Corinthian Yacht Club’s Blakely Rock Race, the first race in the Center Sound Series, is certainly not the first race of the year. However, it always seems to force racers, and race committees, to officially shake out the cobwebs for the coming year. Saturday’s race was no exception.
The day started out breezier than expected, in the high teens and low 20s. It was certainly a wakeup call, and left a few skippers more comfortable knowing they’d gone over the rig prior to leaving the dock. A fleet of nearly 70 boats had signed up, and most were on hand at the designated start time of 10 am. Alas, the race committee was not. The venerable, much loved and sometimes repaired, red YC 5 had serious steering issues.
Here’s what I gleaned from CYC Fleet Race Captain Matt Wood’s comments on a Facebook thread:
“The hydraulic steering connector on YC5 sheered in half as the boat was leaving its temporary slip on K dock. We had our Whalers tow us to the dinghy dock to affect repairs. Many thanks to the team that came to our aid. After pulling the engine framing apart we recognized that we could not safely conduct a race on YC5. We continuously communicated on VHF 69 the status of the RC, flew AP and sounds as per RRS, and advised the fleet on VHF our intentions. Plan B was developed and implemented by using the Bullfrog, and our Whaler, to set up a start line using Meadow Point Buoy and a start pin. Starts were combined to facilitate speedy starts.
“First start was at 11.20 AM, 1 hour and 20 minutes after scheduled start time. Race course was amended, as per SI and RRS, to Blakely Rock and return, using S line as F Iine, as per SI and RRS.
“We have a plan to affect repairs with the intent to have YC5 in service for next Saturday. Failing that, there are alternative RC boat plans already in place.”
The following photos are just a sample of some great shots by Jan Anderson. See the rest here.
Cherokee waiting for the start
One Life crossing astern of Straight, no chaser
Where’s the rail meat? Draining out the side.
Hooligan heading for shore
Rounding the Rock
Different Drummer
Daffodils for Kelly. Lest we never forget.
Glory on her way to another win
The amended course was shortened to Blakely Rock and return, which was just about enough distance for the TP 52s to stretch their legs in the big breeze. Planing boats ruled on the return from the Rock, The J/105s clearly enjoyed the big breeze, taking six of the top eight places with Creative winning fleet honors. Hooligan, a new J/111, was second overall and the J/125 Hamichi strutted her well-known downwind stuff to third overall. There is also a shorthanded class – though the boats are scored against their regular class and also against the other shorthanded boats. Jonathan McKee’s Dark Star won the shorthanded class while also placing third in Class 8. Results here.
Screenshot from the Kwindoo app.
Fittingly in the Age of Apps, Kwindoo is being used, and it gives an interesting and instructive replay of the race of those who’ve implemented it on their smart phone. On this day, like so many others app or no app, it paid to play West Point, take that port tack all the way across to the Bainbridge side and work your way to the Rocks. To access this replay, go to kwindoo.com, register and search for Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle.
With the Center Sound Series well and truly under way, the cobwebs cleared out, it seems already like this will be a season to remember.
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 – Bruce is going to give a chalk talk on the weather outlook for tomorrow’s Blakely Rock Race for CYC Seattle. See below for details.
As we said in November, it was going to be a wetter and cooler than normal winter and it has pretty much worked out that way. As of today, we are almost four inches of rainfall above average and even though last year was way above normal we are still .06 inches ahead of where we were a year ago. I bring this up because while we may have had some beautiful days this last week with above normal temps which got a lot of plants and trees starting to bloom, don’t expect more of the same this coming week.
March 5 500 MB
March 5
March 6 Surface Forecast
March 7 500 MB
March 7 Surface Forecast
March 8 Surface Forecast
March 9 500 MB
March 9 Surface Forecast
Today’s satellite pic certainly tells the story and when you combine this with the Surface Analysis chart and 500Mb chart you can see why we are going to have a very interesting weekend. The satellite pic shows the low-pressure system with the attached cold front off of our coast as well as the next frontal system. It’s the area behind the cold front (the comma-shaped solid white clouds) with all those irregularly shaped, puffy white clouds that will make tomorrow interesting for Blakely Rock racers. This marks an area of cooler, unstable air which will keep the post-frontal conditions unsettled. Think of it as pulses of breeze that will be coming through the Chehalis Gap and up the Sound. In the morning, since the breeze offshore will be very southerly this will keep the breeze in the Central Sound southerly. As the breeze offshore becomes more southwesterly, this will bring more of a southwesterly component to the breeze in the Central Sound. While this may seem straightforward, the problem will be that there can be areas of lighter air as these pulses of breeze move up the Sound.
As we get towards the late afternoon/early evening tomorrow, the breeze offshore will become more of a pre-frontal southeasterly in anticipation of the arrival of the next front (visible in the sat pic). This will have the effect of easing the breeze in the Central Sound until early Sunday. It will be the coast that will experience the higher winds and seas. This is where it also becomes useful to compare the surface analysis chart to the 500Mb chart. The surface chart shows three low-pressure systems moving in an almost circular pattern in the Gulf of Alaska down to our coast. The 500MB chart shows two upper-level lows off of BC with the jet stream coming ashore just north of San Francisco. Over the next four days, these two upper-level lows will consolidate into one and not move however this will have the effect of driving the jet stream further south which will keep us in a wet and cool pattern for the week.
As far as Blakely Rock goes, this should be a great race. Challenging but fairly consistent wind conditions and not much tide, however, as always, the geography of the Sound will have a profound effect on the breeze since we have to sail back and forth across the Sound.
Tidal Current at West Point
0948 Slack
1136 Max Ebb .3 knots
1324 Slack
2000 Max Flood .79 knots
The keys for the Race will be to get a clean start and sail into breakwater or Magnolia Bluff avoiding the outfall from the Ship Canal. Current radar has bands of rain moving across the area which will have the effect of slightly increasing the velocity of the outfall as well as increasing the ebb in the area of West Point because of the outfall from the Duwamish. The combination of rain plus a steady southerly will extend the ebb by about 20-30 minutes at West Point. There will be a slight SE shift from Shilshole to West Point inside of a line from Meadow Point to the Lighthouse. Just be careful not to get in too close to the beach as there may be a significant drop in windspeed. You will probably get to West Point on port tack and you’ll just want to hold port and sail across the Sound. As you cross, you’ll be slowly knocked. Watch your windspeed as you get closer to Bainbridge and while you may get a significant knock you may also lose wind speed. You’ll want to work up to Blakely Rock favoring long starboard tacks and short port tacks. As always, be careful working south along Wing Point, it sticks out further than you may think. Plan your approach to Blakely Rock as it may be difficult to keep your air clear as the fleet will tend to compress at the rock. Watch the boats ahead to see what kind of sets they are doing.
It usually pays to do a port pole set at the mark as the breeze should be from the SW. This will hold until you are near Tyee Shoal where you maybe lifted so gybe out and sail your angles as you run north. Generally speaking, you will want to stay near the rhumbline or slightly to the west of rhumb and, of course, keep your air clear and anticipate overtaking situations. Give the slower boats a break and pass well to windward or way to leeward.
As you pass West Point, start planning your rounding at the top mark, which will hopefully be in the correct location. As you pass the start/finish line, check to see if one end is favored. You’d like to be the inside boat at the mark however that may mean a port gybe approach as the wind will probably be around to the SSW by then.
Once you round the top mark, it will be a long starboard tack back to the finish. Again keeping your air clear but working to the east. You’ll also want to watch the boats behind you in case a big shift comes in from the west. If the boats astern are being significantly lifted out over you, bite the bullet and tack back out to the west to get into the new wind. Just don’t go so far that you overstand the finish.
If the boats astern aren’t lifted, check the boats ahead to see if there’s a SE shift on the beach going up to Meadow Point, then plan your approach to the finish.
Today’s models have the TP 52’s around the course in just about four hours. The J-35’s are around in about 5.5 hours.
Tonight CYC Shilshole is hosting a chalk talk where I’ll discuss the race as well as what the models from late this afternoon are showing. ( Ed. Note, sign up here!)
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)
This photo by Arden Rathkopf pretty much tells the Three Tree tale. Arden is the 13-year-old son of proud father and CYC PRO Charley Rathkopf. Proud mom of course is Schelleen Rathkopf, owner of Whidbey Island Race Week.
The Center Sound Series was due a drifter, and the Three Tree Point race delivered. After a long delay, enough zephyrs came from the south to start the fleet of Saturday’s racers on a 6.something mile course.
A slow motion race ensued as the fleet did the usual tuck under the West Point beach and made its painful way around West Point, then off to Duwamish Head. It certainly wasn’t the rousing conditions most were hoping for to wrap up the series. Results here,.
Sonic Boom Hang
Sonic looking great at the start.
How to heel a TP 52
Most notable perhaps was Sonic‘s relatively slow motion grounding at West Point. After positively nailing the start and leading the IRC class to the beach, skipper Marek Omilian and the team took the port tack lift while clearing the lighthouse, taking Glory up with them in the process. “We got lulled into complacency by seeing all the boats around us safely clearing the bar. However, none of those boats draw 10.5’,” skipper Omelian reports. Glory headed down, taking Sonic‘s transom, just in time as Sonic hit bottom. Sonic was stuck as the fleet made its south way ever so slowly. Despite efforts including the crew perched on the end of the boom and trying to hoist a spinnaker, Sonic was stuck.
Stuck, that is, until photographer Jan Anderson and her “boat boy” Skip helped pull them off. This is yet another reminder of how Janpix helps out the racing scene around here (and how important it is to support her photography). Three Tree pix here. Apparently we need them out there for more than photographs.
Mark Omelian’s Sonic is not just a racer, it’s a charity fundraiser. Note the banner they displayed pre-start. Ormelian explains:
We are using Sonic TP52 as the platform to raise money for various programs in the Pacific Northwest through The Ocean Foundation (TOF). When you text OCEAN or SONIC to 91999 you get a text back with the invitation to contribute directly to TOF. Individual donations, along with corporate funds we are in the process of raising will benefit specific programs we are in the process of identifying. Fred Felleman (Port of Seattle Commissioner) and Peter Schrappen (NMTA) are advising us on the program selection. We are very passionate about the following three areas:
Marine Education – we identified Youth Maritime Collaborative as the beneficiary program. I am attending their event at Seattle Maritime Center today to learn more about their needs. Besides money donation, we plan to create an internship position.
Marine Safety – TBD
Marine Environment – TBD
We are always looking for input, so if you and your readers have any suggestions please let us know.
When the zephyrs cleared, Charlie Macaulay’s Absolutely won the race overall and class 8, which incidentally had seven of the first eight boats overall. More Jubilee won the three-boat tiebreaker among the J/105s, Sachem hung in well enough to win class 7 overall and Glory easily won the ORC class overall. Dos finished her class off with another bullet. In class 6, Don Leighton’s Tahlequah won the race and the series as class leader Elusive dropped to fifth for the race. Onboard was our intrepid weather guru Bruce Hedrick, who provided the following no-blow by no-blow race dissection:
Tahlequah’s Tale
By Bruce Hedrick from onboard Tahlequah
Well, it was a beautiful day on the water even though with just a .5MB pressure difference between Bellingham and Portland, we didn’t think there would even be a race. So we drifted around for a while and about 1110 we started to see a dark line extending to the west from West Point. The Race Committee also saw it and set a line and then hoisted the “S” flag with what we thought was a pretty optimistic course. Considering the time, tidal situation, and the forecast for less than existing wind it was going to be a stretch to even get back to F the first time.
Bruce Hedrick geared and waving pre-start.
I thought we had a pretty good start considering that we got tangled up with a J-120 who thought they were starting with us. After several of us yelled at him, he finally sailed off at about 30 seconds to go, leaving us one boat down from the heavily favored committee boat end. Darkside, the Shock 35, has been steadily improving this series and won the start however it wasn’t long until by going higher and faster we got into the lead. The series leader, the C&C 115 Elusive, went conservative at the start and was well to leeward of us and unable to point high, sagged off and was first into the outfall from the Ship Canal which set them back and slowed them down. We got into the shallows south of the Ship Canal and rather than tacking on anyone decided the best tactic was to sail our own race and find a clear lane to get up to the West Point Buoy.
In terms of who was where at this point, Darkside had gone a little further into the beach and closed up with us. The J-35 Solution and the other C&C 115 Fortuna had stayed out but gotten into the ebb coming around West Point and that set them back but since there was about two more knots of wind on the outside they didn’t lose much. Elusive had fallen well back and was starting to get tacked on by other boats which certainly didn’t help them. Rather than tacking back into the beach north of West Point, we stayed about three boat lengths off to keep our air clear and just try to get out to the West Point Buoy. It quickly became apparent that a major restart was developing at the WP Buoy and when boats tacked at the mark they pretty well parked up in the ebb. This was creating a picket fence effect so we just kept going out on port tack and kept our air clear as a nice port tack lift came through. The boats that did tack to starboard and could get back towards Magnolia did OK for a while but the stronger ebb along that shore slowed them down and then as the breeze backed from the SSE to ESE it lightened up in there as well.
We stayed out and watched as the big boats led by Glory came around behind us and then held port tack, going generally our direction. We also had sailed to leeward of Madrona and that put us in some good company in clear air. The other interesting feature at West Point that really helped the big boats was the fact that there was about 3 more knots of wind about 15-20 meters off the water. The big boats with square-top mains just kept moving. Crossfire was behind coming around the buoy but when they changed to the drifter and got a nice puff, they powered nicely into a lead they would never relinquish.
At this point, we were still on port tack just off of Four Mile Rock with the wind at about 100°M making about 1.3 knots over the bottom thinking that it was going to be a long day just to get to Duwamish Head. The wind continued to hold at about 3-4 knots but then began to clock around. The boats that had gone in under Magnolia, like Dos, parked up and gradually dropped astern. Darkside had rounded the buoy well too leeward and astern of us but, as Schock 35s generally do in 1-4 knots of wind, gradually went to leeward of us and got into the lead. Well behind was Solution, Fortuna, and Elusive generally sailing lower and slower. However, as we have painfully learned over the last couple of years you can’t put the C&C 115’s far enough behind on the upwind legs to hold them off when they put up the kites and get rolling downwind. Amazing what a carbon boat with more waterline, a lot more sail area can do going downwind. Especially so in this series as we had watched Elusive come from well astern, sail through our lee and then through Sachem’s lee to take the lead in the previous race.
As the breeze continued to clock around to the SW it was just a question of when to tack towards Duwamish. There was more breeze to the west and if you tacked too early you would get back into the light stuff. So we waited until we could tack and be about 20 degrees low of Duwamish. We had also seen the RC boat come around West Point and head towards Elliott Bay Marina. We were thinking, those dogs are going to get lunch at Maggie’s Bluff and then go back to finish us off Shilshole but no, they continued on up to Duwamish Head. Now it was a one tack drag race to the finish.
Darkside had held on to port longer than we had, so as the breeze continued to clock we had a slightly better angle to the finish. After we tacked we also immediately set up a barber hauler to move the jib lead out and forward and once we went to that, we were able to slowly sail away from Darkside and get back into the lead. We also started to get the crew ready for a spinnaker set as the newer boats around us went to their Code 0’s and really started to move nicely in conditions perfect for those specialty sails. Darkside was still to weather of us by about three boat lengths and just couldn’t stand to see us continue to boat speed away from them so they set a standard kite. We were ready to counter however the wind was still too far forward for our .6 to work so we just focused on constantly trimming for speed and moving the crew around below decks for the perfect angle of heel.Darkside had a little problem getting their kite to fill which slowed them down and forced them to sail lower. We used that as an opportunity to come up underneath them and put them directly astern of us by about three boat lengths. They then had to fall off even more which allowed us to boatspeed away from them and into another battle for clear air with two faster boats, an FT-10 and a Farr 395, coming in from astern. All the while, Dos had set a chute and went flying through our lee to get well ahead of us, again.
We managed to hold off the faster boats and finish just astern ofDos. Now it was a matter of seeing where the rest of our fleet finished after Darkside took a well-deserved second place. Solution had moved into third place with Fortuna next who was looking great flying a Code 0 and steadily moving away from series leader Elusive.
In the series, we had two seconds and a first for a series total of five points, with Elusive taking the silver with two firsts and a fifth for a total of seven, and taking the bronze was Darkside with a point total of nine.
Kudos to the Race Committee for getting it done in very difficult conditions.
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 first week of spring was certainly interesting with my brother in LA calling to complain that Seattle was 10 degrees warmer than LA. We also had three days of consecutive high temp records and we are now over 2” behind for rainfall year to date. This will all change starting this afternoon as a cold front moves over the area. Take a look at the satellite picture and the Langley Hill Doppler Radar and you’ll notice a very nice correlation between these two and where the front is located as of 1300 hours today.
March 22 500MB
March 22 Surface Analysis
March 23 Surface Forecast
March 24 500MB
March 24 Surface Forecast
March 25 Surface Forecast
March 26 Surface Forecast
Usually, frontal activity at this point on the day before a race is a good thing, not so much today. As you can see from the surface charts, the low to which this cold front is attached is relatively weak(997MB), not very stable and will become weaker (1003MB) over the next 24 hours as it is dragged off to the northwest and degraded by the coastal buffer zone. This will create a problem for tomorrow as there will be some wind from the south in the morning however as the day drags on it will become lighter and lighter as the pressure gradient expands over the Salish Sea.
Tidal Current at
West Point
0818 .34knts Ebb
1336 Slack
1636 1.00 Flood
1918 Slack
So while we may have wind for the start, it certainly looks like we won’t be able to complete the long course as two models have the Sound pretty well glassing-off by mid-afternoon. Maybe we’ll sail a shortened course. Who knows? There will be some rain around so dress accordingly and enjoy the day.
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)
After last week’s windy Blakely Rock Race, CYC’s Scatchet Head (the second of three Center Sound races), the fleet was looking forward to another sunny day but maybe a hair less excitement. Puget Sound delivered last Saturday.
The fleet spread across the Sound on the 10-knot beat to the Scatchet Head buoy. West was clearly bestfor some, east worked for others. Puget Sound can confound. For everyone, the run home was delightful, especially for those who stayed west. The wind was a little lighter until the northerly started to roll down the Sound later.
In the IRC it was again Glory winning. It was TP 52 conditions (are there any conditions really NOT for a TP52?) Smoke was second and Crossfire third. Our friends on Crossfire found it tough to hang with the TPs in the light conditions. “We made some time up on the downwind leg, but once it got back in to the 4-6 knot range downwind, we really couldn’t real them in,” Nigel Barron board Crossfire reported.
Photos courtesy of Jan Anderson. See the rest here.
Darkside looking good on the beat to Scatchet Head
Anarchy on the way to and overall win.
The starts were in relatively light air.
Smoke.
No, not the race committee or handicapper’s meeting.
If last week’s crew overboard incident aboard the Flying Tiger 10 Anarchy was exciting in one way, the Scatchet Head Race was about as exciting in different way as they slid home for an overall PHRF fleet win. Owner/skipper Tom Ward reported:
It was ideal conditions for the light boats. On the beat we stayed the west side going up with Bat Out Of Hell (BOOH), Sachem and Izakaya (another FT10) working our way through the fleet. I believe we were around 9th PHRF boat to round with BOOH leading our class. After rounding we stayed hot, working west. We did a couple of gybes out to the east and back as Sachem continued on working west and closed the gap on us and Izakaya. We saw BOOH had gone way east and fell well behind. Sachem was keeping pace but at that point not closing the gap.
We keep trading jibes with Izakaya reeling them in slowly by trying to stay a few degrees hotter than them. It was a great battle and forced both boats to sail at their best. I believe we finally jibed inside them and then back to get in front of them about 20 minutes from the finish. They tried going further out before gybing to the finish for a hotter angle and did close the gap as we soaked down to stay between them and the finish crossing just 30 seconds ahead.
Elsewhere in the fleet, Ace and Absolutely had an epic battle right to the finish, with Ace barely taking the class gun and winning by 10 minutes on corrected time. The entire J/105 fleet finished within 15 minutes and head into the final race with threeway tie for first place between Jaded, More Jubilee, and the Racers Formerly Known as Here & Now. Gaucho and Kiwi Express enjoyed a match race in Scatchet Head and are tied going into the last race.
Sachem, with Brian Ledbetter and Mark Brink at the controls.
Sachem, just ’cause she’s a knockout at any age.
Brad Greene’s Nordic 44 Kinetics enjoyed a very good race in PHRF 5, finishing third. Of course Dos ran away with the class with Different Drummer second. Considering Greene lives aboard the Perry design (no doubt a few extra pots and pans aboard), his fourth in class is pretty remarkable. Greene reports:
The start for our class 5 was light but we still got a decent start considering what it takes to get our 24,000 pound beast moving. Most of the fleet headed west as expected likely hoping Bruce’s weather brief would hold with more wind on the west side. We ended up tacking back out into the middle and then decided to go east on a flyer in part to avoid some north and south bound commercial traffic and to avoid getting pinned on the west side tacking up the beach. For a while it looked like we were doing well. Then the wind went light and we just didn’t have the power to keep the Nordic 44 moving.
We finally rounded Scatchet Head buoy and had a wonderful run home. We made up some time on a few boats in part I think because the wind started to fill in from the north again getting to us first. The only complaint on board Kinetics was the windchill upwind was a bit icy even with the sun trying its best to heat things up. Big thanks CYC for making it a great #2 for this CYC CSS.
From CYC’s standpoint, the only hitch for this race came in the form of a reminder that we all share the water with commercial ships. Fleet Captain Matt Wood reports, “The only remarkable aspect was the amount of attention the fleet garnered from deep draft pilots and Washington State ferry masters. It is critical that competitors monitor both the race channel (in this regatta, that is VHF 69 ) and Seattle Traffic VHF 14. On the RC boat we were reaching out to the fleet to ensure Colreg Rule 10 compliance, as well as transitioning vessels were on 14. Everyone needs to be diligent in this regard.”
With two good races in the books, it’s on to the penultimate Three Tree Point Race in two weeks. Could it be three gorgeous races in a row? Check in the day before for Bruce’s Brief.
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.
Some weather guru, watching pigs in HI while we watch snow.
While we may have had some rain or snow earlier this week, it looks like we are in for another lovely day on the water this weekend. The problem will be for Scatchet Head racers that there won’t be as much wind as last weekend. As the most recent frontal system has gone past the Pac NW, it has left us with a very weak and wandering ridge of high pressure system (1020MB) that will result in little to no pressure gradient over the area. While there is a weak southerly at West Point this morning, the pressure is rising so it will gradually move around to the east before becoming light and variable. This will persist overnight and then the question becomes when and how much northerly will come down the Sound on Saturday. The answer will be for racers (and the Race Committee) to check the pressure gradient from Bellingham to Seattle and Bellingham to Portland.
As of 1000 hrs PST Friday the gradient looks like this:
Bellingham 1016.8MB
Seattle 1016.9MB
Portland 1016.6MB
Take the difference between the readings of Bellingham to Seattle
and multiply times 5 to get approx wind strength over the north Sound. Any
differential less than 1MB says it’s going to be very light. Take the
difference between Bellingham and Portland and multiply times 10 for the approx
wind over the central and south Sound. The wind will flow from areas of higher
pressure to areas of lower pressure, so that tells the direction. This will be the best way to figure out the
answer to how much and when. Once again, as this a transitional period, the
models are not in agreement. Two models show some semblance of a northerly
starting to fill around noon and then building to a more reasonable 10 knots by
1400-1500 hrs.
March 8 500MB
March 8 Surface Analysis
March 9 Surface Forecast
March 10 500MB
March 10 Surface Forecasat
March 11 Surface Forecast
March 12 Surface Forecast
Once again tides will not be bad. I use the current at
Foulweather Bluff for what will be happening at Scatchet Head. It’s not an
exact match but it is certainly close enough.
0948 .67 Ebb
1312 Slack
1600 1.01 Flood
1930 Slack
Satellite View – Click to enlarge
I also look at Point No Point because of the timing of the flood
tide for the simple reason that the flood starts on the west side of the Sound
first. So, if because of wind direction, there’s a question about which way to
go, head west. There will probably be slightly more wind on that side as well.
Current. At Point No Point
1018 1.38 Ebb
1354 Slack
1554 .49 Flood
1854 Slack
All in all, it should be a nice day on the water, a little cool
but not freezing.
Have fun and be safe.
Ed. Note: Last week after Bruce’s Brief, alert reader Dan Tedrow asked for a list of resources. Check out Bruce’s response by going back to that Brief and scrolling all the way down.
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.
CYC’s Blakely Rock Race is the unofficial start to the year’s racing season. Sure, there are frostbites the South Sound Series, but those seem to be winter. As such, if you’re looking for an omen for the year to come, it’s going to be an interesting one, and a good one. After all, it’s not every race you have to restart and a (successful) man overboard recovery, but such was the case last Saturday in Puget Sound.
The day started out as Bruce predicted, bright and breezy. PRO Charley Rathkopf set the weather mark to the north and started sending off the classes. He soon was informed the mark was headed for Spring Beach and made the decision to restart and use a shorter course.
All photos by Jan Anderson. Click here to see and buy them. Click on any image to enlarge.
J/105 start
PHRF 3
Crossfire
The J/40 Semper Quaerens
J/80s
The new-to-NW Sonic
Bat Out Of Hell going just like that
Jonathan McKee’s Dark Star
The reverse (small boats first) start made for a compacted fleet as they headed downwind. The planing boats planed and the cruiser racers just went fast, giving everybody a memorable start to the season.
Rescue by Committee
The biggest event of the race wasn’t the winner’s circle, it was the rescue of Anarchy crew Lindsey Lind. I haven’t yet been able to talk to the Anarchy crew or the crew of the TBird Selchie, the boat that ultimately picked Lind out of the drink. But here’s what I do know.
On the downwind leg, relatively close to the Blakely Rock, Lind fell overboard from the FT 10 Anarchy. Somewhere in there Anarchy broached. There were some chaotic radio transmissions from Anarchy to the Coast Guard, and then several boats in the fleet responded. Marek Omilian, the skipper of a the new-to-town TP 52 Sonic, saw Lind in the water about 500 yards ahead but wasn’t sure it was a person until they were 100-150 yards from her. By then the crew was already preparing the M.O.M. module and deployed it close enough that Lindsey was able to grab it. It turns out Omilian is a veteran of the Clipper Around the World Race and his crew was well prepared for a man overboard situation.
In the meantime Charlie Macaulay’s Absolutely also saw what was going on, dropped their chute and motored toward the victim. Macaulay recalled, “When we still about 10 boatlengths away, Selchie executed a perfect kite douse and circled the MOB, turning up to leeward of her. They quickly pulled her onboard as we approached within a couple of boatlengths.” Absolutely was awarded 4 minutes redress for standing by.
Not everything was quite as seamless aboard Selchie as it appeared from the outside. Crew member Gail Tsai reported on Facebook: “The kite came down before I could release it from the pole; our green line went under and hooked to the keel while the halyard got caught with spin halfway up. It fell into water, got wet, and started pulling me off the boat. It had wrapped itself around my right leg. I was just clinging to everything for dear life trying not to cause another rescue. Never been so close to falling in the drink before.’
All’s well that ends well, and this one ended well. Lind was warm, dry and in good health in the CYC clubhouse after the race.
There has already been some discussion about the incident, and what lessons are to be learned. It seems to me that the racers can take pride in the rescue. The fleet responded immediately and skillfully. I understand there was a J/105 that also stood by in addition to the boats already mentioned. It’s interesting that one of the fastest rated boats (Sonic) and the slowest rated boat (Selchie) were both instrumental in the rescue. This might be a good argument for having a reverse start – keeping the fleet together longer on the racecourse.
New to Town with a bit of Irony
You might wonder how this TP 52 Sonic came to be here in the PNW, on Blakely Rock, and with a crew ready to play a vital role in the rescue. After all, it’s not as if the owner Marek Omilian is isn’t a household Seattle racing name like John Buchan (Glory), Steve Travis (Smoke) and Steve Johnson (Mist). I was wondering.
It turns out Marek Omilian may not be a household name yet, but it would be difficult to imagine a more prepared offshore racer owner. He recently completed the Clipper Round the World race on Visit Seattle, sailing all the legs. In fact, five people onboard Sonic on Saturday have done part or all of that race or are going to do it. Part of the Clipper preparations is “safety procedures ad nauseum.” So much of the crew was ready when they saw the person in the water.
The tossing of the tulips in honor of the never forgotten Kelly O’Neil
Freja around the Rock.
A great day for a big crew. Tahlequah.
Wind Dancer
Madame Pele et.al. after rounding the Rock
Sachem
Cherokee
The lone tri Freda Mae
Bravo Zulu after rounding
Omilian, originally from Poland, says he’s developing an onboard culture based on safety, respect, teamwork and commitment. He’s also pursuing an interesting facet to the Sonic campaign; he’s looking to use the boat as a fundraising tool for good causes. Omilian has identified potential groups such as the Ocean Foundation and is approaching local corporations to see if a sponsorship program can be developed.
Now for the irony. Man overboard (or crew overboard – COB – as I’ve just learned I’m supposed to say) safety issues are much on the mind of racers these days. A thorough report was just released on the death of Jon Santorelli who drowned after falling off the TP 52 Imedi shortly after the Chicago-Mac start last year. Sonic is Imedi, and so it seems fitting that the boat, with a safety-focused crew and skipper, helped in this successful rescue.
The Racing
As far as the racing goes, the consistent breeze emphasized boatspeed and boat handling. There were nine classes, including a 1-boat multihull class. Results here.
Brad Butler’s very well-sailed Sierra 26 Dos planed to another victory, correcting easily on her class and by over a minute overall. The six second ding to her rating, pronounced in the January PHRF meeting, wasn’t nearly enough for Saturday’s conditions. When the Sierra gets on a plane, the boat is pretty much a gun in a knife fight.
Winning the Boats with Cabins division was Bill Buchan’s Sachem demonstrating how it’s done. The Peterson 43 charged along in the heavy upwind conditions and held her own downwind, correcting by nearly eight minutes ahead of the rest of her class and only a 1:24 behind Dos.
Within the classes, there were a few interesting results. The 9-boat J/105 class was won by Racers formally known as Here & Now. The J/29 Boat of the Year bunch have apparently moved on to One Design. Also, the level 72 (PHRF rating) class has made a reappearance, and it was won by the C&C 115 Elusive with the J/35 Tahlequah second and the Schock 35 Darkside third. It will be interesting to see if this class can stay together as a group and, hopefully, build.
Perhaps the most competitive of the classes was class 8. Burzicki/Shorett’s Farr 395 Ace corrected to first, with Absolutely second and Andy Mack’s J/122 Grace third. The three finished within 11 seconds on corrected time and finished fourth, fifth and sixth overall. In the proverbial race-within-a-race, the J/122 Grace and the Farr 395 Ace, had a few close crosses before Ace ultimately finished overlapped.
Mike Johnson, crew aboard Ace, recounted: “We had a good day sparring with Grace, a boat with many good sailors and friends. They had a great start and first beat to begin the run with a 100-yd lead. We were able to reel them in after a few big puffs filled in from the north and rounded Blakely Rock just ahead. Upwind, we stayed on port while they took a tack toward Wing Point and then held a higher port tack lane across the Sound. There was a slight left shift, but not enough for them to pass. From the tack at Discovery Park we were always close and ended up overlapped at the finish. One advantage of having another equally rated and well-sailed boat is the opportunity to learn new things, which is what keeps us coming back.
Don’t you just love rivalries? All rivalries will resume in the next two Center Sound races. Bruce Hedrick will be providing his weather magic the day before each race, so check in then.
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.
Corinthian YC’s Center Sound predictably kicks off the central Puget Sound racing season with three medium distance, one buoy rounding, 20-30 mile races. And, it seems usually, one race ends up a drifter and one a gear buster. 2018 had some different things in mind. Saturday’s Three Tree Point Race, which usually takes the fleet from Shilshole to Des Moines and back, was rerouted back and forth and up and down the central Sound so that it could be easily shortened if the wind died.
“I was a bit disappointed not to sail down to Three Tree,” Gaucho skipper John Cahill admitted, “but in the end liked the course.” Gaucho liked the course to the tune of first in Class 3 ahead of arch rivals Here & Now and Kiwi Express.
The course took the fleet to Blakely Rocks, across to Duwamish Head, to a temporary mark off Edmonds, back to West Point and finish for a total of nearly 27 miles. According to Cahill and others, the most interesting thing was reaching across the Sound. “The reaches were fun,” Cahill said. “It was marginal between going with a spinnaker or headsail. I have a cut-down Melges 24 asymmetrical that I don’t get to use often, but with that on board it was an easy decision.” They passed boats on the reach to Duwamish and reach back to West Point, then sailed on pins and needles avoiding the wind holes that kept appearing and disappearing while being hunted by their class.
Gaucho’s duel with Here & Now can be seen on this RaceQs file. Click on link below.
In Class 3, there’s not a lot of room for error. It is arguably the most competitive, closely rated and fun handicap class in the Seattle scene right now. Gaucho, Here & Now, Kiwi Express and Madame Pele were neck and neck for the whole series. They’re all racer-cruisers, and while they are all different, they have basic performance parameters in the same ballpark. It harkens back to the day when performance curves weren’t so dissimilar and the racing that much closer on the water.
Crossfire‘s Nigel Barron, who is no fan of the round the buoys racing in Center Sound (for Crossfire, anyway), admitted the alternative course for Three Tree wasn’t a bad one. “The wind did lighten up, and it was nice to do something different in that reach from Blakely Rock to Duwamish Head,” Barron said. He went on to ponder an alternative course for the supercharged ORC class, which is currently made up of the fastest boats in the fleet – “When the ORC class is not scored for overall, why couldn’t they have the fast boats do something different?” Something for race committees to think about considering the amazing speed of the fastest boats out there, even in the lightest of winds.
Unfortunately, photographer Jan Anderson’s Boat Boy Skip was down with the flu, so none of her great photos are available. I scoured Facebook to see what photos I could find from this year’s race, and this is what I came up with. Dave Reid, Melissa Davies and Robert Hodge get the credit for the pix! If you have any to share, please send them to me and I’ll add to this gallery.
Off watch on the Catalina 30 Abemndstern
Miss Mayhem reaching to victory
Crossing the Sound.
Eye Candy at the start.
There weren’t many other changes in the class standings from the previous two Center Sound races. Glory, Sachem, Selchie, Green Flash and More Jubilee won their classes handily. Kowloon, Here & Now and Dos had hard-fought series wins. Class 7 saw an epic battle between Joy Ride and Madrona with Absolutely not far behind. Fittingly, in the end it was John Murkowski’s Joy Ride breaking the tie for the class win but Carl Buchan’s Madrona taking the overall top boat spot. Joy Ride was second in fleet, Dos third and Sachem and More Jubilee tied for fourth.
CYC’s Race Fleet Captain Matt Wood was happy, particularly with the turnout. “Over 80 boats total in ORC, Casual and PHRF classes entered the series, easily the most participants the event has seen in several years.” He did admit to some glitches along the way but was pleased with how the races were managed in light of the ominous weather forecasts.
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.
Welcome to springtime in the Pacific Northwest! Last night it was spin the weather wheel and don’t be surprised at what comes up. Rain, snow, sleet, hail, and localized gusty winds all made guest appearances depending upon where you were. That is, however, spring in the Pacific Northwest.
March 23 500MB
March 23 Surface Analysis
March 24 500MB
March 24 Surface Forecast
March 25 500MB
March 25 Surface Forecast
March 27 500MB
March 27 Surface Forecast
This mornings surface analysis chart shows a weak area of low pressure (1000MB) with an attached frontal system just off our coast. Normally this would bode well for wind tomorrow, however, check the 500MB charts and you will see that the jet stream will drag this system slowly to the south and weaken it overnight. Instead of the low moving through the Salish Sea, it will come ashore near the southern Oregon coast late Saturday and disappear by Sunday. This system will still supply some wet weather over the weekend. The High-pressure (1030MB) you see off of Northern California will build and drift slowly to the East giving us some nice weather and warming temperatures next week. Look at the 500MB charts and as you can see, the jet stream will come across the Pacific at 30N-35N picking up the warmer air before arcing over that high and coming into our area. Low-pressure systems will still come into our area however they are weakening.
As for the Tree Tree Point Race, there will be tides, just not very much of them. At least they’ll be against us.
Tidal Current at West Point.
0748 Max Flood .53 knts
1024 Slack
1200 Max Ebb .29 knts
1406 Slack
2024 Max Flood 1.01 knts
The models are in agreement about what will happen tomorrow. They are NOT in agreement about when it will happen, not unusual. The basic situation is that we’ll start in a light (5-10 knots) southwesterly, it will get light about mid-day before it finally fills down from the north at 5-10 knots around mid-afternoon, winds generally closer to 5 than 10. Very little time under spinnaker but a lot of time beating. The Univ of Washington model is more optimistic with winds closer to 10 than to 5. With the GFS model, I have Crossfire around the course in just under six hours. The Race Committee did the right thing the last time when it looked like it was going to get flukey, I suspect they’ll do the same tomorrow. As my friend Nigel says, “There’s no real racing south of Alki.” The wind will be better in the central Sound north of Alki and south of Kingston.
Having said that, the problem is that as the wind goes into transition, it will die on the east side of the Sound first which will make marks placed there (Duwamish Head, Buchan Buoy, Pt. Wells)challenging.
Click to enlarge
A look deep into the crystal ball for next weekend, South Straits of Georgia. The high-pressure that is setting up offshore will tend to drift to the northwest and the gradient will ease over the area. The start is liable to be light on Friday however it does appear that by Friday afternoon the gradient will tighten and there should be a nice northwesterly over the race course. So for now, and remember woefully inaccurate, it doesn’t look like a gear buster. We’ll have a special South Straits update this Thursday, with a regular Bruce’s Briefs on Friday.
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)
Few Puget Sound boats have been sailed so consistently well over the past few seasons as Different Drummer. The nearly 17K pound Wauquiez C40S is pretty much the prototypical modern cruiser-racer. Comfortable, solidly built and well behaved, she sails to her 81 PHRF rating and is one of the few boats in that rating band to regularly give fits to the 1000 lb. Sierra 26s Uno and Dos. Race post-mortems are a great idea, and skipper Charles Hill has allowed us to reprint his review of the first two races of Center Sound, in which they’re now tied with Uno going into the last race.
By Charles Hill (borrowed with permission from the Different Drummer Facebook page)
I have been meaning to write up a race report for Blakely Rocks but never found the time, and now I have two race reports to write up and still not much time, so I’ll make this quick. After two of the three races in the Center Sound Series we are tied for first in our class (out of 12) with Dos (a not unfamiliar position). We are also standing 8th overall (out of 70 something boats). How did we get there?
Different Drummer shortly after the Blakely Rocks start, with her bigger cousin Red Sky ahead to leeward. Photos by the Awesome Jan Anderson.
Blakely Rock: We started really well in a decent north breeze. We were first around the upwind mark, closely followed by Dos, Elusive and Red Sky (a Wauquiez C45s, which is basically a scaled-up version of Drummer). After setting the spinnaker, we sailed toward the center of the Sound. Most of our class, and indeed most of the fleet, gybed and headed towards the eastern side of the Sound. I’m not sure why they did that, because we could see building breeze coming up behind us and it certainly seemed softer off to the left. It soon became clear that we were in better pressure and it sure looked as if we were opening up a lead over our class. For reference, we had Firefly in front of us, and Sachem behind us. For the first 2/3rds of the run to the Rocks it seemed that we would round well ahead of our class, then we made the mistake of drifting too far to the right and found ourselves in softer pressure. We should have gybed early, but we were pinned by one of the smaller boats we were passing, and we made the mistake of trying to tough it out and get ahead of them to leeward, which took way too long. In the event, this allowed Dos, Elusive and Red Sky to haul us in as they crossed over the Sound into better breeze. Dos must have been on the plane in what was now a solid 15 knots of breeze, because they rounded the rocks some distance ahead of us. Elusive and Red Sky rounded with us.
On the beat back to West Point Elusive pulled slowly ahead of us, Red Sky fell back a little, and we were hauling Dos in, but not fast enough. Once we past West Point we tacked in towards the breakwater. Elusive did not, and they fell back. I was really surprised at how quickly we opened a significant lead over them on the water. Interesting how the right tactical call can make such a big difference. In the end we passed Dos, but not by enough to save our time and they won, we were second, Red Sky third, and Elusive dropped to fourth.
Focus on Different Drummer in the Scatchet Head Race. Click to enlarge.
Scatchet Head: With soft breeze in the forecast, the race committee elected to run two laps on a 12 mile windward/leeward course. We had to pass through the finish line at the end of the first lap so that they could shorten the race if the wind dropped as per the forecast. The wind didn’t drop. Instead we had two laps in a solid 8-12 knots of breeze with beautiful sunshine and stunning views of snowclad peaks. This was a way more interesting and fun race than the annual slog up to Scatchet Head and back. Note to the race committee: please throw one of these into the mix every year.
The only mistake we made on this race was the start, where I was a little too slow and let Helios and Red Sky get to windward and blanket Drummer with dirty air. They actually had an excellent start, we did not. We tacked onto port as soon as we could to get clear air, and after that it was off to the races. I think we had clear air for the rest of the race. After the first lap my guess is that we were in third place, close behind Dos and Elusive. The rest of our class had already dropped back. However, we had an excellent remainder of the race, driving the boat as fast as we ever have in those conditions. We slowly hauled Elusive in, while putting distance between ourselves and Dos. I suspect that Dos was very close to us on corrected time at the last turn mark, but we stretch-out our lead on the final beat to the finish and crossed 55 seconds ahead on corrected time. Elusive was third some 1 min and 25 seconds behind Dos on corrected time. We were also 6th overall, which was the 2nd highest fleet position we have achieved in a Center Sound Series race. Good times.
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.
