Winter Vashon Race – sailish.com

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Dec. SSSS Winter Vashon, Should be a great one!

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs December 1, 2023December 1, 2023Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

Every once and a while things come together for what should be a great race. Such is the case for Winter Vashon tomorrow. We have a warm front passing over the area now to be followed by a cold front early tomorrow morning (2-4 am). With frontal passage, a strong onshore flow will develop over the area with gale warnings along the coast and down the Strait of JdF. There will also be a strong onshore flow through the Chehalis Gap and into the South Sound. This will bring 15-25 knots of southwest wind to the racecourse for most of Saturday.

Today we have a moderate onshore flow in the Straits and through the Gap however, this will change to a prefrontal southeasterly later this evening. For the race tomorrow, expect 15-25 knots of WSW breeze in the starting area. As you sail into Colvos Passage the wind will back to the SW and ease slightly however it should still be a hull speed run to the top mark. As you sail north in Colvos, the puffs will tend to be headers so this will require good coordination between the driver and the trimmers. Don’t worry about getting cold, everyone will either be trimming hard or hiking hard on this leg and the next one.

Before you get to the top mark, start thinking about what headsail you’ll be using for the close reach from the top mark to Point Robinson. You will also want to have your barber hauler set up before you round the top mark. The breeze will probably be in the 12-18 knot range on this leg, however, at Pt Robinson expect the breeze to build to 16-25 knots. So, at the top mark set the jib in the port groove so you change down on starboard tack, do a quick tack to get the bigger sail down on port, and then tack back to starboard once you feel the breeze start to ease as you get closer to Maury Island. The puffs as they come over Vashon and Maury Island will tend to be lifts on starboard tack so favor the west side of the rhumb line from Pt Robinson to the finish. As you get closer to the south end of the islands, the breeze will tend to clock from the SW to WSW maybe even to the point of allowing you to barber haul the lead out for the last bit to the finish.

The weather charts, especially the 500MB upper-level charts and satellite pic provide a very clear picture of what we can look forward to this coming week. One weather system after another with plenty of rain and wind. While November may have been quieter and slightly dryer than normal, that will all change over the next two weeks. For November we had 5.71” of rain compared to an average of 6.31” so just .6” below average. Year to date we’ve had 26.42” compared to an average of 33.62” so 7.2” below normal. In the first two weeks of December, we could easily get what we had for the entire month of November. The real problem with this pattern is that the freezing level will rise substantially to almost 7,000ft and this will diminish the current snowpack and lead to lowland flooding in the usual areas. Should be a very interesting month for weather.

Have a safe, great race, and enjoy the always superb hospitality of TYC!

Bruce Hedrick

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)

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 2, 3, 4, and 5 December. Winter Vashon! The full course, finally!

So when was the last race that wasn’t shortened at the top end of Vashon Island? Who cares! The point here is that this weekend looks like a Winter Vashon from the old days. Clear the snow off the deck, have a hot buttered rum (HBR), rig the boat, have an HBR, add another layer of woolies under the foul wx gear, have an HBR, and head for the starting line! Then, while on the race constantly check for hypothermia, especially on the upwind leg, and add HBR’s as necessary. Set the spinnaker at the top mark and have a nice semi-breezy run down the finish. Cross the finish line, de-rig the boat, have an HBR, head up to the fabulous hospitality of TYC, and swap lies with your fellow competitors. As I said, those were the good old days. Now in the age of high-performance boats and crews, we wait until after the race for an HBR while still enjoying the great hospitality at the Club! During the race, we use Chinese hot and sour soup to stay warm.

Our wacky winter weather continues as we start the month of December. We’ve had an early winter snow flurry and a drier-than-normal November, and we are still below normal rainfall for the year. A quick glance at today’s surface analysis chart, the 500MB chart, and the sat pic provide us with a great visual as to why this is happening. We have a weak low (997MB) offshore of the Olympic Peninsula that is moving to the south, not coming ashore, with a well-defined cold front as well as a stalled occluded front right over the top of us. Inland from us, we have a series of high-pressure systems from central Alaska to southern California which are continuing to block or weaken any systems that might head our way. The interesting feature on the 500MB chart is the wild meander in the jet stream which takes a due north path at about 163Wand goes north to about 62Nbefore it does a 180 and dives south 40N before turning to the east and coming ashore south of San Francisco. The combination of the wall of high-pressure systems and the path of the jet stream will keep the low-pressure system off of our coast headed to south and the attached cold front will bring much-needed rain to the central valley of CA and snow to the Sierra Nevada’s.

As you work your way through the charts, the upper air charts get even more interesting on the 4^th of Dec when that meander to the north becomes an upper-level cut-off high-pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska, you don’t see that very often. On the 6^th of Dec that cut-off high disappears while a new and intense upper-level cutoff low-pressure system forms to the NW of Hawaii. In the past, these systems have brought heavy rains and flooding to Kauai so we will be watching that as the week goes on.

So what does all of this mean for Winter Vashon? Pretty much it’s all good! We will start with a nice breeze of 8-18 knots from the ENE. With breeze being topographically forced down Colvos Passage, the breeze will ease to 5-12 from the NNE. Since you’ll be sailing up Colvos during the big flood of the day current won’t be much of a factor in Colvos. You will want to focus on being on starboard as you come off of the Vashon side of the Passage. The temptation will be to hit the Vashon side hard however since the breeze will be from the ENE-NE it will be possible to get too close to Vashon and into light air. Starboard tacks will be the long tacks so you’d like to come into the Vashon side on port south of the points so when you tack to starboard you’ll be sailing the lifting puffs as you work your way north. Once you get to about mid-channel on starboard look for a knock to tack back to port and go back to the Vashon shore. Tacticians and trimmers will be busy and will have no trouble staying warm.

The breeze will build slightly as you get to the top mark so you should be rounding in 12-16 knots of NNE so you’ll be sailing south on a port gybe. As you get past Pt Robinson you may want to delay gybing to starboard to make sure you stay in the breeze. From Pt. Robinson to the bottom end of both Maury and Vashon it will be lighter next to the islands. If you’re on starboard and you find yourself lifted above the finish and in less wind gybe immediately and get back into breeze.

As the day progresses and the offshore low-pressure system drifts to the south, the inland high-pressure systems over southern BC will build and this will bring a stronger NE-ENE breeze (15-20 knts) to the race course. There may still be light air patches from Robinson south as this develops. Tend to favor the rhumbline and stay slightly to the east of rhumb. By early evening, the breeze should be fairly solid from the NE.

Have a great race, stay warm, be safe and keep the AIS on so I can track you.

Bruce Hedrick

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Dec. Winter Vashon!

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing December 3, 2021December 3, 2021Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

While the Midwest is experiencing record high temps and a complete lack of snow, the NWS has issued a Blizzard Warning for the summit of Mauna Kea where a foot of new snow is expected combined with winds of over 100-knots! In the meanwhile, Seattle is now ahead of the average rainfall for this date by over 5”. No Climate Change going on in any of these places.

Today’s surface analysis chart shows a series of weak high-pressure systems over the Pacific Northwest with more low-pressure systems headed our way. This weak high-pressure system has given us northerly breezes over most of the Sound for the last 30 hours and with 15-22-knots of breeze, today would have been a perfect day for the Winter Vashon Race even with a wind chill of freezing. As we know, the first days of high pressure are the best days for wind. By tomorrow, however, this will all change as another weak low-pressure system approaches the Oregon coast. While it is weak, it will still be strong enough to influence our weather tomorrow morning before an offshore high rebuilds in the afternoon. As always, the models are not in agreement about the timing of this transition.

The wind in the starting area will start as a southerly of about 10-knots before it starts to die and become a drainage easterly of 5-knots or less. Gradually a northerly flow will develop over the Salish Sea starting at about 10-knots and then building to 15-18 knots by mid to late afternoon. This northerly will hold until about sundown when it will start to ease and shift back to a weak drainage easterly before going very light. Try to finish before about 1800 hrs.

Navigators and tacticians will be a busy bunch trying to figure out the best way to manage the transition zones. You’ll need to keep your head out of the boat and watch the guys who really know their way around the South Sound.

Be careful and stay warm out there! Please leave your AIS on and we’ll be watching from just above Brace Point.

Bruce Hedrick

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 4, 5, 6, & 7 Dec. Winter Vashon!

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing December 5, 2020December 5, 2020Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

Looks like a great turnout for Winter Vashon with a nice Double-Handed Division. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the weather is going to cooperate.

We’ve had a spectacular week with pretty nice weather including a record high temperature. Today’s surface analysis chart shows the reason for the offshore flow we’ve had over the last couple of days with a fairly strong high-pressure system (1043mb) on the other side of the Cascades. This is an extension of the high-pressure system that brought Santa Ana winds and the Bond Fire to southern California. This high combined with a weak ridge of high pressure off the coast and the jet stream will drive the incoming storm systems to the north of us. Check out the satellite picture for today. The tail of the attached frontal system will drag over us tomorrow night with a stronger front coming in Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

The surface forecast charts for 48 hours, 6 Dec, gets even more interesting with the strongest low-pressure system this season showing up in the mid-Pacific. It’s round, it’s deep (942mb on Thursday) and it’s heading into SE Alaska. This system is larger than any of the hurricanes that came ashore in the US this year. Luckily, it will weaken as it gets closer to North America.

For Winter Vashon, tomorrow’s system will be just far enough to the north to not impact the racecourse. In fact, it should be sunny. It’s too bad we’re not racing in the eastern Strait of JdF where we’ll have 20-30 knots of SE breeze all day tomorrow. The gradient causing this strong SE in the Strait of JdF will ease the further south you go in Puget Sound. This will mean another light air Winter Vashon with the usual drag racing from hole to hole as you get swept north in the current in Colvos Passage. Luckily, the Race Committee has a history of shortening the course at the top end of the Island. While there may be slightly more wind when you get to the top end of the Island, as you go south, it will get lighter until about 0100 hrs Sunday morning when a 10-15 knot southerly should fill in and last until about 0900 hours when it will ease to 5-10 knots. That will last until mid-afternoon Sunday when the breeze will drop to 5 knots or less.

The South Sound just can’t buy a break, at least it won’t be raining and 34°F. Don’t forget the sunblock and it could be a little coolish as you power back to your home port so don’t forget a thermos full of the warming fluid of your choice.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and take care out there.

Bruce Hedrick

Winter Vashon Drifter

Kurt Hoehne Racing December 9, 2019December 9, 2019Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

Sadly, Bruce got it right. ‘Twas a year for drifting in the Winter Vashon Race on Saturday. Jan and Skip didn’t even bother launching their mighty photo boat, but did get some fitting shots (including above) from shore.

There was a race with by my count 20 finishers. Light air racing is fun as well, just tests a different set of skills. Charlie Macaulay took the honors in Absolutely. Results.

If any of you Sailish readers can contribute some firsthand report – or “thrilling” pix – please sent ’em my way and I’ll include them 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.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 6, 7, 8, Dec 2019 Winter Vashon

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing, Weather December 6, 2019December 6, 2019Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

Today’s satellite photo is, as always, very interesting since there are some interesting features on display especially when you combine it with today’s surface analysis chart.

Probably the first feature that captures your eye on that chart is that large low-pressure system (985MB) off the coast of California with it’s attached frontal system. Then if you look at the sat pic you can see some very impressive cloud tops off the northern coast of California and southern coast of Oregon. This marks the front as well as an area of vertical instability which even has lightning in it, a bit strange for this time of year.

As this front comes onshore and that low moves slowly towards the coast it will weaken to a 997MB system dragging yet another wet cold front ashore in Cal. This system will move across the US this coming week and when it meets up with some VERY cold area coming out of the Arctic in the Midwest there will be more significant snowfall and we’ll all be glad we live in the Pacific NW enjoying mild temps and relatively dry conditions. While today may be beautiful just look at today’s Doppler Radar from the Langley station, it’s definitely wet out there and it’s coming our way.

For the Winter Vashon race you would think with all this activity there should be the possibility of a good old-fashioned, gear busting, sailmaker benefit race. Probably not going to happen this year as we are just out of the reach of all this activity. True, for the coast, the Strait of JdF, and the San Juan Islands, it will be breezy tonight with weak low pressure over the area for tomorrow but that will be about it for the weekend. There will be rain and some snow in the mountains but probably not enough to make up for our current almost seven-inch rainfall deficit.

The really bad news is that since the system will be moving on Saturday there will be a bit of a post-frontal southwesterly over the south Sound which will be enough to get you started however as the system moves east what breeze you have will begin to evaporate. This will lead to light and variable conditions by about mid-day with some large, very glassy areas on the racecourse. Luckily, the TYC Race Committee has an excellent record of knowing when to shorten the course at the top mark, making all the Seattle boats pretty happy about only having a short distance to power in the rain to get back to the dock.

The other charts of interest today are the 500MB charts which show a strong zonal flow over the mid-Pacific, 100+ knots. Earlier this week southeast of Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka Peninsula this zonal flow was measured at 240-knots! Now if you were flying from the Far East to the Pacific NW that would be a great tailwind.

Have a great weekend, stay dry and have plenty of warm beverages aboard to ward off hypothermia!

Bruce Hedrick

Winter Vashon – A Bright, Slow Sail on Colvos Passage

Kurt Hoehne Racing December 6, 2018December 9, 2018South Sound Series, Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

Sometimes, Winter Vashon is a fast glorious circuit of the island back to warm drinks in Tacoma. Sometimes, it’s an excruciatingly slow process in dreary, cuttingly cold conditions. And sometimes, like last Saturday, it’s not so much a race as it is a great way to spend a day enjoying the bright sun while we still have it.

As Bruce Hedrick predicted last Friday, the early indications that this year’s Winter Vashon would be a fast race evaporated, leaving clear signs that it would be a slow Vashon. The Tacoma Yacht Club race committee made the obvious decision to shorten the course. The fleet sailed on a kind of southerly all day in blazing sunshine, connecting zephyrs wherever possible. Even the mighty Crossfire with her massive rig couldn’t find much air up high. They did find enough to win the race overall.

Photos by Jan Anderson. Click here to see the rest of her gallery. Click any photo to enlarge.

Emma Lee sailing in the non-flying sails class

Throughout the fleet, light air skills bubbled up to take home the trophies. Second overall was the speedy little Antrim 27 Redline with third going to Mark Brink on the Peterson OD 34 Tonic. Results at https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=17719. We’ll be getting weather and tactical outlooks out the day before racing for the remaining South Sound Series races.

Kurt Hoehne

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 30 Nov, 1,2,and 3 December and Winter Vashon

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing November 30, 2018November 30, 2018Puget Sound Marine Weather, Turkey Bowl Regatta, Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

While tomorrow’s race won’t be quite as cold as some of the past Winter Vashon races, it will still be fairly cool out there so dress accordingly and don’t skimp on the warm beverages. The good news is that when the breeze does come up you should be on the downwind leg to the finish.

The surface chart for today shows a low-pressure system off our coast heading off to the southeast. This will make the coast sometime this evening after which an offshore flow will develop over the central and western Strait of JdF. Over the eastern end of the Strait and the rest of the Salish Sea, this will become a northerly flow with the area in the central part of Admiralty Inlet seeing the strongest northerly maybe in the 15-20 knot range. It will take a while for this to fill down the Sound and into the race area.

Click any image to enlarge.

Typically this pattern will result in a light (4-8 knot) northerly in Colvos. Following the nice southerly we’ve got today, this will keep the ebb going in Colvos for tomorrow which will help get you up to the top mark. There will be rivers of stronger current in Colvos and those will tend to be in the center of Colvos Passage. You will really want to watch your COG and SOG as well as the other boats in order to find the axis of the current. Since it is a reverse start there will also be rewards for those who can keep their air clear and not fall into any of the dead zones on either shore.

Hopefully the northerly will fill to the north end of Vashon by around noon. This should be in the 10-12 knot range and I do mean northerly, not northwesterly so you’ll probably set up to sail the port gybe to Pt Robinson. This will also coincide with the start of the ebb so if you run into anti-water gybe back to the west, just don’t sail too close to Vashon and gybe back when you can make Pt Robinson.

From Robinson south to the finish you will want to stay off the Vashon shore because it will be light in there so even if you have to sail in some ebb, it’s better to stay out in the breeze. Unlike the spring and summer Vashon races, the wind you have at Pt Robinson will probably hold all the way to the finish.

Keep your fingers crossed and have a great race.

Bruce Hedrick

Wet Wednesday Videos

Kurt Hoehne Wet Wednesday Videos December 6, 2017December 6, 2017kite boarding, sailing speed record, Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

It’s Wednesday, and our thoughts have finally dried out from Saturday’s Winter Vashon Race. In fact, the Northwest is seeing bright sun! Time to get wet. The first video is the new kiteboarding record run by Alexandre Caizergues at Salin-de-Giraud, France. Courtesy of Malcolm MacNeil, the second video is from Crossfire‘s sail home to Seattle from the finish of Winter Vashon at the north end of Vashon Island. What a surprise, wind after the finish….

Please share your local videos so other Northwest sailors can enjoy. It doesn’t have to be a current/recent video, just something sailish readers would enjoy. Email me.

Kurt Hoehne

Zephyrs and Raindrops for Winter Vashon

Kurt Hoehne Racing December 4, 2017Winter Vashon Race 0 Comment

The Winter Vashon Race is one of those events that can be best or worst of everything. And it seems every year that I miss it, it’s one of those idyllic days. Nigel Barron of CSR and Crossfire reports this might have been an OK year to miss, even if you’re sailing on the biggest, baddest boat out there.

Smarter people than I have said many things about South Sound Sailing: “There’s no racing South of Alki.” “Don’t do a race with Winter OR Vashon in the title.” Yet there we all were at 630am on Saturday leaving Shilshole to motor down to Tacoma. Truth be told, it wasn’t a bad start to the day because it didn’t start raining until about 830, but once it started, it never really stopped… Light and fickle winds greeted the fleet. Did I mention it rained? It was really just a matter of trying to connect the small fingers of wind, that as predicted came from the east. On Crossfire, we did a pretty good job keeping the boat moving, jumping between the light jibs, and the A1 as the small puffs came through. Mercifully, as we approached the North end of the island, the RC announced they were shortening the course. True to form, a mile or so from the finish, we could see the boats behind us keeping kites full so it was pretty obvious the fill was coming from behind. After we crossed the finish, we put the kite back up and had the best sailing of the day from the finish back to West Point.

As one would expect the results showed final results in some classes as pretty much the inverse of ratings, as the fleet compressed and handicaps were applied. The overall winner of the day was McSwoosh, a fine reward for being out there regularly on the South Sound Races! Other class winners included Kahuna, Grace E. Blueflash, Sidewinder, Chinoook, Nimbus, Emma Lee, Second Wind and the Cal 20 Willie Tipit (now there’s a name).

The intrepid team of Jan and Skip Anderson were out there photographing, and Jan had her own take on the day:

Holy Schamoley, what a perfect day on the water, and a typical barn-burner of a Winter Vashon! GREAT breeze (often a bit too much to handle, actually), warm temps, record speeds, fantastic chute sets, tacking duels to write home about, playing the shifts perfectly, BIG old sun in the sky, and you could practically hear Mount Rainier shouting “Go! Go!” from astern … oh, wait, that wasn’t this weekend, was it? Dang. Don’t even try to print these photos off at home – it’ll soak your printer. Blah.