Vashon Island Race

It was one of those Puget Sound Races where everybody gets to win, but the last one to win is declared the real winner. A wandering convergence zone meant the Seattle Yacht Club Vashon race last Saturday was one of those races that kept everybody engaged. We have a few reports a few found photos to tell the story.

First off, we have Megan Kogut “from the narrow stern of Elixir.”

Two weeks ago, Elixir was in the PSSR race report solely by virtue of being the only boat in our class among nine PHRF boats total at the line. There was some associated worrying about PHRF boats, one by one, hanging up their spinnaker sheets for good.

So I hope it is with some cheering, or at least some coffee spilling, that we are in the report this time for our first place overall in the short course at the Vashon Island Race.

But, it must be understood that that win was handed to us by three rolling shutdowns of the wind on the return trip, thanks to the convergence zone going north with us. It was almost as the winds wanted to make a point about the back of the fleet. We just happened to be deeper into the southerly by virtue of being slower, and the leaders were working its northern edge. We came rather close to the leaders at Three Tree Point, where they must have waited for wind for a couple of hours. We bunched up again at Alki and at West Point. And so all we had to do was take what was on the plate, greatly helped by crew members Andy Cross and Jenna Swalin. We had a fabulous view from the back row of what everyone was doing, like a menu of what to do and what not to do. Jarred and I have been making the best of this view for years, learning a lot even though last year was our first first full season of racing. But it was great being in the mix with J/105s and boats in our class at the end of the race in a variety of conditions, and across the finish line in variable winds and strong current.

I want to take this opportunity to encourage other PHRF-NW boats, old and new, to get out there. It’s not fun getting dropped off the back, but if you are, you’re still so far ahead of getting off the dock. And, again, that back seat view is unbeatable for learning. Lastly, you never know what’s going to happen out there. Yesterday was tricky at first, but then it was a total treat.
Megan Kogut

Then we have a report from Otto Helm sailing somewhere in the cruiser racer class. It should be noted that there were nine finishers in the cruiser/racer class, the most of any class. Here’s Otto:

1) Race was started after a postponement awaiting wind to fill from the NNW – resulting in a downwind start in light winds.

2) For the cruiser/racers that headed to Blakely Rock, winds were variable with no clear ‘best path’ – those who stayed on the center seemed to do a bit better.

3) At the Blakely Rock mark, the course was to Duwamish Head – those who could carry their asymmetrical spinnakers (or even symmetricals with pole on forestay) on a reach were cooking across  Elliott Bay – until close to the mark when there a drop in wind and a ferry that cut in front of some competitors resulting in loss of headway – the back-end of the fleet had difficulty in getting around the mark and the gains that some had made with their spinnaker reaching vanished into the light air. Some competitors overstood the mark which turned out to not be a bad thing as the wind died just inside the mark.

4) Heading back to Shilshole for the finish line, those who stayed in the center seemed to do better than those who stayed on the Magnolia side. After West Point, the wind got very light inside and those who had stayed out were rewarded.

Overall, the Cruiser/Racer class was  competitive with – a lot of fun with some great boat on boat battles that went back and forth.  It would be great to get even more cruiser/racers out for the Blake Island Tri-Island Race on June 1 (Cruiser/Racer course is around Blakely Rock, round a temporary mark near West Point and finish line in front of Elliott Bay Marina)

In the big boat ORC class, the TP 52s and Crossfire all took turns at the front and the back of the fleet. If you want a glimpse of the big boat ORC class, check out Marek Omilian’s blog post. Here’s a shot onboard Crossfire from Malcolm MacNeil’s Facebook page and a shot from the deck of Sonic:

Ed. Note: Some people may tear their hair out at these kinds of “crapshoots,” but I have to say I think races like these are just fine. You learn a lot, especially focus. The trick is to not take the results too seriously. KH

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.

The Vashon Island Race last Saturday threw a little bit of everything at the fleet, from breeze-on conditions to a few agonizing holes that snatched defeat from victory. It was also a great example of why racing on Puget Sound is so entertaining. It’s a beautiful course around the some extraordinary scenery, a definite mental puzzle to work around the currents and geographical windshifts and, for better or worse, the kind of race where you’re never really out of it ’til the finish horn sounds.

I heard from a couple of guys on those ridiculously fast 50-something footers.

Sailish’s Bruce Hedrick was naviguessing Crossfire around the course. “Other than a terrible start, I think we sailed a near perfect upwind leg. Threaded the flukey stuff from Blake Island to Three Tree Point, put a huge hurt on Smoke and Neptune’s Car but couldn’t shake Glory. Then right before Point Robinson, being slightly more to the west, we got above a northbound freighter that Glory had to go below and that put us on the inside of a continuous lift. Where we just continued to take advantage of and really put them away.

We had a huge lead starting up Colvos, then got into the hole first. No magic way to get around that hole while they brought the new wind up with them. Oh well, it is Putrid Sound.” 

Skip Anderson of Flagship Maritime pointed out some proper commercial/racer traffic interaction on Facebook, which it seems everyone should hear about. See photo below. Skip explains: “The ferry was neither “following a vessel traffic lane” nor in a narrow channel, so was simply a “power driven vessel”. Recognizing that the sailing vessel was the stand on vessel, the ferry sounded three (3) short blasts (“I am operating astern propulsion”), gave “Smoke” ample room to pass ahead, and the moment passed without incident. Nice to witness in person.”

Once again, Jan Anderson has been kind enough to lend some photos to this story. Go to her site to see the rest.

And on the aforementioned Glory, 48 North editor Joe Cline enjoyed a new-to-him role on the TP 52 Glory. “Saturday was great. We had a different main trimmer and a new jib trimmer (me). The stand-in main trimmer, Scott Smith, is vastly experienced, but considering my inexperience in that role and generally having people out of position, I felt good about finishing second less than a minute behind Smoke. 

“But really, any Vashon Island race that you finish in daylight is a good race! There was a little cell with breeze in the teens down south, but otherwise it was light to moderate with mercifully little rain.  The fun trip up Colvos required a ton of jibes (I was glad not to be on the grinder pedestal for that one Ed. Note, his usual spot)!  I’m nursing my first sunburn of the year, and couldn’t be happier about it.  

“It was really rewarding to get the promotion to trimmer for the day, and to try to put into action what I’ve observed about the absolute WORLD of ways to affect different shapes on those boats. Those floating leads, man! There were certainly a few fraught moments, but overall what a great experience and a steep learning curve. 

“No joke, I had a dream about floating lead placement the night after the race.”

As the second of Seattle YC’s Tri-island series, it sets the scene for the grand finale of the Blake Island Race on June 3. Terremoto and Kiwi Express are in charge of the overall long and short course PHRF divisions with a pair of bullets each. The ORC Long Course class has become very interesting with Smoke winning Vashon. The top three boats are separated by only two points, with Glory just ahead of Smoke and New Haven.

Results here. 

Among the cruisers it’s Jiminy, Runaway and Puffin with three, four and five points respectively. There are a lot really good sailors in that class who probably just don’t want to pull their anchors off the bow and stack the rail. I get it. It’s great to see the cruiser/racer class becoming more popular, and I’ll bet that for Blake Island there will be some pretty focused cruisers.

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.