not in agreement about tomorrow and that is because of this deteriorating low-pressure system (1000mb) to the west of the top end of Vancouver Island. It is already slowing and as a result it’s course may shift from east-northeast to northeast. This will bring the circulation around the bottom of the low resulting in an onshore flow with the wind (not a lot) coming down Johnstone Strait. The other models show this low just going away which will mean even less wind for tomorrow. The best guess now is something in between.

  • 2 June Surf Analysis
  • 3 Jun Surf Frcst 2
  • 4 Jun Surf Frcst 2
  • 3 Jun 0900 EC HR2
  • 3 Jun 1200
  • 3 Jun 1500
  • 3 jun 1800 EC HR2

The good news is the big boost everyone will get from the tide, so even in the light air, you’ll have some wind just generated by the boat being swept in the right direction. This will really keep drivers and tacticians on their toes. You’ll want to stay in the axis of the current and avoid being sucked into back eddies behind the points.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx Update for the VanIsle 360, Comox to Campbell River

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing 0 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: Wx Update for the VanIsle 360, Comox to Campbell River

At this hour (1700 hrs) the onshore flow is finally starting to fill down from Campbell River to the Race Area. It filled down later than we thought and unfortunately, it’s not going to last. Today’s chart and tomorrow’s forecast chart show why. That weak cold front was slowed when it hit the coastal buffer zone and that prevented it from moving to the east in a timely manner which in turn slowed the onshore flow from filling down the Strait of Georgia.

  • 1 June Surface Analysis
  • 2 June Surface Forecsat
  • 2 June 0900 EC HR
  • 2 June 1200
  • 2 June 1500
  • 2 June 1800
  • 2 June 2100

The other part is that as this developing ridge of high pressure begins to break down tonight, the gap will open in the isobars and the breeze will be very light for tomorrows race at least until very late in the afternoon when another shot of onshore flow will come down the Strait of Georgia from Campbell River. I think the forecast velocities are optimistic and while it may show 15-knots, I think if it gets to 10-knots you’ll be lucky.

I wish I had better news for you but at least the scenery will be incredible and the town of Campbell River is great!

Bruce’s Briefs: Weather for 31 May, 1, 2, and 3 June, Van Isle 360 and Seventy48.

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing , 1 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: Weather for 31 May, 1, 2, and 3 June, Van Isle 360 and Seventy48.

Yesterday the Pacific Northwest lost not only a great sailor but one of the classiest gentleman I have ever had the privilege to sail with. Dick Robbins, the owner and skipper of the legendary 68- foot Perry designed ICON passed away from complications of a stroke he had suffered recently. His talents went far beyond sailing having designed and built revolutionary tunnel boring machines, including the ones that dug the Chunnel beneath the English Channel. He was a delight to sail with as there was never a cross word nor did he ever raise his voice. Just always a very quiet competence as well as a love of sailing and having fun while on the water. He made the world a much better place and he will be missed. 

Lots going on this weekend and plenty of great weather to go along with it. The Van Isle 360 has a huge and very talented fleet on a very challenging course. The Seventy48 project doesn’t involve sailing but it is still a very cool event. Basically, any way you can get from Tacoma to Port Townsend by way of rowing, paddling or pedaling and by pedaling I don’t mean on land. It all has to be on the water, 70 miles in 48 hours.  They start tonight at 1900 hours going out of the Foss Waterway, up Colvos Passage then to the Port Townsend Canal or Hadlock Canal, then finish in Port Townsend. A great tune-up for the R2AK which starts on the 3rd. We’ll have a special update for that on the 2nd of June.

  • May 31 500MB
  • May 31 Surface Analysis
  • June 1 Surface Forecast
  • June 2 Surface Forecast
  • June 3 Surface Forecast
  • June 4 Surface Forecast

As you can see from the Surface Analysis, we have a weak high-pressure system off the Northern California coast and a weak low-pressure system in Eastern Washington. As our fog burns off and the sun heats up the land, this will bring a strong onshore flow down the Straits of JdF bringing with it Gale Warnings for the Central and Eastern Straits as well as a Small Craft Advisory for Admiralty Inlet. After midnight, this will ease and we should have a very nice weekend to be on the water.

For the Van Isle folks, this will mean a nice beat from Nanaimo to Deep Bay in 8 to 15 knots of northwesterly.

For the Seventy48 teams, there will be northerly of about 8-12-knots from the start until they get into Colvos Passage and then after about 2100 hours they should have just about ideal conditions for whatever manner of propulsion they have selected. After midnight, there maybe a drainage east-northeasterly of 5-10-knots in the early morning hours then as the sun comes up that will die until the onshore flow develops in the early afternoon bringing 10-12-knots of northwesterly down the Sound.

Of course, if your paddling or rowing you’re going to want to keep track of the tidal current however with most of these craft being of very shallow draft you can really get in close to stay out of the anti-water. It seems to me they took some fun out of the event by making them go through the Hadlock Canal but they probably had a very good reason for doing that. It’s just that in the flood tide you can get 3 to 3.5 knots of current in there while you could avoid that by going around the outside of Marrowstone.

The good news is that since the current always flows north in Colvos Passage, it will be a free ride until they get up to Blake Island. The other good news is that the currents in the central Sound will be less than one knot almost all weekend. In Admiralty Inlet, the max currents will be around two knots and since the shortest possible course will take keep you on the beach anyway, you’ll be able to avoid the worst of it until Hadlock.

Currents at West Point

Friday

2000      Slack

Saturday

0018      Max Flood            .72 knots

0330      Slack

0518      Max Ebb                 .47 knots

0742      Slack

1300      Max Flood            .89 knots

1618      Slack

1800      Max Ebb                 .48 knots

2054      Slack

All in all, it looks like a lot of exercise but should be a total hoot.

Be safe and have fun out there.

Wx for Van Isle 360

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing 0 Comment
Wx for Van Isle 360

It’s big. It’s tough. It’s unique. It’s fishy (at least for one night). The Van Isle 360 is such a great race,it requires it’s own Bruce Hedrick Powerpoint weather presentation. If you click on the following link you should be able to open or download the presentation.

The Bruce Hedrick Van Isle 360 Weather Outook for 2019

If you’re racing, have fun and be safe. It’s truly the race of a lifetime. If you want to read an early preview to the race, click here. If you want to hear a student radio piece on someone doing the race on Cheekee Monkee (and listen to editor Kurt talk about the race) click here.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words for this Swiftsure

Kurt Hoehne Racing, Uncategorized 0 Comment

Glory got through Race Rocks first, but the reality of Bruce’s forecast settled in on the Swiftsure fleet early and mercilessly. Congratulations to Rage for being the lone finisher on the long course, Panic for winning the monohull fleet in the Flattery course, Big Broderna for winning the multihull Flattery fleet and Gladiator for winning the Juan de Fuca fleet. And a tip of the hat (and glass) to the other die-hards who stuck it out. By my count that was 16 total.

Jan Anderson took lots of photos like the ones above, but don’t expect to see yourself on a screaming plane doing high-fives.

Speaking of Bruce Hedrick, he has this to say about the race: “Yes we dropped at 1059, first on the Cape Flattery course. We asked the team on the boat for a vote and I excused myself being the tactician and Wx guy and it was unanimous, let’s end this. In the morning when we met on the boat I said the our elapsed time had gone from 46 to 41 hours, the other J-35 finished in 39.5 hrs. Either way there are other ways to spend your Memorial Day weekend if it’s going to be a hair bag race, which it clearly was, let’s do family and friends things. The folks that stuck it out are clearly to be congratulated. Then there is always next year, which for me will be number 49. Will I miss the next race? Hell no! It’s always so great to see everyone from the years past as well as remember the ones who aren’t there, like Tom Rutten, Kelly O’Neil Henson, and Willy O’Neil.  It’s a great tradition and as always so we’ll run by RVYC.

Andy the Instructor

Andy Cross Racing 0 Comment

Andy Cross (Threesheets NW, writer and current Guest Editor at 48 North) spent some time at the Offshore Sailing School this year, and wanted to know if I’d like to share his writeup. Of course! You can read here or go to his blog and read it there.

By: Andy CrossPosted on May 15, 2019

I’m happy to report that I’ve been doing a ton of sailing lately, none of which has been on Yahtzee though. As many readers are aware, my passion for sailing isn’t just in cruising with my family. I also love to teach sailors when my schedule allows and I was fortunate enough to recently return as an onboard racing coach at NorthU and Offshore Sailing School’s Performance Race Week on Captiva Island, Florida. Boy was it fun!

Teaching from my stern office on the Colgate 26.

The basic format for Race Week, which is now in its 20th year, is that nine highly experienced racing coaches get four students each onboard nine Colgate 26s. The boats are setup exceptionally well for one design racing and are easy to learn on. After a welcome party on Sunday night, we spend eight hours per day Monday through Friday teaching the ins-and-outs of sailboat racing. Sail trim, boat handling, race strategy and tactics, starting, spinnaker work and much more are folded into an action packed week. Then, the culmination of the event is a Saturday regatta with four races in the morning and four in the afternoon. The instructors switch boats for this final competition and offer little to no assistance, which makes it fun to watch the crews duke it out for the podium — and bragging rights.

At the beginning of race week, I knew what to expect of my coaching tasks because I’d been here before. But I didn’t really know what to expect of my four students. Who were they? Where did they come from? What was their sailing experience?

To my pleasant surprise, I learned at the Sunday night meet-and-greet that my students were part of a group called Veterans Ocean Adventures (VOA). Based in Miami, the vision of VOA is to create opportunities for disabled veterans to experience open ocean sailing, offshore cruising and scuba diving. They do this by collaborating with community partners including the Miami VA and Miami Vet Center. Turns out, my new students race together on Harbor 20s and Catalina 27.5s in Miami, and their comfort with one another and sailing was readily apparent.

Weather for the week is always a factor, and it couldn’t have been any better this year, with typical breezes ranging from 7 to 15 knots. Throughout the week I had an absolutely fantastic time working with my guys on each job required of them, sail shape and trim, driving the boat fast upwind and down, and teaching the various approaches to starting a race. Speaking of, we did 77 starts in six days of racing. You read that right — 77! I also worked with them on reinforcing individual and team strengths, and on the areas where they could improve, and how the team could handle the boat and race course during the Saturday regatta.

The fleet dials up for one of the week’s 77 starts.

When race day arrived, I was confident that my guys were ready. They continued to sail better during each session on the water and their teamwork and communication skills were something I thought would set them apart. Without the same coaches on the boats, the four morning races began as an adjustment for all the teams because they had to make decisions without a boat whisperer in their ear. After tough finishes in the morning’s last two races, I knew my crew would come out after lunch swinging. Did they ever — taking fourth, third, second and first over the final four.

Sailing fast towards the finish on the final upwind leg of the regatta’s closing race, I watched as my students sailed triumphantly across the line in first place. Putting them third overall. From the stern of another boat, I couldn’t contain my excitement. My face was beaming with pride and I gave a fist pump and shout of congratulations to four sailors who had come along way in one week.

Proudly watching on as my students sail past en route to a 1st place finish in the final race.

The week, though, was far more than just six days of sailboat racing. Sure, I taught them about racing and sailing, but what these four gentlemen taught me about resiliency and the power of positivity and teamwork was far greater. They showed every single person involved with this year’s race week that life event like these are bigger than us, and certainly bigger than sailing. I couldn’t be more proud to have sailed with them.

Third place finishers! Andy in the middle.