Over the weekend of April 22-23 US Sailing Head Measurer (and PNW rigger for many years) Chris Tutmark got out his measuring tape (and more) to bring more boats into the ORC handicapping fold.
Tutmark explains the ORC progress being made: “There are a bunch of smaller boats in the processing queue- Pell Mell, Moonshine, Scheme (Pyramid 30), Blur (B-25) a J109 well as J111s along with a number of boats signed up for VI 360- J99s, Grand Soleil 40, Cal 39, C&C 115, J120, Cal 40, and a Club Swan 42
“For production boats like J109s, J35s, J122s and the like once we have an application along with crew weight and sail dimensions we can generate a certificate pretty simply and quickly since there are a good number of examples already in the ORC system.”
Fittingly, the measurement fest was followed by Seattle Yacht Club’s Protection Island Race on April 29 which featured 16 boats in three ORC classes.
Alex Simanis took this shot aboard class winner Rush. Lots of downwind in this race!
It will be particularly interesting to see how disparate boats correct out on each other in a variety of conditions. Currently there are no ORC-targeted designs in the region, and it’s up for discussion as to whether or not those exist right now.
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 start belied what would be a rough weather race. Photo by Catie Plourde
What started out as seemingly a light air race last Saturday turned into a barn burner, one that sent most of the SYC’s Protection Long Course racers home, humbled. Long course boats started dropping out while they approached Point Wilson when winds topped 30. Short course boats never saw those extreme conditions, but still had plenty of wind.
First to finish on the long course, and the only finisher in the big boat “0” class was Marek Omilian’s TP 52 Sonic. Maybe it has something to do with Omilan’s Clipper Race experience (around the world), because he not only had reef points in his main, but had reefing lines ready to go. His account of the race is worth reading.
A reefed TP 52 main. Photo by Patrick Doran.
This race puts issue of rough weather sailing comes front and center. There’s no doubt the sailors have the skills to deal with the heavy conditions. There is a question of whether the boats are up to the task. Some boats, even with huge mains, don’t have reef points. In a quest for that extra 1/100th of a knot of speed, there are no reef points or the reef lines are left out even in the face of a coming blow. And the boats themselves are so powerful, and so fast, that pounding into a seaway can tear a boat apart.
Alan Johnson points out that there’s another question regarding the big boats – who wants too risk blowing out a $25K sail?
And there were very big seas. “Some of the biggest waves I’ve seen,” said Nigel Barron aboard Crossfire, that was one of the last to pull out.
One ultra light, powered up boat that handled the conditions was Jonathan McKee’s Dark Star. Of course McKee is one of the more experienced sailors around and worked with Paul Bieker to come up with a boat fully capable of rough water sailing. Estimating the worst of the waves to be about 11′ and the waves “really vertical,” he agrees the conditions were about as bad as they get on Puget Sound, but you could see them coming and they didn’t stay that way too long. Without judging anyone’s decision to pull out of the race, he noted that the big boats dropping out “sends a message to the whole community” that big weather is something to avoid. Dark Star was the lone finisher in class “1,” coming in about an hour after Sonic.
For Hamachi, it made sense to pull out because it would have made no sense to break the boat just before it was to be shipped south for the start of the Transpac later this year. Instead of pounding upwind, they did some downwind training:
And then there were the fun rides home. Here’s Malcolm MacNeil’s video from Crossfire’s return home.
On the shorter course, they had a great, fast race. Erik Kristen won overall with the J 105 More Jubilee after a close dual with sistership Panic. A healthy fleet of six starters sailed the cruiser-racer course.
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.
If there was ever a
great time to do the Protection Island Race, tomorrow is probably that day. The
tides aren’t horrible and best of all it really looks like there is going to be
plenty of wind all the way around the course.
Tidal Current at Jeff
Head
0748 .33knts Flood
1042 Slack
1442 .52knts Ebb
1836 Slack
2100 .44knts Flood
Tidal Current Admiralty
Inlet
0654 Slack
0936 1.2knts Flood
1218 Slack
1506 1.48knts Ebb
1812 Slack
2148 1.76knts Flood
Just take a peek at
today’s Surface Analysis Chart to see the reason for all this optimism.
Directly off our coast, we have a 1030+MB high-pressure system that by tomorrow
will strengthen to 1034MB and along with that, develop a nice pressure gradient
that will produce a strong onshore flow. Especially since that weak
low-pressure system directly north of that high today will move rapidly into
the interior of BC accentuating the gradient and the onshore flow. This will
produce gale warnings in the central and eastern Straits for westerly winds up
near 40+knots today. This will ease after midnight to small craft advisories
for winds of 15-25 knots through Saturday. This westerly wind will be
northwesterly at 15-20 knots in Admiralty Inlet and 10-20 knots in the north
and central Sound. By late afternoon and into the early evening, the breeze
will begin to ease down to the 10-15 knot range in the north and central Sound.
By mid-evening and approaching midnight it will get much lighter.
April 26 500MB
April 26 Surface Analysis
April 27 Surface Forecast
April 28 500MB
April 28 Surface Forecast
April 29 Surface Forecast
April 30 Surface Forecast
With this wind, it should be a fairly straight-forward race to sail. Get a clear air start and then hold starboard tack all the way across the Sound to Jeff Head and then work the west side of the Sound and Admiralty Inlet all the way to Pt. Wilson. As you approach Pt. Wilson make sure everything is really battened down (especially the crew) because the tide rips are going to be nasty all the way from Pt Wilson to Middle Point (aka McCurdy Point). From there to Protection Island just sail the favored tack so that you approach Violet Point on Protection Island on port tack. You do this because there’s plenty of water all the way along the south side of the Island and if you go right up to Violet Point and tack to starboard, when the wind comes over the Island you get nice, starboard tack, lifting puffs all the way to the west end of the Island and you’ll be sailing in much flatter water than being out in the middle. As always, watch the west end of the Island very carefully and once around if you’re a deep draft vessel, don’t reach off too early. Two weeks ago there was a BIG deadhead aground in 11-feet of water at a 1.1-foot tide and sticking up at 48.13173°N and 122.94907°W. There was also not hardly any kelp out there yet. The problem will be that if you set too early in that much breeze you may have to sail off to keep the boat on its’ feet and Dallas Bank extends to the north a long way. Maybe hold the set until you’re at about 48.14159°N and you can sail safely right back towards Point Wilson on the port pole. After Pt. Wilson you’ll need to plan your gybe so you can sail on starboard all the way down Marrowstone Island to get out of the ebb. Don’t go too far into Skunk Bay west of Pt. No Pt because even in breeze it can get light and squirrelly in there. At Pt. No Pt. gybe back to starboard and work down the west side of the Sound if you’re still fighting ebb. Remember also that since the northerly will have blowing for a while, the flood will probably start early and it starts first on the west side of the Sound.
South of Pt. No Pt, and
if it’s getting close to sunset, the breeze will begin to ease and clock to the
north. That will be the time to gybe to port and work over to east side of the
Sound for your approach to the finish.
Have a great race, be safe, and please leave your AIS on so I can at least see how you’re doing out there.
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)
You know something special’s happening when the folks on a powerboat run to get their cameras to shoot a passing sailboat. That’s what happened as Crossfire was tossing up a rooster tail at about 20 knots as they were heading from Point Wilson to Protection Island last Saturday.
The fun continued for the Reichel Pugh 55 and everyone else as just about everybody from both the long and short courses were home for dinner.
Here’s what it’s like planing in the high teens on Crossfire, courtesy of Mike Stanley. At about the 3 minute mark they pass said powerboat:
Bruce Hedrick says that no other Protection Island was that fast: “Not even close. The conditions were perfect.”
Crossfire’s track.
Mighty as Crossfire’s race was, setting the record didn’t mean success on the corrected time ledger in the ORC class. Glory easily corrected ahead, but both were pushed down to mid-fleet by winner Hamachi, second place New Haven and third place Jedi.
The T-birds weren’t going “quite” as fast as Crossfire, but the fleet sailing out of Port Townsend was probably having just as much fun. Jack Christiansen photo.
On the PHRF side of things Terremoto once again planed away with the win, followed by the 18-raters Absolutely and Tachyon.
The 35-mile short course was plenty fast as well with boats all finishing before 1730. Kiwi Express won class 7 and nipped the J/105 More Jubilee by a mere 17 seconds for the overall win. In fourth place overall and winning Class 6 was Poke & Destroy which came from behind to beat Different Drummer which was covering her nemesis Uno. Class 8 was won by Alexia Fisher’s Santa Cruz 27 Zipper.
The eight boat cruiser racer class sailed a fast 26-mile race, with the top finishers Runaway, Jiminy and Puffin.
Evgeniy Goussev had a bit of a controlled adventure on his beautiful Gray Wolf. Goussev was singlehanding and enjoying the ride immensely, perhaps so much so that the big wind line snuck up him. An experienced singlehander, he set out furling the big spinnaker with the drum furler as the new autopilot decided to do some S-turns when a steadier course might have been more helpful. In the end, the chute wrapped around the forestay and wouldn’t come all the way down, but Goussev was able to get it wrapped up, tied down snugly and then duck into Port Townsend. “I didn’t rip anything, and I’m happy with the decisions and staying on the safe side of things.”
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 bad news is that we are going to have more rain, as if we haven’t had enough already. The good news, especially for the longest race in the Tri-Island Series, is we are going to have wind as long as you finish the Long Course before about 0200 hrs Sunday morning. The other good news is that for the most part the tides will be with us. The really good news, especially for the folks going on TransPac, is that some semblance of a Pacific High is starting to form and the jet stream is slowly and inexorably moving north. Summer will eventually happen.
Tides for Admiralty Inlet off of Bush Point
Saturday
0500 Max Flood 1.29 knts
0706 Slack
1112 Max Ebb. 3.89 knts
1448 Slack
1800 Max Flood 3.13 knts
2124 Slack
Sunday
0024 Max Ebb 2.46 knts
0354 Slack
0554 Max Flood 1.02 knts
0754 Slack
1200 Max Ebb 3.62 knts
The surface charts show a weak high pressure system off the coast that will be pushed out of the way by a weak frontal system that will make it’s way onshore over Saturday and into Sunday morning. Following a typical pattern, the pre-frontal southerly will be light, 6-8 knots, in the starting area and then build as the day goes on especially in the northern part of the race course. By late Saturday afternoon and into the early evening we could see 20-25-knots of SSE so plan ahead with safety harnesses and jack lines rigged before you leave the dock, as well as starboard tack barber haulers. Once the front passes, the post frontal westerly will fill down the Straits creating a light air convergence zone from Pt. Townsend to Kingston, in other words finish early.
Pacific Surface Analysis
500MB Analysis
24-Hour surface forecast
48-Hour 500MB Forecast
48-hour surface forecast
96-Hour 500MB Forecast
You should be able to sail pretty much a course that gets you to the Island with a minimal number of gybes. You might also want to think about getting a warm meal into the crew while you’re going downwind because it will be really lumpy coming home and you’re going to want people hiking all the time for the beat home. As you sail up Admiralty Inlet towards the Island if you want to find out what’s happening on the water between Discovery Bay and Protection Island just go to www.windalert.com/spot/161444. This is a private weather station located on the north side of Diamond Point. Think also about getting set up for the beat home with the headsail hoisted in the port groove because you’ll have long starboard tacks and short port tacks.
Going around the Island for those of you with deep drafts remember the Dallas Bank extends a long way to the north of Protection Island and because it’ shallow in places there can be a lot of kelp out there. This time of the year it shouldn’t be too bad but it will pay to keep a sharp lookout.
From the Island to Pt Townsend, it should be a close reach and generally speaking the water will be flatter along the west side from Pt. Townsend to Pt. No Point. On starboard tack the puffs will be lifts however if it starts to get light on the approach to Pt. No Point remember there’s a reason why it’s called Skunk Bay, don’t get in too close.
From Point No Point to the finish if the barometer is rising the wind will be slowly shifting from the SSE to the SSW which will mean staying to the west so you will be on the inside of the lift for the approach to the finish.
Be safe, have a great race.
Ed. Notes: Thanks Bruce, for taking time from your Mexican holiday and putting down the margarita long enough to to the Brief. And to all those racers, please help me with post-race coverage by sending me anecdotes, photos or video links. Thanks.
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)
