This crazy weather never seems to want to quit. The Pacific hurricane season officially started on May 15th and the first storm of the season (Agatha) slammed into Oaxaca, Mexico as the earliest and strongest storm to ever hit the Pacific coast of Mexico since records were kept. It then weakened as it crossed Mexico, became disorganized, and now will be the first named storm of the Atlantic season (Alex), which started on the 1st of June.
For once this year, the Pacific Northwest is behind on our monthly rainfall total. Don’t worry that will probably revert to the new normal this weekend, as we will continue to have wetter and cooler weather than normal. Just ask the Swiftsure participants how cold it was on Saturday night. Those that started with longies were the smart ones.
Unfortunately for the racers in the central and south Sound, this weekend will be on the light side. If you’re sailing in the Classic Mariners Regatta in Port Townsend, break out the foulies and the reef lines and prepare for 10-20 knots of SE breeze. Both Blake Island Races will be sailed in 0 to 6 knots of light and variable breeze. At least it will be cool and rainy.
At least tides won’t be much of an issue.
Tidal Current at West Point:
0748 Slack
1000 Max Ebb .27 knots
1148 Slack
1724 Max Flood 1.02 knots
2106 Slack
This confused and unstable weather is brought to you by a weak pressure system off our coast at about 136W. The problem is that the jet stream is south of this low and this surface low is reinforced by an upper level-low in roughly the same place. The sat pic for today clearly shows the approaching cold front. Since the low isn’t moving much the front will move in a NNE direction almost paralleling the coast. This will bring breeze to the coast, the eastern Strait of JdF, and not much else inland.
Have a great weekend, stay warm and dry, and be safe.
Nothing like a good hard run on the Straits to blow away some of the Covid “stuff” we’ve been suffering through. We have reports from two courses from Bruce and Peter, plus Jan’s photos (not really indicative of the race, but still….) A video and newspaper clip bring Longboard’s race to the front. Results here. -KH
The Hein Bank Perspective
By Peter Salusbury, skipper, Longboard
The first “post pandemic” Swiftsure race hosted by Royal Victoria Yacht Club was held this past weekend and it was great fun to see old friends pre-race on the docks and race against our U.S. and Vancouver Island friends. Bruce’s pre-race weather forecast wasn’t far off and it made for some very fast elapsed times on the Hein Bank, Cape Flattery, and Juan de Fuca courses after the late afternoon westerly filled in.
Peter Salusbury won the start in his 48th Swiftsure
The Swiftsure Classic and Hein Bank race boats started first in a drizzly rain and 6-knot easterly and by Race Rocks, those favoring the more northerly route faired much better than those of us who didn’t with Blue and Smoke setting the pace. After Race Rocks, the flood tide started to become the challenge and those of us who led across to the U.S. side of Juan de Fuca faired much better than those who chose the Canadian side of the Strait. As predicted, the southeasterly died off in the early afternoon and came in from the south earlier for those of us in the middle of the strait and we had a pretty nice rhumb line course out of the Strait. Watching the AIS tracker was critical as it was clear Smoke and Blue were doing better a few miles off the US shoreline relative to Glory and Shadow who favored the US beach.
The westerly finally filled in solidly at Clallam Bay and we changed from the J1 to J2, eventually putting in one reef as the westerly built to over 25 knots at times. We had a classic Swiftsure beat up the US shoreline to Neah Bay and rounded just before a beautiful sunset at 9:00 in the evening. Unfortunately, Mark Vangolen’s beautifully refurbished ILC40 Occams Razor had mast problems and had to retire before rounding Neah Bay – very unfortunate as they had been sailing a real strong race to that point.
The run back was fast and fun but nerve racking at times dodging freighters, cruise ships, and those sneaky Clallam Bay boats with no AIS transponders! Planing downwind in the pitch black at 15 knots was a blast though and while we extended our lead on the boats behind us, Zvi, Smoke, Blue, The Shadow, and Westerly did a nice job legging out on us.
We rounded the Hein Bank buoy at 3:30am Sunday morning and had a bone jarring one tack beat to the finish line with a J4 and two reefs in main – wave pattern was steep and square and on one notable slam off a wave, our radar reflector surrendered and decided to part the boat! We finished at 5:10 Sunday morning so taking into consideration the light air conditions we had to Pillar Point and adverse current, this turned out to be a relatively fast race for us all.
Alan Lubner’s RP/55 Zvi took elapsed time honors finishing at just after 1:00am Sunday morning with Steve Travis’ Smoke finishing less than half an hour later. The overall winner on the Hein Bank course was Michael Schoendorf’s Riptide 41 Blue with Smoke taking second place and our own Riptide 35 Longboard in third place. Both Blue and Smoke sailed very smart races, made good decisions, and clearly were pushing their boats downwind on the way home – huge congratulations to them both for sailing great races.
And as always, a huge thank-you to Race Chairman, Randy Diamond, PRO John Abel, and the massive list of volunteers at RVicYC that, once again, made Swiftsure such a fun event to attend.
Longboard flying back to Victoria. Video courtesy of the good folk on Westerly.
The Cape Flattery Course Perspective
By Bruce Hedrick, chief weather guesser, J/35 Tahlequah (“The oldest boat in the Cape Flattery fleet with clearly the oldest crew, scary.”)
It was great to finally get back to Victoria for Swiftsure and see all those folks we couldn’t see for the last two years. It wasn’t perfect with rain on Friday afternoon that put a bit of a damper on the usual dock parties. The cooler than normal temps we’ve had this spring extended into the weekend with marine weather on the VHF warning that Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics and right above the racecourse would get two more inches of snow on Saturday night.
As usual, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and its army of volunteers did a superb job of managing the event. Events came off on time, the start sequence was nicely spelled out in the SI’s and then repeated on VHF. The big boats got started first with a combined Long Course and Hein Bank fleet, followed by multihulls, the Cape Flattery fleet, and finally the Clallam Bay group.
A low-pressure system coming ashore in Oregon and a lobe of high-pressure to the north of the Straits, combined to give us an easterly wind and more importantly a downwind start. Great for spectators on the beach at Clover Point. It was only about six knots so it was critical to find a lane of clear air so you could try to get to Race Passage before the ebb changed to the big flood of the day. Navigators were tasked with watching speed over ground as well as the handbearing compass or AIS screen to keep track of the groups that were on the other gybe.
By the time the Cape Flattery fleet got going, it quickly became apparent that we would not get through the Race before the flood started. The boats that held starboard off the line seemed to do better than the boats that gybed early and went to the SSE. As the fleet got closer to Race Passage most boats decided it was better to sail outside Race Passage and avoid the building flood which always starts first on the Vancouver Island side.
The easterly held until about Pillar Point with the fleet that went to the south of the VTS lanes doing better than those who stayed to the north. The weather models were consistent that a westerly would eventually fill down the Straits and consistent with the typical pattern of the strongest breeze occurring the first day after frontal passage. It did seem that it took longer than the models suggested for the pressure gradient to shift to higher pressure offshore. The transition zone can be tough however this year the breeze went to the north first allowing the fleet to the south to close reach aimed directly at Neah Bay.
By the time the fleet got to Clallam Bay, the westerly had filled in and most boats went directly from the J1 to the J3 and some tucked in reefs. The other problem was that the flood had ended and the ebb began to build and with winds in the 20-25 knot range the seas got steep and very close together. The boats that had stayed to the south and closer to the US shore then followed a pretty typical pattern of beating along that shore to try and get into smoother water. Starboard tack was smoother but shorter so the longer port tack into the seas was bone-jarring and tough on boats and crews.
As boats got to the mark at Cape Flattery, some decided to set the kite immediately in the breezy and lumpy conditions while others decided to just do the gybe, get around the mark, stay with jib and main only, and get pointed back towards the Vancouver Island side. All of the leaders also rounded in what was a spectacular sunset giving the boats still beating up to the mark a beautiful vista. Some boats, like the Farr 36 OD Annapurna, once they got the kite up took off in the 20-25+ knots of westerly and flew back down the Straits, finishing almost an hour ahead of the next boat and easily correcting out on the fleet.
The rest of the fleet finally got their kites up at various points and then followed the traditional route back to Race Passage, the next problem was to get back through Race Passage before the big ebb of the day started. Luckily this year there was not the usual doubling of the wind speed from Sheringham to Passage. This allowed boats to ride the last of the flood down the Vancouver Island shore and do the gybe from starboard to port right in Race Passage. The wind was down to 15-20 knots so the gybe wasn’t too scary. The biggest problem was that it was very cold on deck and hands had a tough time holding on to sheets.
Once clear of Race Passage you could still keep the kite up by not being too greedy and aiming immediately for the finish. Plus you could see the puffs coming off the Island which allowed drivers and trimmers to work together and keep the boat upright and aimed roughly for the barn. The best part of this leg was that while the wind built into the low 20s for the first part, it didn’t die as you got closer to the finish and you were still flying along.
The post-race inspection at Ship Point in Victoria Harbour was not only friendly and efficient, but they were also serving a greatly appreciated and very tasty bowl of hot potato soup. NICE!
Again, kudos to RVYC and the Swiftsure Committee, this was a great event.
ManifestZviRoad Kill on the Inshore CourseDominatrix and companyLongboard
This actually looks somewhat promising for those sailing out of Victoria this weekend. The problem is that conditions are still somewhat unstable and there will be a transition zone that will make things interesting. Temperatures will be cooler than normal and there will be some rain around. The known factor will be the tides in Race Passage and if the wind is lighter than currently forecast, it will mean fighting the big flood of the day after about 1130.
The surface analysis shows that we have a very weak Pacific High well south of where it normally should be. We also have two weak low-pressure systems, one to the north of us and another fast-moving one in the Pacific which will come ashore near the Columbia River Saturday. This is what will cause an easterly to persist in the Straits giving us a downwind start. The models show this holding until late afternoon with the faster boats getting out to the westerly around Clallam Bay and getting out to Neah Bay by early evening. Then a westerly will build to 15-20 knots for a spinnaker run all the way back to the finish. More importantly, getting back through Race Passage before the big ebb of the day really gets rolling.
All of this is predicated on getting away from the starting area and past Race Passage before the flood gets rolling. If the big boats get out and away, there could be course records set. Navigators will be busy with a two-way run keeping the boat on the shortest possible course. Zvi could finish the long course by 0100hrs Sunday morning. The TP-52’s could be in by midnight on the Hein Bank Race.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Have a great race and be safe.
What another week it has been for weather in the Pacific NW. This weekend will however be the nicest weekend we’ve had in the month of May. Let’s hope it’s just a practice run for Memorial Day weekend unless you were hoping for breeze. Rainwise we are still about 2” ahead for the month and 3.5” ahead for the year. There does not appear to be much ahead for the upcoming week, just a slight possibility of a drizzle on Wednesday.
After that very active front came through earlier this week we now have high-pressure (1032MB) building over Pacific NW and the NE Pacific ocean roughly centered off the central Oregon coast at 135W. There is also a weak low-pressure system (1008MB) at 40N and 150W that is moving quickly (32.5 mph) in a due north direction. This high is not very strong or round in shape so it can be pushed around however check out the wild oscillation in the Jet Stream on the 500MB charts. It’s not going to have much effect on this high. By 22 May the high will have drifted to the south and weakened to 1029 MB, leaving little pressure gradient over the Salish Sea. This will allow temps to warm into the 60s and we should have a beautiful weekend just not much wind.
So what does Swiftsure look like from a week out? It would have been very interesting if we would have the conditions we had on Wednesday for the start of Swiftsure with 50+ knots of westerly at Race Rocks at 1000hrs. I think a lot of boats may have opted out of those punishing conditions. It appears that this weak high-pressure system will drift to the NW and re-center itself at roughly 34N and 145W with a weak lobe over the Pacific NW. This will mean a very weak pressure gradient over the area. The other problem will be the tides with the big flood of the day at Race Passage starting at 1040 and if you haven’t made it past the Race you will face a flood tide building to 5 knots at 1330 hrs. Just one of the many reasons we still go up to Victoria for this race.
It’s great to see Schelleen Rathkopf and the team at Race Week Anacortes responding directly to last year’s tragedy by emphasizing safety for this year’s Race Week – Anacortes.
Last year, in an otherwise stellar debut for Race Week – Anacortes, Greg Miller died after falling overboard during a race. While the lessons are still being parsed out, basic safety practices are being emphasized in Race Week’s most recent email. There are links to videos on man overboard procedures, and of course Sailish readers know to turn to The Sailing Foundation for more information. And while it is the skippers’ responsibility to brief his or her crew on safety protocols, don’t hesitate as crew to ask for (expect, demand) a safety review before the series that includes practicing man overboard maneuvers. We are blessed with a safe sport. Vigilance is how we keep it that way.
The email mentioned above includes information on the cruising class, reservations of Cap Sante’s entire C-dock and a campground reserved solely for Race Week participants. Sounds like a well organized good time, and if the conditions hold up as they did last year, there’s going to be good racing.
If you’re not involved with Sail Sand Point in some way, you are missing out. It’s a chance for sailing, teaching, community, fun and to give back. If you’ve been missing out, fortunately there’s a kickoff party this Saturday so you can catch up All for free! From Executive Director Seth Muir:
We’d love to have you come join us this Saturday for our free community Season Kick-Off Party. There will be live music, boat rides (starting at 4), available rentals of SUPS, kayaks and sailboats, a BBQ and games. And tasty food and drinks next door at the Magnuson Cafe and Pub. We hope to see you all down at Sail Sand Point!
Ed. Note: Sailish supporters West Coast Sailing and Zim continue to step up to the plate when it comes to supporting sailing. The 5-year sponsorship of college sailing shows that dinghy sailing is thriving and our friends continue to be lifeblood for our sport . For more information on West Coast Sailing’s ICSA sponsorship, go here. For the West Coast Sailing newsletter, click here.
From the West Coast Sailing Newsletter:
We are excited to announce that we have entered a new five-year sponsorship agreement with the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA)! We are committed to youth sailing, growing the sport, participation and are proud to be giving back to the community.
As ‘Official Suppliers,’ Zim and West Coast Sailing will contribute equipment for the use at various ICSA national championships. Additionally, 5% of all sales made by college sailing programs will be donated back to ICSA, which embodies our commitment to give back to the sailing community.
OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS Discounts for college sailing team purchases From hardware to dollies, we help alleviate the cost of keeping fleets and sailors on the water. If you run a sailing program or collegiate team, check out this link: Program Purchasing Details
Discounts for student athletes Helping students gear up is important to us, and we continue (year round) to offer a collegiate discount of 15% off apparel and accessories for those sailors. Scholastic Discounts
Ed. Note: This was news 3 months ago, but it’s still news. Cruising, after all, is timeless. Furthermore, this is one of sailing’s great honors and we as Northwesterners can be proud and impressed by the Niemans’ achievements. This is the press release from the one and only CCA. -KH
Ginger and Peter Niemann have been named winners of the 2021 Blue Water Medal by the Cruising Club of America for two sailing circumnavigations that took them to the high latitudes, north and south. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second trip around the world included rigorous non-stop passages while returning home to Washington state.
The Niemanns exemplify the spirit of adventure and determination represented by the Blue Water Medal, which has been awarded regularly since 1923 to “reward meritorious seamanship and adventure upon the sea displayed by amateur sailors of all nationalities, that might otherwise go unrecognized.” Past winners have ranged from Eric Tabarly and Sir Francis Chichester to Rod Stephens, Webb Chiles and Eric and Susan Hiscock.
The Niemanns’ first voyaging boat was Marcy, a 47-foot sloop they converted from a schooner. From 2006 to 2010, Marcy took them west-about from Seattle almost 50,000 miles around the world, including rounding the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn.
In 2017, they departed Washington State on Irene, a 52-foot fiberglass ketch. Taking the opposite direction, east-about, through the Northwest Passage and staying in the northern hemisphere, they never crossed their first track around. Becoming the 30th U.S.-flagged vessel to complete the Northwest Passage transit, Irene touched Greenland, Newfoundland, and the U.S. East Coast before crossing the Atlantic to Ireland.
After touring the U.K., Atlantic Europe, and the Mediterranean, they found themselves suddenly stranded in Turkey when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Like international cruisers everywhere, they were stopped in their tracks, previous plans irrelevant. Unwilling to leave Irene, they considered staying in Turkey; sailing back home across the Atlantic; or heading home to the Pacific Northwest through the Suez Canal. They chose the third option, negotiating a landfall in distant Batam, Indonesia. Their of-necessity-non-stop voyage across the Indian Ocean during the monsoon to Indonesia required extraordinary perseverance. It was rough, as they had expected, but at least their worries didn’t include pirates, who were unlikely to be out and about in the challenging weather.
Two non-stop months and nearly 6,000 miles later, the Niemanns arrived in Batam, only to find that their permission to stay in Indonesia had been revoked. Nearby Singapore let them stay but they couldn’t leave the boat. They lived onboard at the Changi Sailing Club for five months. In all, they spent nearly 300 days aboard, unable to go ashore in any country. On February 2, 2021, they departed on the long cruise home via Japan and the Aleutians.
Despite the truly unique challenges posed by the pandemic, Peter and Ginger persevered, cheerfully adapting to a seemingly endless onboard quarantine and making lengthy passages in extremely difficult conditions.
They have coped with challenges posed by wind and weather, taken on the high latitudes in the Arctic and Patagonia, and found a way to successfully navigate the pandemic to complete a second circumnavigation in extraordinary circumstances. Their teamwork, courage, good humor, flexibility, and innovative spirit are evidence of their exceptional personal and sailing mettle. During these uncertain and difficult times, their persistence and ingenuity is truly inspiring, and the Cruising Club of America is proud to present them with the 2021 Blue Water Medal.
Strange as it may seem, our weather is the envy of the country. For the most part, we in Western Washington have water in our reservoirs and a snowpack at or above 100%. Temps are below normal which is good to maintain the snowpack but tough on the home gardeners. As of today, we’ve had 2.26” of rain so far in May. The monthly average for this date is .8” and for the year the average is 17.69” while we’ve had 20.67” so far.
Today’s surface analysis chart and sat pic show that we are nowhere near done with rain for this month with yesterday’s low just over the Cascades and three more very weak low-pressure systems lined up off the coast. The next system will arrive tonight and into Saturday morning. The third system will come through on Sunday following a very similar path.
The 500MB charts show that finally, the jet stream is starting to move to the north which will bring the high temps for Saturday and Sunday into at least the low 60s, finally.
Plenty of sailing going on this weekend with the Pacific NW Offshore Race that finally got started out of Ilwaco this morning after the Organizers wisely decided to not start yesterday morning with winds at the mouth of the Columbia River in the 30-40 knot range with higher gusts. Today’s start was much milder with the fleet now under spinnaker in 12-18 knots of SSW wind. Should be a nice ride up the coast with a nice run down the Straits to finish in Port Angeles.
We will have Vashon Island Race tomorrow which should actually be pretty nice, with a post-frontal south/southwesterly wind of 8-18 knots around most of the day. Currents won’t be much of an issue with the top speed at West Point being only .8 knots of flood just after 1300 hours.
On the long course expect a beat in 8-12 knots of southerly and south of the north end of Vashon the breeze will start to clock to the SW. The short course boats will go to a temporary mark just NW of Pt Robinson and will have similar conditions. The key will be to not go too far to the west north of Pt. Robinson so you end up overstanding the mark and end up reaching in on starboard tack.
On the long course after Pt. Robinson expect the breeze to be a solid W/SW. Don’t get too close to Maury Island as while there may be a nice starboard tack lift in close to the beach it will also be lighter in there. At the bottom end of Vashon remember that the current pretty much flows west to east along that shore and if there’s any clearing that will allow heating of the island it will also be light along that shore.
Once in Colvos Passage find the axis of the current and ride that north. Don’t get too close to either shore and watch for the puffs to come from the west. After you sail out of Colvos, aim the boat for the barn as you should be in a nice SW breeze all the way to the finish. Don’t get too close to Blake Island as it will be lighter next to the Island.
The next challenge will be the finish as the line will be off the north end of the Shilshole Breakwater. Once you are north of West Point, you may have to take a gybe to get into the line. Could be interesting if you gybe early and you end up on a port tack approach to the finish with other boats coming in on starboard.
Ed Note: We’re lucky to have this report by Andrew Nelson, skipper of the Olson 30 Scoundrel. As the Youth Sailing Director for The Sailing Foundation, he’s getting kids’ butts in boats. A noble cause, indeed. Thanks, Andrew.
Race to the Straits is one of my favorite races, because it brings out a lot of good sailors and cool boats, especially retro ULDB’s! Everyone is faced with the challenge of being short handed. This presents itself in a lot of ways… Sail changes can be arduous, just about everyone feels overpowered way earlier, and there’s practically no down time during the race- you’re either driving or getting ready for the next thing. Maybe you get to pee or eat a sandwich (I didn’t do either on Saturday). I also like that everyone plays a little nicer doublehanded. Port-tackers get waived across frequently and everyone lines the dock at Port Hudson Marina to help others land safely (sometimes the hardest part of the race). Getting to Port Townsend feels like a big accomplishment, regardless of place.
Yes, waves.Well, at least the leeward rudder is in the water.Scoundrel powering to weather.Madrona in great trim.
This year, I teamed up with Josh Larsen. He took my wife Ashley’s place at the last minute when our childcare for the weekend fell through. Josh and I last did the race together in 2011 on his Olson 30 Lunch Box. We did really well that year and Scoundrel had her 2019 (the last “real” RTTS) class title to defend. Our class was stacked with good boats and sailors, so we knew it would be tough to repeat. Looking at the forecast, our mindset was to make sure we were in striking distance after Saturday. Josh summed it up perfectly, “You might not win RTTS on Saturday, but you can definitely lose it.”
Saturday was almost exactly as Bruce Hedrick predicted. We had a nice spinnaker run until just before Foul Weather Bluff. Then it got wet and weird. No wind, hail, and then an almighty downpour. We lost our breeze completely for a few minutes in the transition and then did an alternating series of sail changes between the #2 genoa and A2 until we were around Foul Weather Bluff with a modest northeasterly breeze. This race is often about managing the transition zone gracefully. I feel we did about as well as we could have, but made the mistake of staying too far out in the middle as we approached the south end of Marrowstone. As predicted the breeze built and shifted Northwest. The boats to our left picked up some big gains. It was a slugfest from there on out. We changed to the #3 early and we were glad we did. We don’t have wind instruments, but heard others reporting 25-30 knot gusts near the end of the race. With the strong ebb, that made for some pretty big and confused seas.
The bulk of the fleet finished within 30 minutes of each other in the early afternoon. We were four minutes behind our class leader Scheme. Mission accomplished, we didn’t lose the race on Saturday and knew that anything could happen on day two. The early finish time meant there was plenty of time to dry the boat out and trade stories on the dock before dinner.
We knew Sunday would be a different kind of challenge, and it was. The day started slow with a very light northerly, which turned northeasterly. This would be a day of big gains and losses. We made the most of the light air and did lots of reaching with the A2 and #1. Once past Marrowstone Light we stayed out in the middle with better pressure. By the time we were halfway down Marrowstone the A2 was pulling hard and we had made up that 4 minute difference on Scheme with 6 Feet More in our sights. However, when we got to the south end of Marrowstone the breeze started to dry up and the ebb was really beginning to kick in.. We made a beeline for Kinney Point to find some current relief.
Some boats stayed out in the middle still clinging to spinnakers. After what seemed like an eternity, we found a little puff that we were able to ride around the point, while watching our depth sounder get down in the single digits. With the #1 we sailed deep into Oak Bay. It was the only place we could find current relief. Soon we were short-tacking the beach past Mats Mats and Port Ludlow, hoping that we could then cross back across the mouth of Hood Canal using the current to sweep us to Foul Weather Bluff. With the Foul Weather buoy as a new course mark, this was really uncharted territory and something I hadn’t expected doing. Full credit goes to Josh for making the call.
The J/27 WizardDerek Bottles’ VelellaHula jumping while chasing. A lot of boat there.Grayling
We passed the Cal 24 Water Street, who had a similar idea, and soon noticed the Moore 24 Petty Theft was also chasing us. We gobbled up tons of ground on the boats outside as we snuck up the beach. Just past Port Ludlow we sailed out of our little zephyr and decided to cross the mouth of Hood Canal. We fought hard for almost an hour trying to get across and then around Foul Weather Bluff with almost no wind and ripping current. Right alongside us was the Moore 24. After consulting the Sailing Instructions and looking at our GPS track we realized that we had reached the halfway point much earlier than we realized. I called Ashley Bell on the radio and after some discussion she called race chair David Rogers. After more discussion, we all concurred that both boats had reached the halfway point as defined in the Sailing Instructions, which stated to record halfway times when “due west of the mark.” We had no intention of finding a loophole and every intention of rounding Foul Weather Bluff, but the ambiguity of the SIs were problematic, especially since we were approaching the mark from a westerly position and had crossed a line due west of Foul Weather Bluff Buoy several times over the previous hour and a half. Good thing we had the GPS tracker running!
With a delivery to Tacoma still ahead of me, we fired up the outboard and hightailed it south. I immediately felt a sinking feeling as a northerly began filling. We saw 6 Feet More on the other side of Foul Weather Bluff making nice headway under spinnaker. Mathematically it looked possible they could finish the whole course, especially with the pressure building. Our choice was made however, and we wouldn’t know until later that evening whether or not they got us. As it turned out, Hula, the Westsail 32, was the only boat to finish the long course on Sunday. What an incredible accomplishment by Bill and Darlene Stange!
It was a tough weekend and an especially dissatisfying way to end Sunday. I hope future SIs define a more precise halfway point, but since it’s the first year running this modified course, it was a very hard thing for race organizers to predict. Regardless of the weird ending, it was a great weekend and STYC did a fantastic job organizing the event!
