Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 18, 19, 20, and 21 Oct. WVYC Pumpkin Bowl Regatta, STYC Fall Regatta, Fall Sailing at its best!

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Weather 2 Comments

Plenty of sailing going on around the Salish Sea this weekend and for the most part, there will be wind but it’s really a tale of two or more cities. The Harken / Pro-Tech Pumpkin Regatta at the West Vancouver Yacht Club will have over 230 young participants from all over the Pacific Northwest and over 100 volunteers to make this huge event happen and it should be a great one with the weather providing some great sailing. STYC will have its’ Fall Regatta with almost 50 boats signed up, unfortunately, the weather won’t be quite so cooperative.

This week we knew we’d have the first of a series of frontal systems come onshore and while we had 40+ knots from the SE at Smith Island, the rest of the area benefitted from having the coastal buffer zone weaken these fronts as they came onshore. The graph for West Point shows frontal passage occurred around 1700 hours yesterday which coincided with a peak gust at West Point of around 35 knots.  The baro is starting slowly back up and that will keep the post-frontal S-SW breezes over our area for the rest of the day. The central and eastern Strait of JdF and the San Juans could have Small Craft Advisories Saturday and Sunday for winds of 25-30 knots.

The Sea/Tac Radar and the color Sat Pic for today show a very clear correlation between cloud cover and active precipitation headed towards both Seattle and Vancouver. Precip will continue over the area for the entire weekend which is fine as we are still about 2 inches behind for the year in rainfall totals.

  • October 18 500MB
  • October 18 Surface Analysis
  • October 19 Surface Forecast
  • October 20 500MB
  • October 20 Surface Forecast
  • October 22 Surface Forecast

Today’s Surface Analysis Chart shows the remnants of yesterday’s front on the east side of the Cascades, as well as a weakened front moving towards the area with a number of notations of gales or developing gales in the North Pacific. As that 992MB low-pressure system continues to weaken and move to the east this will allow onshore flow to build over the offshore waters, fill down both the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of JdF, and around the bottom side of the Olympic Mountains. This will bring West to NW wind to the Strait of Georgia for Saturday giving the Pumpkin Bowlers 10-12 knots to start with and then building to 12-18 in the afternoon.

This is the bad news for the STYC Fall regatta as the flow down the Strait of JdF and the flow coming around the bottom of the Olympics have to meet somewhere and that somewhere will be right over central Puget Sound, hence light conditions for the area off of Shilshole. 

The Surface Forecast Chart for Sunday shows another frontal system approaching the Pacific Northwest.  This will bring a pre-frontal E-SE breeze to English Bay and the Pumpkin Bowlers. There is disagreement in the models about when the transition from W-NW to E-SE will occur however right now it looks like by 0800 Sunday there should be 8-12 knots for the SE which may build slightly to near 15 by late morning. As it gets closer to mid-afternoon the breeze will begin to ease and back to the East before becoming light and variable by late afternoon and into the early evening.

All in all, besides being damp, it’s like a great weekend for sailing just always check the conditions before you head out.

Ed. Note: It’s also the first day of the Seattle Laser Fleet Frostbite series for Lasers and Aeros. Sign up at seattlelaserfleet.org. Show up for a noon start off Shilshole.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx Update for tonight and into tomorrow.

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Weather 0 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: Wx Update for tonight and into tomorrow.

This will be the first major windstorm for this winter and it looks like we could have 25-40 knots over the central Sound. So if you haven’t re-tied those mooring lines and added an extra fender or two, now would be a good time to do so!

  • October 15 Surface Analysis
  • October 16 Surface Forecast

You can see from the Surface Analysis from this morning and the Surface Forecast Chart for tomorrow that there will be a significant tightening of the pressure gradient as this front comes onshore. While we have gale warnings for the coast, the coastal buffer zone will weaken the front and leave us with a Small Craft Advisory for the inland waters.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 11, 12, 13, and 14 October. CYC-PSSC

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Weather 0 Comment
Color radar

A spectacular day today with a great northerly up and down the Sound. Plus there are boats headed for Blake Island and other boats just out sailing around and enjoying the day. Unfortunately, conditions won’t hold for CYC’s Puget Sound Sailing Championship (PSSC) tomorrow and Sunday.

The surface analysis chart shows a nice ridge of high-pressure (1033-1034MB) just east of the Salish Sea but still dominating our weather. This will weaken and shift to the east overnight. As you can see from the station reports, the barometer is already falling, signaling the arrival of a weak frontal system that will break up as it hits the coastal buffer zone late tomorrow afternoon and into the evening. This will leave the Sound with a mixed bag of wind for the weekend and before a stronger system hits our area on Tuesday.

  • October 11 500MB
  • October 11 Surface Analysis
  • October 12 Surface Forecast
  • October 13 Surface Forecast
  • October 15 500 MB
  • October 15 Surface Forecast

For the central Sound it appears that the best chance for wind will be Saturday afternoon as a weak northerly (5-10 knots) will fill down the Sound. Watch for the northerly to fill as the flood tide builds. This will hold into the evening before it all goes light Sunday morning. Sunday will remain light with 4-6 knots of northerly starting to fill by mid-Sunday afternoon.  

Tidal current at West Point:

Saturday

0806      Slack

1300      Max Flood            .81 knots

1624      Slack

Sunday

0848      Slack

1336      Max Flood            .83 knots

1654      Slack

Enjoy the weekend!

Bergan and Glass win Championship of Champions

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, US Sailing 0 Comment

Looks like Dalton and Ben were in fine form on the East Coast. Congrats and thanks for doing the PNW proud. Here’s the report from US Sailing.

STAMFORD, Conn. (October 6, 2025) – The Championship of Champions, hosted by Stamford Yacht Club came to a close Sunday afternoon after three days of exciting racing in windy conditions on Long Island Sound. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.) and Ben Glass (Seattle, Wash.) won the event to claim the 2019 Jack Brown Trophy.

Dalton Bergan and Ben Glass winning the Championship of Champions in Ideal 18s. Photos by Rick Bannerot, ontheflyphotos.net.

RS Aero North American Champion, Bergan, and his crew, Glass, established a dominant lead early on. They won six of the total 13 races, including both races that occurred on the first day of the regatta. With a considerable lead, they officially sealed their victory after winning the second to last race of the event.

Bergan attributed their success to their consistent focus on the water, “We put a lot of effort into setting up the boat before every race.” Glass added, “We went upwind to check our settings over and over again without resting much between races. It seems to have paid off.”

Bergan and Glass, center.

Both of the victors enjoyed the Championship’s unique crowd of fellow competitors, “We didn’t really know what to expect from the competitors at this event,” said Glass. Bergan noted, “It was really interesting to compete against such a broad spectrum of sailors. This is the only place where you’d see this group of people racing against each other in the same fleet.”

To qualify for the Championship of Champions, competitors have to first claim victory at a National or North American Class Championship. This year featured a particularly wide array of competitors. Nine of the sailors were under age 21 and several of the young competitors raced alongside their sibling.

Unlike the sibling teams, Vincent Porter (Chicago, Ill.) and Andrew Barrett (Houston, Texas), hadn’t spent much time sailing with one another and ended up in a tight race for the silver medal. “This is the first time we’ve ever sailed with one another; it was our first time on a boat together. We were college roommates and we decided to do this regatta kind of on a whim,” said Porter. The pair’s lack of practice time didn’t hold them back, though. On the second day of racing, they consistently placed in the top-five and moved up the leaderboard into the silver medal position.

Despite the solid lead over third-place sailors, Chris Raab (Sunset Beach, Calif.) and Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.), Porter and Barrett kept things exciting after finishing 18th in the second to last race, maintaining just a two-point lead over Raab and Ewenson.

“Well, we had just had our worst race of the regatta and honestly at that point, we didn’t worry about the points. We just figured, what the heck, let’s have fun and a good last race,” said Porter. The pair did just that, winning the final race to solidify their spot in second overall, earning Raab and Ewenson the bronze.

Full Results and Standings.

For additional information about this Championship, visit the event website.

The 2019 Championship of Champions is nationally sponsored by Hobie Polarized.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 4, 5, and 6 Oct 2019, Foulweather Bluff Race

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Weather 0 Comment

It may have been a little wet this morning but that is probably over until Monday and Tuesday of next week. That’s the good news, the bad news is that the Foulweather Bluff Race should have been held today. Plenty of wind over the entire course, partial sun, and minimal tides, in other words, a rare perfect day for sailing on the Salish Sea. Tomorrow will be much different.

Foul Weather Bluff currents

The reason is easy to see if you compare today’s surface analysis chart with the surface forecast chart for tomorrow. The chart for today shows a convoluted and confusing set of systems right over the Pacific Northwest. We see the 1012MB low-pressure system with the remains of the front that passed over the area this morning bracketed to the north and south by two, weak, high-pressure systems. This low will be broken up by the coastal buffer zone and a weak onshore flow will develop overnight. The onshore flow will result in a very light southerly over the race area by tomorrow morning however by about mid-day the flow will become more of a drainage northerly shifting to a very weak offshore flow as high pressure builds over eastern Washington. This will bring light and variable winds over the race area and most of the Salish sea, accompanied by plenty of sun. Dig out the sunblock, the wind finder, and the 1/2oz chutes.

SST 12 Sept
SST 3 October
  • October 4 500MB
  • October 4 Surface Analysis
  • October 5 Surface Forecast
  • October 6 500MB
  • October 6 Surface Forecast
  • October 8 500 MB
  • October 8 Surface Forecast
Oct 4 color satellite

As far as tactics for the FWB Race, it will be a matter of drag racing from hole to hole, sailing the shortest possible course, and not getting too far off the rhumbline to the next mark. I wish I had better news for you, however, the race committee has always done a pretty good job of not setting too long a course on these light air days. Regardless, we always have a great time in Edmonds.

Luckily, the tides will remain very minimal over the area for Saturday the reason can be seen in the current chart for Foulweather Bluff.

Oct 4 Satellite

Also of interest is the 500MB charts which are now showing a distinct lowering of the jet stream and a more seasonal flow pattern which will bring not only more rain into the Pacific Northwest but it will also have the effect of starting to break up the warm water blob off of our coast. As you can see from the sea surface temperature charts, it is already having an impact. Let’s keep our fingers crossed on that.

Have a great weekend!

Laser Pacific Coast Championships

Mike Powell 505 Dinghy, Laser Sailing 0 Comment
Laser Pacific Coast Championships

Bellingham Bay saw 23 Laser standards and 41 Laser Radials from mostly BC, WA and OR plus one brave soul from CA line up to race on a weekend that proved to have most wind ranges to contend with.

Saturday morning started sunny with 10-12kts out of the south dying as the day went on to finish in about 3-5kts, the Standards got 4 races off and the Radials 3 as they had to re-start several times due to general recalls. Races were championship length running around 50-60 minutes which favored the fit when the wind was up.

  • Standard rig start.
  • Working the Bellingham breeze.
  • Sammy Farkas, working hard and loving it.
  • The Radial podium with Hanne Weaver, Maura Dewey and Al Clark.
  • The requesite 505 planing under spinnaker photo.
  • 505 action.
  • Radials rule.

Sunday started with a weak easterly, never a good thing in Bellingham Bay but as competitors arrived the expected sporty southeasterly kicked in and we had 18-24kts with quite bumpy sea states for most of the day until the last Radial race where it eased to around 10kts. Standards raced another four for a total of eight races and Radials four for a total of seven.

In the standards the Canadians swept the podium with Ian Elliott from RVYC dominating the fleet with six bullets a 2nd and a 4th place throw out for eight points, Mathew Stranaghan, WVYC, 2nd (Also first youth) with 22 points and Tony Martin, JSCA, in 3rd with 29.

In the larger Radial fleet, which was also packed with the region’s strong youth contingent, Maura Dewey, RVYC, Al Clark, RVYC and Hanne Weaver, SYC/RVYC could be seen swapping leads and racing bow to bow around the marks both days. The final points showed how close the competition was as they finished with 12,14 and 15 points in total. Cameron Holland, RVYC came in 4th overall and also the first youth racer.

The BYC operated two full race courses over the weekend as we also had the annual Dale Jepson One Design regatta happening with a fleet of 15 505’s and 6 FJ’s. With over 30 volunteers and 10 support vessels on the water it was a large undertaking for our club, which was handled well. PROs Mick Corcoran (DJOD) and Blaine Pedlow (PCC’s) managed both race courses.

A big thank you to our event sponsors; Samson Ropes, The Port of Bellingham, Stones Throw Brewery, West Coast Sailing, West Marine and the host Bellingham Yacht Club.

Mike Powell & Mike Poulos, Regatta Chairs

Results here; http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/19445#_newsroom

Ed. Note: For permission to use this text or photos, please contact Mike Powell at mike@mikepowellphoto.com.

Keelboat Qualifier This Weekend

Kurt Hoehne High School Racing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment

On September 28th and 29th, the Corinthian Yacht Club, Seattle Sailing Club and the J/80 fleet will host the NW District’s Keelboat Qualifier.

There is a recognized need to connect young sailors with keelboats and those currently sailing keelboats in order to strengthen the sailing community. The Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association (NWISA) has long hoped for this partnership and started talking to the J/80 fleet at JFest.

There are approximately 50 High School teams that compete under NWISA, typically on double handed dinghies. Teams that have keelboat racing experience will fill out a resume in the hope of being selected as one of the seven teams to participate in the Keelboat qualifier.

Teams will be asked to attend a Clubhouse discussion Friday night with owners/team. An on-the water 2 hour session with the owner/team will take place Saturday morning. The teams will rotate through all of the J/80s transferring via coach boat. The team that scores the lowest points after completion of the round-robin will travel to Florida in December and compete in Interscholastic Sailing Association’s Keelboat invitational at St. Petersburg Yacht Club, where the top ten teams across the country will sail on J/70s.

Bruce’s Briefs: Wx for 6,7, 8 and 9 Sept. Fall Sailing has begun!

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Weather 0 Comment

I know, it’s not officially fall yet however it has become decidedly cooler in the evening hours. There is plenty of sailing action this weekend and except for the central and eastern Strait of JdF tonight and tomorrow night, it will once again be a fairly light air weekend.

The surface charts, upper air charts, and Satellite pictures give us a fairly clear overview of what will happen this weekend. We still have that low sitting on the other side of the mountains with a weak ridge of high pressure just offshore. This combination will continue to drive a weak onshore flow down the Straits. Offshore on the surface charts you’ll see a large but very weak low-pressure system (1008mb) with an attached cold front. This system also shows up very nicely on the satellite picture. This will move over the area late Saturday night and into Sunday morning. It won’t bring much if any moisture with it unless you’re hiking in the Cascades.

  • Sept 6 500MB
  • Sept 6 Surface Analysis
  • September 7 Surface Forecast
  • Sept 8 500MB
  • Sept 8 Surface Forecast
  • Sept 10 Surface Forecast

The Saturday surface forecast chart shows very clearly the reason we’ll be having light air as there is almost no pressure gradient from the Rockies to well offshore in the Pacific and as that frontal system hits the coastal buffer zone it will weaken and just go away.

The Sunday surface forecast chart is much more interesting in that from 20N to 60N and east of 140W we have SEVEN (7) low-pressure systems including the rapidly weakening Hurricane Juliette. Unfortunately, even with all these systems there is still no pressure gradient over the Salish Sea.

There was also a lot of discussion about the new “Blob” that has been forming off of the West Coast which, if it continues on its current trajectory, will have a serious impact on our area which is still recovering from the last “Blob” which was forming in September of 2014. The current “Blob” is much larger and much further along in its development. The reason why is what we have been complaining about all summer; no “normal” Pacific High and with no high, lows have been able to push across keeping the air mass offshore stagnant allowing for more heating of the ocean. The other feature contributing to this is the lack of a jet stream to move systems across and stir up the atmosphere. Today’s 500mb chart at least shows the jet stream trying to make its way south however the 8 September 500mb forecast chart shows yet another cut-off low-pressure system forming just off our coast which will slow the advance of the jet stream as it tries to get south. Definitely, something to watch.

Speaking of interesting things to watch, keep an eye on the Atlantic Basin this coming week as there is the potential for three more hurricanes to form with one of them setting up to be another major storm impacting the Caribbean and the East Coast.

Have a great weekend.

Ed. Note: Bruce is taking some time off to travel Italy and the French wine regions for the month of September. This coincides (purely accidentally) with the grape harvesting season. Rumor has it he’ll be chartering a powerboat. Yes, good Salish readers, we’ve got nothing really against powerboats. If anyone with skills wants to try a weekend weather forecast while he’s gone, please get in touch.

SSYC Race to Fight Hunger

Kurt Hoehne Casual Racing, Community 0 Comment

Seattle Singles Yacht Club’s NW Harvest Benefit Race is coming up September 21st. It’s another great way NW sailors can have a little fun while helping the community. For all of us Elliott Bay Thursday Nighters, Duck Dodgers, Friday Take-your-timers etc., this is a great chance for a fun race when all the evening racing has been “blacked out.”

Here’s the NOR.

Here’s the course.

Have fun!

Laser Pacific Coast Championships in Bellingham September 21-22

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Laser Pacific Coast Championships in Bellingham September 21-22

Every year Bellingham Yacht Club puts the great Dale Jepson One Design Regatta (DJOD), and this year it will be really special for Lasers. The 2019 Laser Pacific Coast Championships will be held as part of the event but on a separate course.

Laser Standard, Radial and 4.2 classes will be run on a championship trapezoidal course overseen by PRO Blaine Pedlow. A separate course will run on the bay for other dinghies racing in the annual DJOD which sees and large 505 fleet. The organizers would love to see the Aeros show up too!

Dinner and a party Saturday night at the BYC plus a cool regatta T-shirt are included. Register early so they can prepare; http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/19445#_home. You can also get information directly from the organizer, Mike Powell: mike@mikepowellphoto.com.

With the ongoing interest in the Lasers as an Olympic class, and the burgeoning 4.7 class, this should be a great regatta. Bellingham can deliver some great September sailing, and BYC is a hugely welcoming club.