2019 Van Isle 360 – where to begin?
The 12th running of the race was without question worthy of the 20th Anniversary celebration as the racing was tight in all divisions.
For the first time in the history of the race, the racers were received up to date weather forecasts with insightful tactical knowledge as supplied by Bruce Hedrick and Kurt Hoehne of sailish.com on every leg of the race. Technology was forever challenging in passing on the information and some how the information managed to surpass the internet barriers in the remote portions of the island.
New for 2019 was the Helly Hansen Team Competition where boats from each division were randomly picked to form 5 teams, each with a TP 52 or the Bieker 41 as the fastest boat on the team. At the opening ceremonies, crews were provided with wrist bands in the colour and name for their team, Red-Team Race Rocks, Green-Team Johnstone Strait, Orange-Team Cape Scott, Yellow-Team Nahwitti Bar and Blue-Team Salish Sea. The idea behind the teams was to create an environment for the crews to mingle and the result was a success. At the final awards, the winning teams were as follows:
First – Team Salish Sea – Blue, Boomerang, Tuna, Oxomoxo, Riva, Serendipity and Ultraman III
Second – Team Nahwitti Bar – Back Bay, Freja, Glory, Goldcrest, Iris, Rubato, Serenite and Zulu
Third – Team Race Rocks – 65_Red Roses II, Discernment, Fortuna, Image, Lodos, Shearwater and Smoke.
The hosting ports graciously welcomed the fleet with barbeques and live bands/entertainment in a several ports.
A very special First Nations welcome and blessing by Kwakwaka’wakw Chief David Knox and drummers provided the fleet with a union to the seas that have been traveled for centuries by sleek hand carved canoe.
While the inside legs provided relative shelter and steady light to medium breezes, the two outside legs were slightly different. Leg 6 from Port Hardy to Winter Harbour provided reasonably consistent winds for the fleet, but the road in from Port Hardy to Winter Harbour took its toll on the roadies. There were a record number of flat tires for the vehicles, and several rims with mangled tires were flown out by seaplane to Port Hardy for repair. A crew member on Jam was inadvertently hit by the boom and suffered a laceration requiring 5 stitches by the Royal Canadian Navy Medic before he was air lifted out for further observation. Follow up from the sailor has been positive and he is feeling well.
Leg 7 from Winter Harbour to Ucluelet turned out to be a similar repeat to the 2011 leg. A strong south easterly “breeze” pummeled the fleet from Brooks Peninsula to approximately Nootka Island where a long narrow, breezeless transition zone extended over 40 miles offshore acting as a restart and equalizing the tactics of the boats that had chosen to sail far offshore in an effort to circumvent the doldrums. Once through the transition the fleet was greeted with a long awaited northwesterly that propelled the fleet to the Ucluelet finish. Upon setting foot on ground, stories emerged of leaks found in what were thought to be water tight joints and crew succumbing to the inevitable seasickness that the open ocean can bring.
Leg 8 from Ucluelet to Victoria had the TP52’s Sonic and Glory in a drag race at over 18 knots for line honours. The video on Facebook shows the sun setting behind the boats and a golden glow off of the foresails with perm-a-grin on the Sonic crew.
For Divisions 2 & 3, by the time they reached Race Rocks the breeze was up in the low 30’s, it was dark and strait of Juan de Fuca lived up to her reputation. Several boats reported knockdowns and equipment failures, and crew spirits remained high for the final leg from Victoria to Nanaimo.
Entering the last leg, the podium for all divisions was open for boats that had sailed consistently around the island. No division had been claimed, the quest for line honours was open and the trophy for overall winner was very much up for grabs.
As always, the big decision on Leg 9 is which way to go when you must choose left, the inside route through the Gulf Islands or right, the outside longer outside route via East Point on Saturna Island. Essentially the fleet split, and a good number of boats chose to head all the way to Dodd Narrows, a tactic that in the past has never paid with a podium finish. Over the years, many skippers have tried to make the current gate that blocks access to the shortest route to the finish line, but in 2019 Neptune decided to let the fleet pass. In Division 3, Marc-Andrea Klimaschewski, skipper of Image led the way with long line of competitors and was able to finish first in Division 3 followed by HMCSTV Goldcrest and Boomerang who finished second and third respectively. For the first time in 20 years Dodd’s pays in a big way for Division 3.
The overall winner for the race is 65 Red Roses II skippered by Alex Smyth and owned by Bruce Chan sailing out of the West Vancouver Yacht Club. Line honours went to Smoke, skippered and owned by Steve Travis sailing out of the Corinthian Yacht Club Seattle.
In Division 0, Blue was able to sail past Smoke and Sonic for first, second and third place finishes overall. Division 1 saw 65 Red Roses II, Riva and Jam take first, second and third. Division 2 was Serendipity, Mojo and Shearwater. Serendipity and Mojo were actually tied for first place so tie breaking procedures had to be employed to determine that Serendipity was the first place finisher. In Division 3 Wraith, Flow and HMCSTV Goldcrest prevailed.
The Van Isle 360 wishes to thank all of the competitors and the sponsors who supported the race. In addition thank you to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, The Canadian Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and the Royal Canadian Navy, specifically Renard 58 and her amazing crew for providing the safety net while the competitors sailed what will be surely become lifetime memories.
The dates for the 2021 race will be announced in the spring of 2020.
–Jeffrey & Sylvia Motley
