Race to the Straits

Ed Note: We’re lucky to have this report by Andrew Nelson, skipper of the Olson 30 Scoundrel. As the Youth Sailing Director for The Sailing Foundation, he’s getting kids’ butts in boats. A noble cause, indeed. Thanks, Andrew.

Race to the Straits is one of my favorite races, because it brings out a lot of good sailors and cool boats, especially retro ULDB’s! Everyone is faced with the challenge of being short handed. This presents itself in a lot of ways… Sail changes can be arduous, just about everyone feels overpowered way earlier, and there’s practically no down time during the race- you’re either driving or getting ready for the next thing. Maybe you get to pee or eat a sandwich (I didn’t do either on Saturday). I also like that everyone plays a little nicer doublehanded. Port-tackers get waived across frequently and everyone lines the dock at Port Hudson Marina to help others land safely (sometimes the hardest part of the race). Getting to Port Townsend feels like a big accomplishment, regardless of place.

All photos by Jan Anderson. More here.

This year, I teamed up with Josh Larsen. He took my wife Ashley’s place at the last minute when our childcare for the weekend fell through. Josh and I last did the race together in 2011 on his Olson 30 Lunch Box. We did really well that year and Scoundrel had her 2019 (the last “real” RTTS) class title to defend. Our class was stacked with good boats and sailors, so we knew it would be tough to repeat. Looking at the forecast, our mindset was to make sure we were in striking distance after Saturday. Josh summed it up perfectly, “You might not win RTTS on Saturday, but you can definitely lose it.”

Saturday was almost exactly as Bruce Hedrick predicted. We had a nice spinnaker run until just before Foul Weather Bluff. Then it got wet and weird. No wind, hail, and then an almighty downpour. We lost our breeze completely for a few minutes in the transition and then did an alternating series of sail changes between the #2 genoa and A2 until we were around Foul Weather Bluff with a modest northeasterly breeze. This race is often about managing the transition zone gracefully. I feel we did about as well as we could have, but made the mistake of staying too far out in the middle as we approached the south end of Marrowstone. As predicted the breeze built and shifted Northwest. The boats to our left picked up some big gains. It was a slugfest from there on out. We changed to the #3 early and we were glad we did. We don’t have wind instruments, but heard others reporting 25-30 knot gusts near the end of the race. With the strong ebb, that made for some pretty big and confused seas.

The bulk of the fleet finished within 30 minutes of each other in the early afternoon. We were four minutes behind our class leader Scheme. Mission accomplished, we didn’t lose the race on Saturday and knew that anything could happen on day two. The early finish time meant there was plenty of time to dry the boat out and trade stories on the dock before dinner.

We knew Sunday would be a different kind of challenge, and it was. The day started slow with a very light northerly, which turned northeasterly. This would be a day of big gains and losses. We made the most of the light air and did lots of reaching with the A2 and #1. Once past Marrowstone Light we stayed out in the middle with better pressure. By the time we were halfway down Marrowstone the A2 was pulling hard and we had made up that 4 minute difference on Scheme with 6 Feet More in our sights. However, when we got to the south end of Marrowstone the breeze started to dry up and the ebb was really beginning to kick in.. We made a beeline for Kinney Point to find some current relief.

Some boats stayed out in the middle still clinging to spinnakers. After what seemed like an eternity, we found a little puff that we were able to ride around the point, while watching our depth sounder get down in the single digits. With the #1 we sailed deep into Oak Bay. It was the only place we could find current relief. Soon we were short-tacking the beach past Mats Mats and Port Ludlow, hoping that we could then cross back across the mouth of Hood Canal using the current to sweep us to Foul Weather Bluff. With the Foul Weather buoy as a new course mark, this was really uncharted territory and something I hadn’t expected doing. Full credit goes to Josh for making the call.

We passed the Cal 24 Water Street, who had a similar idea, and soon noticed the Moore 24 Petty Theft was also chasing us. We gobbled up tons of ground on the boats outside as we snuck up the beach. Just past Port Ludlow we sailed out of our little zephyr and decided to cross the mouth of Hood Canal. We fought hard for almost an hour trying to get across and then around Foul Weather Bluff with almost no wind and ripping current. Right alongside us was the Moore 24. After consulting the Sailing Instructions and looking at our GPS track we realized that we had reached the halfway point much earlier than we realized. I called Ashley Bell on the radio and after some discussion she called race chair David Rogers. After more discussion, we all concurred that both boats had reached the halfway point as defined in the Sailing Instructions, which stated to record halfway times when “due west of the mark.” We had no intention of finding a loophole and every intention of rounding Foul Weather Bluff, but the ambiguity of the SIs were problematic, especially since we were approaching the mark from a westerly position and had crossed a line due west of Foul Weather Bluff Buoy several times over the previous hour and a half. Good thing we had the GPS tracker running!

With a delivery to Tacoma still ahead of me, we fired up the outboard and hightailed it south. I immediately felt a sinking feeling as a northerly began filling. We saw 6 Feet More on the other side of Foul Weather Bluff making nice headway under spinnaker. Mathematically it looked possible they could finish the whole course, especially with the pressure building. Our choice was made however, and we wouldn’t know until later that evening whether or not they got us. As it turned out, Hula, the Westsail 32, was the only boat to finish the long course on Sunday. What an incredible accomplishment by Bill and Darlene Stange!

It was a tough weekend and an especially dissatisfying way to end Sunday. I hope future SIs define a more precise halfway point, but since it’s the first year running this modified course, it was a very hard thing for race organizers to predict. Regardless of the weird ending, it was a great weekend and STYC did a fantastic job organizing the event!

Results here.

The weekend’s Sloop Tavern YC Race to the Straits was yet another not-to-be missed event. Saturday’s leg to Port Townsend was a light wind, current-plagued challenge with a lot of did not finishes. Sunday’s leg back was with plenty of breeze from the north, spinnakers flying and smiles all around.

Of all the great aspects of this race, my favorite is that it draws a whole lot of boats that “don’t” race out to race. There are couples, dogs (go Dakota!), kids, cruisers and sails of every imaginable and unimaginable condition. Win or lose, it always appears to be a good time. And with the staggered start (figuring handicaps into the start time) seems to make the whole thing results thing more palatable. It’s what’s racing should be. On Saturday it was a day for concentration and a lot of tacks. Ryan Helling estimated he did 60 tacks with Velella. On Sunday the boats with big spinnakers and long waterlines reveled. On Sunday the Westsail 32 Hula was so far ahead it seemed like she was in a different race. Results here.

We’ve got a lot of pictures to show, but no on the water reports (if you want to chime in, I’ll happily add your thoughts to this post!) First of all, there are Jan Anderson’s wonderful shots. There are many good closeups of happy sailors at her site. As always, I’d recommend going to her site and buying some to commemorate the weekend.

Sean Trew has a number of amazing shots, including one of the Schock 40 with her canard/keel/rudder configuration. Here are some:

Finally, Jay Leon was out as well, and has a number of great shots, especially of boats working the light air on Saturday along the bluffs. Here are some. The rest here.

Kurt Hoehne

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.

“At what point will the other clubs take notice?”

This question came out with all of Nate Creitz’ overflowing, bubbling, enthusiasm for last weekend’s Race to the Straits (RTTS). The double and single-handed Sloop Tavern Yacht Club event from Seattle to Port Townsend and back (with an overnight in the unique sailing town Port Townsend) hit its limit of 125 boats several days before the race, and it’s no wonder. The atmosphere before, during and after the event is special. Let’s get to his question later. First, the race.

The Leg North

It was hard to find a frown in Port Townsend Saturday afternoon. The fleet had just spent 4-6 hours beating in 12-18 knots of breeze all the way from Seattle, with a boost from a strong ebb much of the way. The winners, of course, had something to smile about. But the staggered start (starting times reflecting each boat’s time allowance for the race) meant that the slow boat crews got to watch as much of the fast boats came thundering by.

Kirk Utter and crew Pete Dorsey didn’t get to enjoy that. Since Utter’s early 1970s Cal 33 Teaser II is one of the not-as-fast boats at a PHRF of 153, he was one of the early starters. And in a breeze upwind that Lapworth design just rolled on through the earlier starters and stayed well ahead of the later starters. “She just loves that stuff,” reported Utter. Carrying the #1 from start to finish, Teaser II showed a lot of folks who weren’t born before her that old boats are not necessarily slow.

Following Teaser II, the next monohulls in were Carl and Carol Buchan’s Madrona and Frederic Laffitte’s Kyrnos which finished virtually overlapped.

Boomer Depp’s video from Saturday:

The multihulls flew in the conditions. The Corsair F28R Aliikai was first to finish of all the boats, and Corsair F31R Freda Mae was the second catamaran in.

The winds were perfect for those non-overlapping headsail boats that could keep up the performance by flattening out the main and not change headsails (or have to sail with the wrong one up!) Boats like Madrona, the J/120 Shearwater and the J/105s all thrived. Boats like the Evelyn 32 Poke and Destroy and a trio of Santa Cruz 27s were stuck changing down to #3s when the wind built and changing back up to #1s as the wind lightened up near the finish.

There was the usual puzzle of fitting everybody into Point Hudson, and nearly all the fleet fit. The classic Q boat Grayling had engine issues that required a tow.

Somewhat surprisingly, there were at least three collisions out there including one between Mark Brink’s Tonic and the  quarter tonner Bingo that resulted in Bingo‘s DSQ.

The Return Leg

The race back to Seattle presented a different challenge – the beautiful northerly of Saturday teased the fleet with some great conditions that disappeared at times and the wonderful tides of the day before played havoc with the fleet, especially getting around the Double Bluff buoy.

The orca J-pod made an appearance in Admiralty Inlet, presumably to help Dieter Creitz with his orca science project at school.

The conditions meant a lot of gybes seeking out the right breeze while staying out of bad current. It took a toll on all these shorthanded crews, especially in the flying sails classes, and especially in the flying sails/singlehanded class. In that class, Different Drummer‘s Charles Hill figured neither he nor anyone else was going to finish the full course by the 7pm time limit, so he quit just a bit early. Sure enough, Bill Gibson on Latitude stuck it out, and finished before the deadline to take the class win for the weekend.

Jan Anderson’s photos. Click on any to enlarge and by all means visit her site to order yours. Click to enlarge.

That was a theme for much of the fleet on Sunday. Where few if any were expected to finish the full course, several did in a building southerly. “It was really weird,” Alex Simanis reported. “We were trying to stay away from Edmonds but ended up there and did quite well, finishing within the time limit on our light #1.”

Not so, however, for everyone. Father Nate and son Dieter Creitz missed finishing the full course by 7 seconds, with Dieter counting down the time. As nobody finished in Class 5, the class was scored for the halfway finish and Three Ring Circus won handily anyway. There were no finishers in classes  2, 4, 5, 6, and 11.

But it was Ben and Jen Glass on the lightweight Ocelot that mastered the light downwind work on Sunday, finishing about 25 minutes ahead of Madrona among the fastest monohulls. Madrona had a fresh crew, with Dalton and Lindsey Bergan stepping in while Carl and Carol Buchan stepped away.

The results show a familiar list of winners including Madrona overall, Al Hughes on the ex-BOC boat Dogbark in the non-flying sails class, Moonshine, Tonic, Dennis Clark (btw, Dennis, give the boat a name), Poke and Destroy, and several others. But the thing that is truly special about this race is how welcome everyone feels, even the skippers who aren’t the serious types and the boats that haven’t seen a new sail in 15 years. There were kids, dogs, dodgers, grills hanging off about half the rails, moms and pops, and liveaboards. There’s no doubt each and every one adjusted their expectations for the racing part and had a great time pursuing them.

Accident For Dan Randolph, Recovery Expected

The details are still a little unclear, but our fellow racer Dan Randolph suffered a serious accident while motoring his Farr 30 Nefarious home on Sunday afternoon. Randolph and a crew member apparently hit a gray whale, hard. Randolph was sent flying forward into the boat, and reportedly broke some ribs. He was in the hospital Monday. At this time, I haven’t been able to get many details, but I’ll be seeking those out in the coming days. Our thoughts are with him.

UPDATE: I spoke to Ray Hines, part of the Nefarious team (apparently they refer to themselves as “Nefarians”). Dan is scheduled to be out of ICU today, and had surgery yesterday to repair internal bleeding and perhaps more. He is expected to recover. His crew Scott Petersen suffered some cracked ribs, but Dan got the worst of it when he hit a corner of the companionway, and subsequently blacked out. It happened near Meadow Point, so Scott was able to get to the dock where help was waiting, as was a ride to Harborview. No news on the condition of the whale, but the boat appears undamaged.

The Question

Now, regarding Nate’s question about when will other clubs notice and copy the success of Race to the Straits.

I’m pretty sure they have noticed. In my experience, the traditional clubs have a hard time changing course. It is not like destination racing and shorthanded racing haven’t been mentioned before. (they have, multiple times) But there’s something special in the Sloop Tavern mindset that the leaders responded “why the hell not?” and just did it. Make no mistake, it’s a logistical challenge get all the staggered start times, provide the not-usually-a-racer crowd with ratings so they can do this one event, dealing with the folk in Port Townsend (who are eager hosts). Add to that a pizza punctuated skippers meeting and the big dinner Saturday night, and it’s a lot of work. But it sure seems the STYC folk are having fun doing it!

Maybe the task is too daunting for clubs used to doing everything from Seattle?

I’ll add a question to Nate’s: When will the sailors come up with some new courses and new formats? For whatever reason, the round-the-buoys race until you drop thing just isn’t as appealing to many keelboat sailors as it used to be while the less predictable, more organic racing like RTTS, Round the County and Van Isle 360 thrive. Personally, I think there are places for both. But in the end, no matter how intransigent the clubs are, it’s the sailors who get to decide. Want more shorthanded racing? Multiple stages? Season Championship series? Build it and they will come. Or not. 

Is there the will to energize the racing scene with some altered or new events? Perhaps not. Last fall’s sailish.com survey indicated there is the will.

But judging from the scene at Port Townsend Saturday night and on the Sound both days, the excitement seems to be there.

A Quick Slipstream Word

A quick congratulations to my boat partners Joe, Becky and Charlotte. As I predicted in Bruce’s weather outlook, Charlotte managed the tactics on the return trip to lift our C&C 36 Slipstream‘s finish to 2nd in the non-flying sails class.

Kurt Hoehne

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.