For those of us looking for inspiration to keep sailing (and living life to its fullest) into “maturity,” we need look no further than solo sailor Jeanne Socrates. She’s set records as the oldest singlehanded circumnavigator via the five great Capes and first woman to circumnavigate starting and ending in North America. I’ve had the great good fortune to write about Jeanne in the past and even talk to her by satellite phone while she’s offshore. She’s at it again at age 80. This time it’s not intended as a record breaking circumnavigation, but more like a Pacific cruise with stops along the way, ending up in the Antipodes. She calls Victoria her home port much of the time, so we get to claim her as part of the PNW community.
Jeanne asked me to help drum up some subscribers to her Youtube channel. Yes, folks, she’s a Youtuber. It’s the least I can do. Subscribe here.
In the meantime, here’s Jeanne as she overcomes a less than trouble free start:
I agree, we are all pretty tired of this cool and wet weather we’ve had so far this April. We are still about an inch of rainfall ahead for the month and still about 5” behind for the year. We still have not had a day this month where the high temp was over 60°F. We -+
Today’s surface chart and sat pic show that we are still in for a mostly cloudy and slightly damp weekend. We have a weak high-pressure system (1033MB) off the central California coast and a weak trough of low pressure over the Salish Sea. The front we had yesterday has moved on to the east while another weak front will come ashore late tonight and into tomorrow morning, followed by yet another front late on Sunday.
Overall, there will be more wind on Sunday than there will be on Saturday. In the eastern Strait of JdF, we could have 15-20 knots of ESE in the morning however that will ease to 10-12 knots of SE by mid-afternoon. The South Sound will be light all-day however the Central Sound may start off light, a S to SSW wind of 10-12 knots will fill by mid-day and then ease by the late afternoon.
April 21
Sunday will start light in the South Sound but be 15-20 knots from the SSW for Central Sound and that will hold for most of the day.
The other charts of interest today are the 48, 72, and 96 hr 500MB charts. They show a change from the mostly zonal flow we had to a more meridional flow by the 25th of April. This is also allowing the jet stream to slowly but steadily come ashore further and further north. This is what will bring warmer temps to our area by next weekend.
It’s not often that a sailboat racing article that’s not the America’s Cup gets into the New York Times, but that’s exactly what happened. We’ve been following Greg Slyngstad’s Bieker-designed Fujin since its launch and through its dramatic capsize, and now that Todd Slyngstad’s HH66 Nemo isn’t hindered by Covid, we’re bound to see some great multihull racing in the Caribbean in the coming months and beyond. See David Schmidt’s article here.
Here’s a taste of the piece to get you started:
Brotherly Love Has Its Limits When Sailing
By David Schmidt
It’s an old sailing joke that whenever two or more sailboats are within sight and on similar courses, they are informally racing.
Now, imagine that you are sailing in a world-class regatta and your brother owns one of the other yachts.
Nemo
That is facing Greg and Todd Slyngstad, brothers who are scheduled to race their high-performance catamarans in the same multihull class at this year’s Les Voiles de St. Barth Richard Mille.
The brothers grew up in San Jose, Calif., and learned to sail on Monterey Bay as children, but serious racing came later. Greg, 67, and now retired, moved to Seattle almost 40 years ago and spent his career in the tech industry, including at Microsoft, Expedia and Kayak. Todd, 58, and the youngest of the family’s eight siblings, lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., and he owns a grading and paving company.
As usual, spring does not disappoint with its variety of weather in the Pacific NW. This weekend and the coming week will offer the usual smorgasbord of weather. At least we don’t live near Ft. Lauderdale, (or for that matter anywhere in Florida) where they got 25” of rain in 24 hours earlier this week, and the airport in FL is still closed.
When it comes to rainfall, all it took was 5 days for us to go from behind for the month to almost an inch ahead and it’s only mid-April. For the year we are still behind by almost 5” however I think we’ll take that because with the less rainfall has come the cooler than normal temps which will keep the snowpack intact and help us going into the summer. This became even more important this week with the NWS announcing an official El Niño watch for the upcoming fall and winter. This usually means a warmer and drier summer than normal for the Pacific NW. It should also mean a less intense hurricane season for the Atlantic and the Pacific. The wildcard in this is the persistent global warming and the fact that forecasters don’t know how this will impact the upcoming El Niño.
Today’s surface analysis chart and sat pic show the clearing we are enjoying now however off of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) there is a 999Mb low which will intensify to 983Mb over the next 24 hrs so not bombogenesis but close. This is what will impact our weather starting late tomorrow afternoon and into Sunday. We will have a nice day for sailing tomorrow but wet and windy on Sunday which will continue into the coming week.
April 14
The surface forecast chart for tomorrow shows a tightening of the pressure gradient along Vancouver Island however a wide gap over Puget Sound. This will translate to strong southerly winds along the coast and the eastern end of the Strait of JdF. The Central Sound will have southerly winds in the 10-12 knt range with the South Sound staying in the 5-8 knt range. There will be some easing in the late afternoon however by midnight the breeze will build in the Eastern Strait of JdF and San Juan Islands.
On Sunday by noon, the breeze in the Eastern Strait will be in the 25-35knt range, while the Central and South Sound will have SE-S breeze of 15-25 knots. By mid-afternoon, the breeze in the Strait will ease as a post-frontal breeze tries to make it down the Strait. The breeze in the Central and South Sound will stay in the 12-20 knot range with an increase to 15-25 knots in the Central Sound by late afternoon and early evening.
The other interesting charts of note today are the 500MB or upper-air charts, which show a return to meridional flow with the jet stream coming ashore just north of SF by Sunday and then retreating to the LA area by Tuesday. This is what will keep us in a cooler and wetter pattern this coming week with the remote possibility that we may set a record for having no 60°F+ days in April. I still say we’ll take that.
Have a Great Weekend, stay safe, and use that sunblock!
For some reason, some additional comments on ORC aren’t appearing. I’ll just post them here for everyone to see Dave Lynch further question JAM’s rating and US Sailing’s reponse.
From Dave Lynch, in response to US Sailing’s response to his earlier questions regarding Jam’s rating.
Interesting, and thanks for the sleuthing. There were a couple of items I hadn’t noticed, and it’s helpful. Here are a few thoughts in return:
Difference in 2-blade or 3-blade feathering props. One would think that a 3-blade feathering prop would cause more drag than a 2-blade. In contrast the change was coincident with the change in rating from 540 to 533.
Similarly, one would think a roller furling headsail would be less efficient, and thus slower…that change also happened coincident with the faster rating in 2021 compared to 2017.
The issue of crew weight is a bit hard to evaluate. Given the size of the boat and the need for the boat to be sailed well it’s pretty reasonable to assume the boat is fully crewed for most races. In both 2017 and 2021 the maximum crew weight was 907kg, while in 2023 it was 850kg. Assuming weight of an average crew is 185lbs (84.1kgs) that 57kg (a single smaller crewperson) doesn’t seem like much…especially on a boat that displaces 36,000 lbs.
Changes in D/L ration: from 111 (2017 w/ the aluminum rig) to 106.6 (2023 w/ the carbon rig). Not much of a change. Even less of a difference from 2021 (107.7).
Considering how small the changes are from year to year, and even considering the potential of additive effects, I’m still finding it hard to understand how they can add up to an 18spm change in performance.
And US Sailing’s response to David’s additional concerns:
A 2 bladed feathering and a 3 bladed folding prop are very differently treated. In absolutes the changes are small but lots of small changes do lead to large changes. If I mis-typed it as 3 bladed feathering that is my mistake, the current prop is listed as 3 bladed FOLDING.
Yes, furling will be slower than changing jibs, Jam is now rated as changing jibs having previously been rated with furling jibs. They probably should have been rated this way all along.
None of the noted items aside from possibly the rig composition which in default values mean a carbon rig will have a lighter weight and lower CG had a large individual impact on the rating.
The list was more to point out that the inputs for the boat actually were not the same so it’s a little bit of an apples to pears comparison but not as bad a comparing apples to chickens.
There are always efforts to improve the science and the VPP. This is ongoing work by a group of very smart people. Here is the list of those involved with the ITC (International Technical Committee) being those who work directly on the VPP https://orc.org/index.asp?id=62. This is done proactively versus sailors having to protest ratings as is the policy in other rating systems. As the pool of boats being rated has grown so has the work by the ITC to be sure the rule is fairly rating all boats. There are some types of boats which are rare outside of North America (ULDBs) and there has been a directed effort to make sure these boats are accurately and fairly rated by ORC as their numbers have grown in the database and more performance data has become available. Same for relatively wide boats for their length such as Class 40s.
The folks on the South Straits Race got off in a bit of light air however the breeze will pick up for them late this afternoon or early evening and then build into the low 20’s from the ESE for the rest of the race. Not bad!
We’ve had some rain this week which for the month keeps us almost near normal. For the year we are still behind by 5.77”. Unfortunately for all you outside Easter egg hunters, it is going to be wet especially on Sunday when we could see 1”+ of rainfall. The upcoming week will a series of wash, rinse, and repeat as we are into a typical wet Pac NW pattern. The bad part of this is the warm temps that are even getting into the mountains and starting to melt our snow pack. Don’t forget about California as they are going to get two more wet systems this week as well.
For boaters there will definitely be wind both Saturday and Sunday especially in the Eastern end of the Strait of JdF. The races out of Anacortes and Port Townsend will definitely be impacted as the fleets could see 25-30 knots of SE breeze with higher gusts. Plan accordingly. The Central Sound and South Sound will see slightly less breeze however be sure to check conditions before you head out.
The other charts of interest today are the upper level, 500MB charts. The flow is slowly changing from zonal to meridional and the jet stream is finally starting to work its way north. This migration will be slowed by the presence of an upper level low pressure system right off our coast. See the 96Hr, April 11th 500MB chart. This system will also serve to keep us in a relatively wet pattern for the upcoming week. So much for getting the lawn mowed. That does however give you the opportunity to check the boat, and re-tie the mooring lines and fenders. Winter isn’t done with us yet.
For anybody who’s been wondering what the Globe 40 was all about, and get a taste for these impressive boats, Take a look at this video. Seattle’s Craig Horsfield, who was on the Amhas team that finished second overall, is featured several times in the video.
Correction: A previous version of this post said that the yacht Aquavit lost crew overboard. It did not. It abandoned the race and helped in the recovery of the persons overboard.My apologies to the skipper and crew of Aquavit. This story is still evolving and I hope to get the facts straight soon. KH
If there is a race that signifies the best of Seattle Sailing, this is probably it. By the best, it doesn’t mean the most important or competitive. It does mean fun, inclusiveness, sportsmanship and dose of PNW weather, which can be benign or sporty. Saturday’s Blakely Rock Benefit Race was sporty. So sporty, in fact, a serious rescue was required. Fellow racers, of course, were up for it. More on that later. Results, if you must.
First, we get the photos from our hero Jan Anderson. See the rest of a large album here.
Now, let’s look at inclusiveness. BRBR is a “fun” enough race kids are welcomed. Since this found its way to Youtube from Grady Morgan’s boat, I figure it’s OK to show here. And how did they finish? Better question, who cares?
And now for the sportsmanship and safety issues. This speaks to our great community. During one of the puffs on the return leg from the Rock, the Folkboat Aquavit and other vessels dropped out of the race to help crew overboard situations. Note that the details are still coming together. It’s known that the Seattle Sailing Club boat Avalanche was able to cover the crew overboard. I also heard a firsthand account that one of the overboard crew was in seriously rough shape before rescue. 50-degree water will do that. I’ll let Sloop Tavern Yacht Club Commodore Mike Scribner’s letter to STYC members explain what is known so far.
Hello Sloopers,
Writing to let you know the status of our fellow sailors who were part of the Crew Overboard (CoB) incident during this weekend’s Carol Pearl Blakely Rock Benefit Race. All individuals who were in the water were recovered successfully and transported to on-shore emergency medical services as necessary. All have recovered fully.
A brief recap of what occurred: (This is based on our best current understanding, and is subject to adjustment as we learn more.)
There were three CoB calls within several minutes of each other from three separate vessels participating in the event.
1 of the CoB Calls was withdrawn almost immediately by the vessel as a crew member was found below in the cabin after a crew count occurred.
1 vessel was able to self-recover their crew member who was overboard.
1 vessel had 3 crew members in the water
CoB calls were made by the involved vessel.
The Coast Guard and Seattle Fire responded immediately.
Several event participants immediately retired and/or lowered their sails in order to provide search and recovery assistance.
1 event participant began coordinating the response via radio with the Coast Guard and Seattle Fire & Rescue.
Several event participants attempted to recover individuals in the water, but due to mechanical limitations and higher free-boards, only one vessel was able to recover all three persons in the water.
The recovering vessel was towed into Shilshole Bay by Seattle Fire & Rescue with the crew and recovered COBs on board.
All three individuals were transported to a medical facility and eventually released.
All have recovered fully as of this communication.
I want to take a moment to commend the actions of several vessels that were in the race who immediately responded in an attempt to render assistance.
S/V Avalanche – Skipper: Jean-Piere Boespflug – This was the vessel that was ultimately able to recover all of the individuals who were in the water.
S/V Irie – Skipper: George Dowding – This was the vessel that conducted a substantial amount of on-scene coordination with the Coast Guard and Seattle Fire & Rescue.
This CoB incident could have ended very differently, but did not because of the heroic actions of the vessels, skippers, and crews above. If you see any of these individuals out in our community; please thank them for their quick response in an emergency situation. If you see them at the Sloop; buy them a beer. They deserve that and more.
A number of other vessels also ceased racing and attempted to render assistance to the individuals in the water. Their actions are also commendable and should be recognized for their efforts. These vessels are:
S/V Those Guys – Skipper: Tim Huse
S/V 20 Degrees – Skipper: Duncan Chalmers
S/V Gusto – Skipper: Beth Miller
S/V Perfectly Strange – Skipper: Paul Kalina
S/V Aquavit – Skipper: Dave Sinson
S/V Impulsive – Skipper: Ulf Georg Gwildis
There may have been other vessels involved; our understanding of the incident and all boats on scene is developing. If you have more information; please reach out to Commodore@styc.org.
Additionally; we as a club and the broader community must acknowledge and thank the professional & volunteer first responders who were on scene within minutes. This included response teams from the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, Seattle Harbor Patrol Fire & Rescue, and the Seattle Fire Department. Their response in these situations is critical to saving lives.
Moving Forward:
At this time we are working with all individuals known to be involved in the CoB incidents to fully understand the timeline and circumstances that lead up to these events. As we work with those individuals more information may be released; we ask for your patience as we work through our response. There have already been a number of posts on social media and email threads being passed back and forth on the incident. Information sharing is always encouraged, but I ask that we respect the process and the privacy of the individuals involved.
STYC is committed to putting on safe events and part of that commitment is taking the time to learn everything we can from accidents when they happen. Once we fully understand what transpired, a report will be presented to the STYC Executive Board for review and eventually released to general membership and CPBRBR Participants. The objective of this process is to identify any specific actions that STYC can take as a club to improve safety as well as identifying opportunities to educate our members, and other sailors in the community, on safety best practices, risk identification, management, and mitigation. Sailing is an inherently dangerous sport, even on the calmest days. A 100% mitigation of risk would likely mean never going out at all…In lieu of that; we can prepare ourselves with the right tools, the right training, and the right mindset.
If you have any additional information regarding the incident this weekend, have any questions, or are interested in being part of the safety review process. Please let me know. Commodore@styc.org
Once again, it’s going to be a very interesting weekend. The doom and gloom forecasts certainly help to drive ratings for the TV weather nogs but the reality may be something quite different because the models are not in agreement about the system we have coming ashore right now. The sat pic, Doppler radar, and surface analysis all show an occluded front headed our way, and the sat pic in particular shows quite an area of cool, unstable air behind the front. Current readings from Destruction Island on the coast show the barometric pressure is rising and the post-frontal wind building into the 30-knot range. It is always interesting to watch what happens as these fronts encounter the land and the Olympic Mountains. Typically they weaken and slow down however, we shall see.
The overall weather picture from the surface analysis chart shows a moderate low-pressure system (984MB) just off of Sitka, with a weak trough of low-pressure just inland from SE Alaska to Oregon. There is also a weak high-pressure system (1010MB) just on the other side of the Cascades and a series of weak highs (1022-1026MB) in the Pacific. The jet stream and upper air chart for today still show a mostly zonal flow with a cut-off upper-level low just north of Hawaii and the jet stream coming ashore in LA. All of these will keep our temps below normal and keep us in a rainy pattern for today and tomorrow.
It’s the surface forecast chart for tomorrow which shows the pressure gradient easing as the front has passed. Some models have the wind over the central Sound easing to the 5-12 knot range while the UW MM5 model shows a post-frontal flow coming through the Chehalis Gap and up the Sound in the 15-18 knot range and then building to 20-25 in the early afternoon before a northerly of 12-16 knots fills down the Sound in the mid-afternoon. This will keep tacticians and trimmers very busy and help to keep them warm in the cold and the rain.
Tidal Current at West Point won’t be an issue tomorrow.
0700 Slack
1218 Max Fld .32 knts
1430 Slack
1542 Max Ebb .14 knts
1730 Slack
With a consistent southerly for today and tomorrow as well as a fair amount of freshwater being dumped into the Sound by the Duwamish and the Ship Canal may result in a wind-generated surface current flowing to the north and negating the weak flood. Something to watch especially in the neighborhood of the West Point and Meadow Point buoys.
March 31 Satellite PictureMarch 31 Doppler RadarApril 1 MM5
So how do we sail the race tomorrow? Most likely the usual topographical shifts will still be in play along the east side of the Sound. So getting a clean start and finding a lane of clear air up to West Point will be critical. At West Point, it will be time to head across the Sound and get to the west side to be in a position to take advantage of the puffs that will be lifts on starboard tack as you go up the Bainbridge shore. Watch getting in too close to the Bainbridge shore as it can be lighter in there.
As you approach the Rock you’ll probably set up to do a port pole bear-away set so you can avoid the rocks just north of Blakely Rock. If the wind starts to lighten up, it’s time to gybe and aim for Meadow Point. Near West Point, you’ll want to start trying to figure out how to be the inside boat for the rounding at Meadow Point and discussing what kind of drop you’re going to do so you can have everything clear to tack away from the beach. It gets shallow very quickly in there so be ready and make sure the boats around you know that you’re going to need shore room.
Once on the beat to the finish, you will need to figure out how to get to the favored end of the finish line. If it’s the boat end of the line get back to the beach so you can tack to port and lay the committee boat end. If it’s the buoy end of the line hold port from Meadow Point until you can tack to starboard to get to the buoy.
Have fun, stay safe, stay warm, and enjoy the race.
It is still a cooler and more unstable spring and that will be seen as we race tomorrow. As far as rainfall goes, we are only 1” behind for the month however we are 5.1” behind for the year. Unlike California which is ahead for just about everything. Plus they are going to get another rainy and breezy event on the 28th when another compact low-pressure system comes ashore near San Francisco bringing rain to the Coast and Central Valley and more snow to the Sierra Nevada Range. See the surface forecast chart for 28 March as well as the 500MB charts.
Today’s surface analysis and sat pic show the surface trough of low pressure moving inland with a weak high-pressure system off of Northern CA. In the sat pic, note the trough along the coast and the cool, unstable air behind the trough. As the high builds offshore, the pressure gradient will ease over the Salish Sea. By tomorrow morning a weak trough will drift inland while a secondary lobe of high-pressure builds inland over northern CA and southern OR. This will have the effect of keeping a predominately southerly flow over the area for tomorrow while a weak onshore flow will develop down the Strait of JdF. This may bring a weak northerly flow into the North Sound and Admiralty Inlet late tomorrow, it just won’t last.
March 24 Satellite
For the general race area tomorrow we’ll probably start with a nice southerly of 8-12 knots. This will hold until about mid-day when the gradient will ease and the breeze south of West Point will ease to 3-5 knots but remain in the 8-10 knot range north of West Point. By about 1400hrs the breeze will ease to 3-5 knots from Alki to Edmonds. By about 1500hrs the breeze will be light and variable from Everett to Alki. In other words, we would hope to be finished by 1400-1500hrs.
The other interesting feature tomorrow will be the tidal currents at West Point:
0748 Slack
0930 Max Ebb .37 knts
1212 Slack
1730 Max Flood .84 knots
Presuming an upwind start, that puts us against a weak ebb and if we go to Blakely Rock or Duwamish Head and hopefully nothing further south, we will then have to fight a building flood as the breeze drops. As I said, the “Best Course for the Day” will be a challenge. At least the rain will be light and the temps coolish. YUK!
Sunday will be much the same except up in the Straits where there will be a pre-frontal SE.
