In a world where return-on-investment is gospel, the real long term return-on-investment, supporting the communities we live in and share our passion with, is too often lost. The Seattle boatyard CSR chose to use the funds it earmarked for the 2024 Vic-Maui race for helping rebuild Maui. We at Sailish hope 2026 is a great race with lots of boats prepping at CSR!
Here’s the note from CSR’s Nigel Barron to the Vic-Maui officials:
“CSR would like to direct our funds to the LYC Rebuild Fund. Throughout the years of sponsoring or competing in the Vic Maui race we’ve always been struck by the hospitality of the people of Hawaii and our friends at LYC. A hui hou, mahalo!”
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.
Ed. Note: As one of many who scours Craigslist for those hidden gems, I saw Co-Motion and was confused and unimpressed. Now that I know the story, I’m intrigued to the max and would love to see her. I would HIGHLY recommend getting and reading this book. Combined with Bill Buchan’s “Star Fever,” it should make us all proud of the sailing culture of the PNW and the do-it-yourself-with-the-help-of-friends attitude. KH
By Dean Peoples
There is an exhilarating feeling in a sailing vessel when it starts to surf…
Reaching down a wave, the boat seems to rock back, spray shoots out from midship, and the knotmeter says 16+…
Carl Sutter, one of the founders of PNW racing and owner of Fisheries Supply, did a presentation on the history of sailing in the PNW a couple years ago for the Renton Sailing Center. He mentioned that one of the first ultra-lights sailed in Puget Sound, Co-Motion, was built by my father Phil Peoples. He also mentioned that he had seen it listed on Craigslist in Tacoma.
Having helped build and race the boat, I was interested in seeing it, so I contacted the owner, Ian Gegg, who had bought it from my brother, Will Peoples, in 1990. When Phil built the 42-foot sloop Zephyr, he sold Co-Motion to Will in 1980. Will rigged it, re-powered it, and cruised the San Juans.
Ian installed a J-35 mast and sails, added some structural improvements, and named it Who-Ah, as in ‘wild ride’. I was amazed to find the boat in good sailing condition and still winning races!
Phil, with the help of his wife, Robbie, wrote a booklet about the boat covering the concept, construction, testing, and the 1972 Vic-Maui Race.
Below is an excerpt from the booklet The Sailboat “Co-Motion” (One of the First Ultra-Lights) by Philip L. Peoples.
INTRODUCTION
I started handicap-racing sailboats in 1959 when my brother Sam and I bought an “R” Class boat named Lady Van. It had been converted to “cruising accommodations” by the installation of bunks, head, sink, and inboard engine. According to Hans Otto Giese, one of Seattle’s sailing “gurus”, Lady Van was a “cruising racing-boat” while all the other competitors were “racing cruising-boats”. Hans Otto respected Lady Van because she was faster than his 6-Meter, Oslo, despite the speed inhibiting conversion features.
Lady Van was not a typical cruising-boat
—–she was a “lead-mine” with half her 12,000 pound gross weight in her lead keel. She was 39 feet long with 18 inches of freeboard. She was “pinched” at bow and stern to minimize wetter surface. Many cruising boat skippers disliked her because she had a low handicap rating and was very fast in light wind conditions (which prevailed in the Seattle area). I loved her.
Ten years later (1969), I started construction of an ultra-light sailboat that was the exact opposite of Lady Van. Co-Motion was 37 feet long, very light at 8,000 pounds, and with a deep fin keel and 2700 pounds of lead. She was slow in light wind conditions and had a high rating (the opposite of Lady Van. Nevertheless, many cruising boat skippers disliked her at any race because she was “fast in moderate to fresh winds and ugly”. I loved her.
CHAPTER 1—–THE CONCEPT
In the middle of the 20th century, around 1950, ocean-going sailboats were designed with a lot of ballast and strength to endure difficult up-wind passages in the open sea. Despite this design approach, most long distance ocean races were mainly “off the wind” (down wind) because sailboats move faster, are more comfortable, and there is generally an “off the wind” course” that will get you to the finish line soonest. The longest, biggest, and most expensive boats were first to finish the races principally because of their long waterlines (and higher hull speeds). Accordingly, sailboat handicap rules were developed in an attempt to equalize the competition and give the smaller boats a chance. Then the designers tried to find “loopholes” in the handicap rule to give a new design an advantage over existing designs.
Co-Motion under construction, in a basement!
Some fairly odd boats were designed in this process and sailboat racing tended to degenerate into design competitions to “beat the rule” rather than produce fast sea-worthy sailboats. A few exceptions to this trend included the 72-foot Windward Passage that revolutionized large boat design and the Cal 40 and Buchan 37 that revolutionized the medium size design. These boats had three factors in common: relatively light weight, “easy” lines, and stability through beam and draft.
My personal experiences started out with light weight inland scows in 1930, then keel boats in Puget Sound in 1955 such as the 24-foot Blanchard Knockabout, a 39-foot R-Boat, and a 37 foot Buchan in 1965. I noticed a trend with the Buchan 37 that lighter “cruising” boats with good stability were faster in almost all conditions. This connected with my experiences with very light inland lake scows which were extremely fast but had the disadvantage of capsizing unexpectedly.
I began to think about a new boat somewhere between a 38-foot “A” class scow and the Buchan 37 that would be very fast and would not capsize.
A backyard project!
The “A” scow won the Inland Lake Yachting Association championship race on August 21, 1924 (with gaff-rigged mainsail) and was sailed by a family friend, Leonard Carpenter of Lake Minnetonka. In those days, the “A” scow was one of the fastest sailing vessels in the world, running and reaching in excess of 20 knots. What I had in mind was a sea-worthy 37-foot boat that was much lighter and flatter than the Buchan. Stability would be achieved with a deep fin keel, very low lead, and “hard” bilges. My objective was to design and build a fast safe sailboat without regard to the handicap rules.I was encouraged after reading “Fast Boats” by Teale (1961) and predicted that the new boat would achieve 18 knots under the same conditions that the Buchan would achieve 12 knots, Fig. 3. Fig. 4 compares sailboat performance parameters indicating that the new boat would be similar to the International 14 parameters in several respects but not quite meeting “planing requirements”. However, I felt that the new boat would surf downwind at about 20 knots for extended periods on the face of typical ocean waves (which advance at 20 to 40 knots).
As a consequence, I settled on a hull design concept outlined in Fig. 5 that should provide great boat speed under most conditions and light enough to be essentially unsinkable (gross weight slightly less than the displacement of hull and equipment).
To get an eBook or the printed booklet on the Co-Motion or the Zephyr email Dean Peoples at dpeopl@q.com.
Many of you (actually thousands on social media) have heard of the dramatic turtle rescue by Doug Frazer and the crew of OxoMoxo during the Vic-Maui Race. Without a doubt, the rescue and social media presence of this rescue will have lasting, important effects far beyond the race results.
More and more sailors come back from the Pacific Ocean and other waterways shaking their heads at the plastic in our oceans. Back downs are common. But nothing brings home how bad things are quite like a peaceful, timeless, blameless animal caught up in our mess.
Frazer, a former division 1 water polo player and a California state lifeguard, didn’t hesitate in deciding to try to rescue the turtle. Here’s how it went down, according to the man himself:
I jumped in without hesitation and then remembered that the favorite dinner for tiger sharks is turtle! I thought the poor little beggar was dead but he moved and took a breath when I touched him. The guys kept the boat hove-to until I could drag the whole mess to the stern ladder. As they were pulling him to the boat he swung towards my tender white love handle with his beak open and looking to defend himself from old white men. Luckily he fell off and swam away before he got his pound of flesh. It was really fun to get in the water. The derelict fishing gear has its own habitat of small fish, invertebrates and critters. I believe that this actually attracts other larger animals that may become entangled.
I feel that most of the large trash we saw was fish nets, ropes and fish tote baskets. I believe the only cure for this is to either pass the cost of clean up to the consumer or may require boats to bring as much net home as they take offshore. If they lose some, then they should go pick some up. Just a thought.
Here’s the dive, and a few photos from the rescue:
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
The Vic-Maui fleet is finally, blissfully high-tailing it for Hawaii. The tradewinds have kicked in and the postcard conditions have appeared. Firefly and Joy Ride will be concluding their duel sometime tomorrow, and by the looks of things Firefly is extending her lead a bit and will get the elapsed time gun, but Joy Ride will correct on top. Time will tell whether Salient out to the west or Kraken on the rhumb line will win the Beneteau 40.7 battle. Here’s David Sutcliffe’s weather summary that appeared on the VM website:
The Weather Eye, July 12 – Drag Racin’ in the Trade Winds
by David Sutcliffe, July 12th, 2018
Amazingly, after sailing for 1600-2100 nautical miles and through a series of complex weather systems and transitions, the fleet are all on very similar final approach lines. That in itself is a bit unusual. A more normal situation would be for boats to be converging into the finish from a wider range of laylines and optimal gybe angles.
July 12, 0900 HST – a normal summer pattern prevails over the Northeast Pacific Ocean
So, it’s a lot simpler now, right? In one word, yes!
The longer answer is that the boats are each on their own line to the Pailolo Channel which separates Maui and Molokai. That line was pretty much determined for each boat by how and where they managed to navigate through the low wind area associated with the ridge/plateau that extended East of the High, and into the actual Trade Winds. The lines are more similar than different.
At the macro level, the expected conditions from here to the finish are Trade Winds blowing from 075-090 degrees True at 13 – 18 knots of True Wind Speed, sustained, with higher speeds in gusts or squalls.
Now, it is a simpler mode of optimum boat speed in the desired direction. This is known as Velocity Made Good on Course – VMC, rather than Velocity Made Good – VMG which is relative to the wind. For boats that are inside their own optimum laylines to the Finish, gybing with squalls or changes in wind direction or speed will help optimize VMC.
As the boats are all on a similar approach line, and the macro weather picture is stable, it looks like the last stretch will be a raw speed drag race.
July 12, 0900 HST – a drag race in the Trade Winds to the Finish!
But, there’s always a few more things to think about … the islands of Maui and Molokini, and the Pailolo Channel between them, bend and funnel the Trade Winds. Plus, the Finish line is near the leeward side of the island of Maui. To finish well, the boats should be paying close attention to how they get in the channel and across the finish line.
One eye on the weather!
Caveat: this article and images are presented for informational purposes – they are not predictions of or advice to any boat regarding weather or routing!
Also, for those who aren’t on (or don’t obsessively monitor) Facebook, a couple of posts:
Firefly Blog post #8 &/12/18
We are down to the wire and it is clear that we are in a race! Joy Ride is a little north and east of us but the wind has picked up and we are both moving along well. Whereas we didn’t find much wind in Fabio we are finding a good breeze of 16-20k in the trades, as Brad predicted. The sailing is exhilarating though exhausting, especially at night. But it is so much more fun to be making the kind of headway we are versus the slogging of a couple of days ago-the knot meter actually registered 0.0 kn at one point!
It is hard to believe we have 1 ½ days to go. We are seriously into our routine and though sometimes exhausting and physically taxing everyone is hanging in there like champs. One thing I have come to realize is that food indeed does matter.
I had assumed on the food front that I could eat anything for two weeks but turns out that good food and lots of it is pretty key. This is not Tim’s first rodeo and he gets this. As a result as mentioned before we burn more calories than I ever imagined and we are hungry and wolfing down our meals. And the morale boost from having well thought out and prepared menus and meals makes a huge difference getting thru some of the more challenging days. A sampling: last night we had lasagna with a vegetable medley (yes you got that right), tonight we are having my favorite, Mountain house beef stroganoff, meat balls our last night and as we speak, Brad is preparing his famous tuna melts! Can’t beat it…
As this trip winds down it is hard to completely plug into that mindset of nearing the finish, in part due to the fact that we still have lots to do in terms of finishing strong with a building wind and the competition breathing down our neck. It has been a truly amazing experience for a neophyte like me-Firefly has performed stellarly, it has been more exciting to do a long distance ocean race than I could ever really imagine and it has been hard but super fulfilling. It will take some digesting but my first pass is that it has been completely awesome.
36 hours or so to go…can’t wait!!
Bob
Day 11: Joyride Team update. 15:05 HRS
And yet another day passed. Time is flying by. We’ve been under spinnaker for a while now trying to get to Maui the quickest as we hear that’s where the cold drinks await.
It’s warm now, even at night. The occasional mist of rain to cool things down. Plenty of clouds give us a little protection from the burning sun.
Flying fish all around us, a gannet here and there, is it for wild life today. Other animals are those on this fine ship. We’ve discovered Robin drives best under Frankie goes to Hollywood. It’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make as his driving is excellent. Alex is loosing his boots, shirts and pants (don’t ask me how) and has drawn an amazing cartoon of the crew which was posted yesterday. Quill is eating through his book while off watch we’re worried what he will devour next. Erik grinds as if it is a hand blender with mojito fixings; he is ready for a cold one I can tell. And I can go on and on….
Spinnaker sailing is a little more involved than our extended jib reach. We’ve done a few sail changes the past 24 hrs peeling from A1 to A2 and vice versa, adding a stay sail when the wind picks up and taking it back down when it impedes the A sail from flying. We’re all a little tired after going through the night. The mixed sea state and constant changing wind speed/ direction require utmost attention from driver and trimmers. Making sure the boat doesn’t stall, wrap a kite around the forestay or round up and cause other issues. Even sleeping under these conditions proves hard with your body being flung from one side to the other side of the bunk – oh for pipe berths!
So we’re a little more subdued today. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still enjoying the ride. In day light though we can keep the boat on a more stable heel better anticipating the rollers and seeing the luff curl. So people are catching up on sleep.
Yesterday afternoon we played with the drone and took some videos on deck and down below. We will post a compilation once we’re in Maui. Food remains delicious/ we’ve been out of cookies and muffins but the delicious dinners keep on coming.
Pacific Cup Update
Shearwater
The Bieker designed 41-footer Blue was scheduled to start today, and it’ll be interesting to see if she can stay with the 70-footers. In Division C Alex Simanis’ Poke and Destroy has dropped to 3rd on corrected time, but is positioned almost directly on the rhumb line. The Canadian J/92 Zaff is close by. Three of their primary competitors, Sweet Okole (Farr 36), Aloha (Hobie 33) and Limitless (Express 37) have wandered pretty far north of rhumb. In Class B, the Tacoma-based J/35 Shearwater has taken over 1st in corrected time standings. The PNW based doublehanded boats Zipper and Alternate Reality are hanging in there, and there appears to be a split in the fleet as the boats further to the north are gaining ground on the southern contingent.
Here’s the latest report from Poke and Destroy:
Day three of the Pacific brings a bit more southerly breeze for Team Poke and Destroy and their competitors in Division C of the Pacific Cup.
Division C is currently crossing a low-pressure system with low southerly wind velocity that has parked itself between the fleet and their destination in Hawaii. The boats in Division C are spread out laterally about 50 miles from south to north as they try to best navigate through or around this low wind zone. Poke and Destroy has opted for the most southerly route in the Division, following the rhumb line, which is the most direct route to the finish.
As of 11:30 a.m. PDT, Sweet Okole is 1882 nautical miles from the finish line. Poke and Destroy, Aloha and Limitless are 1885 miles out, Dare Dare is a mile behind, and Zaff is bringing up the rear at 1893 miles to go.
The low-pressure system seems to be moving north, so it may follow the boats that have gone north to avoid it. Or not. By Monday, a high-pressure system with stronger northerly wind should fill in, with winds of about 15 to 20 knots.
Here is an update from skipper Alex Simanis, sent by sat phone on the morning of July 13:
Day 3 brings us a fair amount of breeze. Still southerly.
Eating has been hard, but sea state is getting better. Beef bourguignon will be for lunch.
6.7 kts on the Speedo with the #1 genoa on the fence is happy days! Breeze is building. Hoping to get into the Jib top soon.
Poke & Destroy handles the waves well. We are looking forward getting a
spinnaker up!
Cheers to all ashore. we are feeling your good vibes.
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.
As this year’s “weird” Vic-Maui Race heads toward a conclusion and the Pacific Cup racers get into their offshore routines en route to Hawaii, here’s a quick look at the current situations.
Vic-Maui
Bob Strong’s Morris 45 Firefly is just over 400 miles from claiming another navigator’s first-to-finish title for Brad Baker. Giving chase is John Murkowski’s J/122E Joy Ride. With 5′ less waterline but displacing 9000 lbs less, Joy Ride doesn’t seem to be making inroads on Firefly’s lead but appears to be on track for the corrected time honors. Tracker here. There may be an interesting race to the finish for the two Beneteau 40.7s, Kraken and Salient. Salient is coming from a far western position and is ahead as the crow flies, but there could be a one-design finish. Gemini’s Dream is nearly home, entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca now after retiring and heading back
Pacific Cup
It’s way too early to say much about the Pacific Cup beyond what Bruce said yesterday. The early-starting smaller and cruising boats are out front enjoying good speeds. Of yesterday’s starters, Poke and Destroy is doing quite well among the boats that chose the northerly course (chasing the legendary Sweet Okole), but the Tacoma-based Shearwater and the southern boats that seemed to fall behind earlier have come on stronger of late. Blue (even though it’s a Milwaukee boat it has a number of Northwesters listed as crew including Dalton Bergan, Jonathan McKee and Kris Bundy. And after all it is a Paul Bieker design) is starting today, about now in fact.
Here’s the report from the Pacific Cup organizers:
THURSDAY JULY 12 RACE REPORT
Thursday morning in the Pacific Cup shows much of the same among the Monday starters, while the Wednesday starters proved the forecast accurate by getting off to a slow start. As a result, most divisional and overall rankings remain somewhat the same as yesterday and are generally unaffected by the Wednesday starters, as they are all very deep on corrected time. As the Pasha Hawaii D division prepares to start today on Thursday and the BMW of San Rafael E division on Friday, it’s become more and more apparent that the Monday starters have indeed won the weather lottery – at least in these early stages – as originally predicted as early as last week.
Wednesday’s two starts saw a total of seventeen boats begin their own 2,000+ mile journeys to Hawaii under mostly sunny skies and a brisk, puffy breeze. The Weems & Plath B division saw 10 racer cruisers between 40 and 57 feet in length cross the start while the Alaska Airlines C division saw an incredibly competitive fleet of seven 30-something race boats charge the line like a buoy start with Kyle Vanderspek’s Hobie 33 Aloha winning a dramatic start. Shortly after crossing outside the Gate however, the fun factor surely began to dwindle, as did the breeze with competitors flopping around in the Gulf of the Farallones for much of the night. Most boats took a northern route to try to play the shore breeze and punch out to the synoptic winds first, while just two boats took the more direct rhumb line route. In the end, there’s not much in it as the fleet has now generally compressed along the rhumb line with a few outliers sailing a more southerly course and the Archambault 35 Mirthmaker blazing her own trail far north.
Up at the front of the fleet with the Wednesday starters, A Fond le Girafon continues to lead the race for line honors, and has committed themselves firmly to the north, the furthest boat north of rhumb line. As of this writing, A Fond le Girafon is 1,433 miles to the finish. A quartet of boats are sailing in the foiling Beneteau’s wake including overall race leader, the Cal 40 Green Buffalo. A bit further south along the rhumb line, the Hanse 505 Outremer leads the cruisers while the J/120 Jamani continues to impress and lead the Mount Gay Rum DH2 division. Motorcycle Irene continues leading Pau Maui Vodka / DH1, and continues to pull away at a steady pace, now some 26 miles ahead of second placed Loose Cannon.
All of the Monday starters are still making excellent speed, while the Wednesday starters are at least moving again, though comparatively much slower than her Monday rivals who almost immediately set out into heavy and fast reaching conditions. The course should continue to get lighter and lighter over the next few days, hampering all of the later starting divisions and eventually catching up to the Monday starters. The north-south split among Monday’s starters continues to grow with some boats sailing towards the pent house, and some towards the poor house, though no one quite knows which at this very point in time. We can only watch on with bated breath as this situation unfolds.
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.
