Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta

Bruce’s Briefs: 3,4,5,6 April Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock!

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs 1 Comment

Well, it would be a perfect weekend for one of our most favorite races, Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock. Unfortunately, it, along with just about everything else, has been canceled. That, however, won’t keep us from forecasting for the weekend!

Today’s surface analysis chart shows a very complex series of systems around us with three low-pressure systems surrounding the Salish Sea and three high-pressure systems in place to start influencing our weather after these lows move on down to California.

  • April 3 500MB
  • April 3 Surface Analysis
  • April 4 Surface Forecast
  • April 5 500MB
  • April 5 Surface Forecast
  • April 6 Surface Forecast
  • April 7 Surface Foreast

Today’s weather started with an onshore flow coming down the Strait as well as through the Chehalis Gap and up the Sound. This created a classic Puget Sound convergent zone that is still in play as this is being written. 16-knots from the north at West Point and 16-knots from the south at Alki, some rain from north Seattle to Marysville. Gradually the northerly will come down the Sound and as high pressure builds in BC and the low moves south the onshore flow will ease and the flow over the area will become more northerly to northeasterly. Then as we move into next week, high-pressure will build in the Pacific and our weather will become nicer and slightly warmer. Finally.

So how would we sail the Sloop BRBR? Tides will be fairly weak which will help clear up the congestion that will develop at Meadow Point because of the weak flood and light northerly. A clear air start will be key and getting around Meadow Point cleanly will help the early starters. With the anticipated light air and congestion near the mark, you’ll want to watch to see if you could pull off a port tack start and head immediately into the beach which would get you out of the tide and into a nice northeasterly along the beach south of Meadow Pt. This will also give you a starboard tack approach to the mark just remember that if the big NFS boats have chopped up the air at the mark you may have to anticipate a couple of quick tacks to get around.

Once you get around you’ll hold starboard tack to get you out into the stronger flood however the wind will tend to be stronger along the east side of the Sound. A stronger northerly will eventually fill down so keep your head out of the boat and watch what’s going on around you. This also might be a good year to plan a gybe to port at West Point. There should be a nice northeasterly which will allow you to sail straight down the Sound with a course to a point just west of Alki. This will only last until you are even with Four Mile Rock and once you’re lifted to just east of Alki, gybe and you’ll be aimed right at Blakely Rock.

Once around Blakely Rock, you’ll hold a nice port tack all the way back to Magnolia just don’t get too far into the shallow water south of West Pt, it shoals up very quickly.

You’ll hold starboard tack until you can track to port and be aimed just south of the entrance to the Ship Canal. There will be some anti-water along here because of the outflow from the Canal but as you get closer to the Canal you should also get another knock which will allow you to tack to starboard and go right across the entrance to the Ship Canal and plan your final approach to the finish.

Regardless of what we have for weather tomorrow, just remember that we all will have better days ahead. Enjoy the weekend, go to the marina, check the boat, maybe even go for a sail. If you don’t go sailing, just relax on the boat and read one of the many equipment manuals you always meant to read. Believe me, you’ll feel better just for having been on the boat!

Blue Fin, from the 2018 BRBR.

Ed. Note: My advice for tomorrow’s non-race? Read Bruce’s weather outlook a couple times, close your eyes and visualize it as Bruce called it. If you’re a trimmer, do some air-grinding. If you’re an owner, draw up some fake $100 bills and rip them up. If you’re a bow person, get someone to yell “Can’t you do that any faster?” at you a few times with increasing intensity. Sit on the edge of your couch, lean forward and think of witty and slightly rude nicknames to call your main competitors. Laugh loudly enough to bother the other people in your house. Then eat a soggy sandwich.

OK, not the same. But it is something that’s not on a screen. Then go read the manuals or for a real thrill read the racing rules. –KH

Bruce’s Brief’s 6,7, and 8 April. Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock Benefit Race

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Racing, Weather 0 Comment

Another very interesting week of weather especially if you were having to work in the upper Midwest, or in New England. Our big weather story has been about the low-pressure system that will brush us tomorrow. Earlier in the week, it was forecast to come ashore somewhere along the central to north coast of Washington. It is a compact and intense system and had it come ashore it would have done some damage. Right now it appears it will make landfall sometime Sunday near mid-Vancouver Island. The associated cold front will be over us mid-day tomorrow. The coast will bear the brunt of this storm while the Sound will probably see 25-30 knots of southerly late Saturday afternoon and into the evening hours, easing after midnight.

Nothing is currently showing up on the Doppler Radar however, the satellite picture gives us a very clear view of this low-pressure system and its cold front. We have generally light southeasterly flow over the area now and this will increase as the system approaches starting late this afternoon and into the evening. With the uncertainty of how this low will interact with the coast, the models are not in agreement as to how much wind we’ll have in the Sound and when it may or may not arrive.

The first start is at 1100 hours and there should be about 12-18 knots of southerly. This will go up and down over the course of the day. This is a reverse start so the battle on the upwind leg will be to keep your air clear. Tides will not be much of a factor.

Tidal Currents at West Point

0706 .47 knots Flood

1006 Slack

1136 .17 knots Ebb

1424 Slack

1924 .86 knots Flood

So you will want to get a clear air start and then hold starboard tack to the breakwater and then work your way up under West Point as there will still be some wind-generated surface current against you. At West Point head, across the Sound on port tack. Go all the way to the Bainbridge shore to again get out of what current there is. There should be a slight knock as you get to Bainbridge so sail well into it before you tack to starboard and work your way up to the Rock. You’ll probably do a port pole set however as you get past all the rocks headed north get set up to gybe and get aimed at West Point. At West Point, the wind may shift slightly to the SSE and become puffy as the wind starts to come out of the Ship Canal. Get set-up to do your drop early and start negotiating with the boats around you for buoy room at Meadow Point. As you sail past the finish line be sure to sight it and figure out which end is favored. Perfect sail handling at this mark will pay big dividends. You’ll need to tack out from the beach fairly quickly so make sure that is all part of your rounding plan. You should tack back to starboard once you can make the beach between the bathhouse and the north end of the breakwater. There will be a knock as you get in close to the beach. Tack when you can lay the favored end. If it’s the buoy end put a little in the bank because the current from the Ship Canal will set you out.

I also had a great question this week once it looked like it might be breezy and we could be in for some heavy weather. The question was “How do you define heavy weather?” The answer is that you define what heavy weather is and that is the point where you and your crew are no longer comfortable sailing in the existing conditions and there exists the possibility of hurting someone or doing damage to the vessel. So for tomorrow, we will all be in life jackets and safety harnesses and if it’s cranking, we may just stay at the dock. Nothing wrong with that!

Be safe and have a great time.

 

 

Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta

Kurt Hoehne Community, Racing, Youth Sailing , 0 Comment

It’s been a long time since 116 boats have been on Puget Sound for a race on the same day, but that’s exactly what happened for Saturday’s Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta (BRBR). And with a gentle southerly, sailors and non-sailors alike looking out at Sound got to see a gorgeous parade of boats headed back to Shilshole after rounding the Rock.

Why so many boats? Maybe it had to do with the beneficiary of the regatta, The Sailing Foundation (TSF) and its efforts at promoting youth sailing. While all the beneficiaries of this race are worthy, there’s a natural connection with TSF. Maybe the participation had to do with the promotional efforts by the Sloop Tavern YC and Andrew Nelson of TSF. There was lots of outreach. Maybe the Sloop offering a provisional PHRF racing for a race helped spur attendance. It did in my case.

Regardless, why were there so many boats in BRBR is probably worth some study. In the meantime here are some great Jan Anderson photos and a race to talk about. The sun mixed with clouds and a bit of warmth made for some very happy faces, and Jan caught a lot of them. Maybe a shot or two of your boat?

There were three, count’em three, non flying sails classes comprising 15 boats. Starting first, they could stay in more of the dying breeze longer, though that couldn’t help some of the boats when it got super light off Shilshole. Despite that, every non-flying sails boat that started, finish. In fact, only two boats that started DNFed. Hey, it’s a benefit regatta and a beautiful day and, really, so what if some boats are a mile ahead. It’s great to be on the water, and that racing climate is what makes this race special.

There was something really special about watching Crossfire and Smoke smoke through the fleet on the long leg to the Meadow Point buoy. With their tall rigs and generating their own apparent wind, it didn’t seem like a light air race to them. They finished first and second overall, respectively. There were lots of other impressive performances you can find in the results. The two Bob Perry-designed Flying Tigers had a great day, finishing first and second in class. An Aussie 18 skiff, brought here temporarily from the sailing skiff Foundation in San Francisco and skippered by Evan Sjostedt, flew around the leadmines with the greatest of ease.

But this race was primarily about a relaxed race and gathering some funds for TSF. Youth Sailing Director Andrew Nelson doesn’t have the final numbers yet, but it was surely a significant fundraiser for the organization. And he reported that Ben Glass on Ocelot (The Mighty Ocelot for this race, anyway) invited four high school kids, who must have had a blast. Video below and on the sailish.com Facebook page.

And we’ll throw in another photo, this one of the Swan 391 Oxomoro crossing the trimaran Escape. Photo courtesy of Oxomoro skipper Doug Frazer, and if you want to see a relationship between a happy owner and boat unfold, check this slideshow out.

Oxomoro and Escape (click to enlarge)

Onboard Slipstream

The race was SO appealing, my boat partners Joe and Becky Burcar and I raced our C&C 36 Slipstream with their 6 year old daughter Charlotte and my 10 year old son Ian. We would have won (not) for sure if not for a major crisis rounding Blakely Rock. Charlotte needed help getting her socks on, and was really quite insistent about it. Mommy was on the helm, and Joe and I were rather busy at the time and Ian’s help was unacceptable. So, after gybing the headsail and pointing back toward Shilshole, the first order of business was Joe getting Charlotte’s socks on. And you know, that was perfect. As it turned out, Charlotte’s socks were much less of a problem than our spinnaker sock. Following are a couple little videos I posted live to Facebook.

It’s obvious that with smartphone cameras and their ubiquitous use , we’re going to see more and more onboard footage. If you want to share yours on sailish.com or our FB page, let me know.

 

 

 

Bruce’s Brief April 1-2, Sloop Tavern Blakely Rocks Benefit Regatta

Bruce Hedrick Bruce's Briefs, Community, Racing 0 Comment

WOW! 117 boats turning out for this great event! In fact, it’s so good even editor Kurt Hoehne will be out in the mighty Slipstream, be forewarned. Unfortunately, the models are not in agreement at all except on one thing and that is that there will be more wind in the morning than in the afternoon. The early starters will have an advantage as will the boats with really tall rigs i.e. Crossfire and Smoke. The taller the rig, the more wind there will be off the water.

(Ed. Note: Folks, this is a great race and The Sailing Foundation is a great organization for promoting sailing. If you’re not sailing, consider donating anyway. At some point tomorrow I’m going to try to do a little live video to the sailish.com Facebook page. We’ll see how that goes. See you out there! And what Bruce meant to say was, be sure to pass Slipstream to leeward. - Kurt)

Tides are interesting and I did double check the tides so the times are correct. The reason for the big disparity in the afternoon will be apparent if you look at the chart.

Tidal currents at West Point

0806 Slack

0942 Max Ebb .48 knots

1200 Slack

1818 Max Flood 1.12 knots

For the most part, we will be sailing in relatively little current, just pray for more wind. The other interesting feature is the IR satellite image which shows that we will also have some moisture headed our way, for a change. Kidding. Yet another month of near-record rainfall comes to an end with double the “normal” amount for the month. April will be much the same.

As you look at the surface charts you can see the problem developing as the next system passes with the center of the low staying to the south of us and really opening the pressure gradient, which won’t leave us with much wind. The post frontal will result in stronger breezes coming down the Straits however if it does come down the Sound it won’t be much.

In the starts before noon look for 5-12 knots of wind from the south with a slight southeasterly along Shilshole. This will be a pretty standard race compounded by the problem that in light air, the zone of dirty air extends further aft from the boats in front of you. Figure that in 5-8 knots of wind the zone will extend 15-20 times the mast height astern of the boat in front of you. Clear air in this size of the fleet will be highly prized and should be fought for all the time. In the starting area because it will be so close to the Shilshole breakwater it will pay to hold starboard off the start line to get to the breakwater before you tack. Don’t sail into the restricted area as marked by the buoys off the south end of the breakwater. Hold port tack to West Point and then beat feet to the west and Bainbridge Isl. Again, focus on staying in clear air and don’t tack back to starboard after West Point because the ebb will be flowing along the Magnolia Bluff. It was definitely there last weekend and with the rain this week, I suspect it will be there again this weekend.

Moisture headed our way. Again.

Once you get west and work your way up to the Rock, start watching the boats that have rounded ahead of you to see who is doing well. The southerly breeze will start to lighten up from the east first so staying slightly west, i.e. do the port pole set and delay your gybe to stay in more wind.

The next problem will be the rounding at Meadow Point because it is at this mark that the fleet tends to compress and folks have problems getting their kites down, getting the headsail sheeted properly, all the time while headed towards the beach with all kinds of boats screaming for shore room. Negotiate early and often and make sure there is only one person on the boat doing your inter-fleet communication. Plan your approach to the finish and watch as there may be more wind outside which may offset the port tack lift on the inside.

While the central and south Sound will have light air there is a gale watch in effect for the eastern end of the Straits which will last through tomorrow and may downgrade to a small craft advisory for Sunday.

Have fun stay safe, stay dry and enjoy the weekend!

Blakely Rock Benefit Rocked

Jan Anderson Community, Racing , 0 Comment

Zowie, what a day! Bruce (Hedrick) himself could not have even foretold the weather we experienced, with winds simultaneously from the north and south, dead spots and breezy spots in no apparent order, contrarian current over the entire course, and overcast to full on sunshine to boot! Wait a minute … that is EXACTLY what Bruce forecast for us. Has there ever been another human so capable of predicting a 100+ boat day of fun on the water?

And here are a few of Jan’s photos….don’t forget to go to her smugmug site and buy some:

Ed. Note: We’d love to hear from the Sloop Tavern YC or Frog Prints e! folks on just how much money was raised for my friends at Frog Prints e! The race results are here. If anybody would like to chime in with vignettes or photos, I’ll run ’em.

Bruce’s Weather Brief for Sloop Tavern Blakely Rock Benefit Race - Sunblock Every 2-3 Hours!

Bruce Hedrick Racing, Weather , , 0 Comment

If you liked last weekend, you’ll love tomorrow. Once again, the models are diverging as we get closer to race time. Not unusual this time of the year as the weather in the Pacific is trying to transition from winter to summer.

Wind speed vs air pressure at West Point

The Pacific High is still well south of its summertime residence and storm systems are pushing it around and keeping it from becoming more round, stronger and more stable. See the 1700 Surface Forecast Chart.

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The only real known forecasts with a high degree of accuracy are the tides and currents.

Tides for tomorrow are:

0803 Low 6.35 feet

1258 High 8.7 feet

1939 Low 1.02 feet

Currents at West Point:

0846 Slack

1017 Flood .16 knots

1220 Slack

1613 Ebb .71 knots

2004 Slack

 

As you can see from the Surface Forecast Charts there is very little gradient over the Pacific Northwest. When you log the pressure readings at 1200 hours on Friday you find the following:

Forks 1023.4

Bellingham 1023.1

SEA 1023.4

PDX 1022.6

In other words not much. What’s interesting is that there has been a northerly all night and this morning over most of the race area even though the National Weather Service has been forecasting a southerly for the morning then changing over to a northerly in the afternoon with the same for tomorrow, sort of. The culprit here is the Swihart effect which says that in the absence of a pressure gradient over the Pacific NW and the presence of abundant sunshine causing heating of the concrete and blacktop jungle known as the City and surrounding environs of Seattle, combined with a flood tide, will initiate a northerly in the Sound. So with two days of beautiful, clear skies and temps near 70⁰ you’re getting plenty of heating. This will probably carry over to tomorrow, at least that’s what we’re hoping for. Regardless, you’ll still need to track the pressure gradients and the wind over the area, especially the ferry weather at Edmonds and Elliott Bay.

So if there is a northerly, how do we sail this race? The first item to check when you leave Shilshole and get out to the starting area is what is the flag doing at West Point. If it’s like this morning, you’ll notice a very slight shift to the NNE. When you start with a northerly, the first mark is Meadow Point so having to leave the mark to port always creates some interesting rounding problems especially for the deep draft vessels that would rather come in on port since the starboard tack approach can get you into some skinny water. Since there is a flood you’ll want to set with the pole to starboard and aim towards the mark at Blakely Rock. If you get slightly lifted as you get close to West Point, you might want to gybe to port. If there is a northeasterly at West Point there will be more wind under the bluff and you can hold that until you get lifted above Alki and your heading has you between Alki and Duwamish, then gybe back to starboard and aim at the Rock. Just don’t hit it….

On the way back from Blakely Rock put it on the wind on port tack and you’ll be heading towards the vicinity of Four Mile Rock. Tide may be slack or just starting to ebb so remember just how far out the shallow area goes from Four Mile to West Point. It almost always claims someone and with the ebb you’re going to be there for a while unless you get some help from the photoboat. Go in as close as you dare before tacking on to starboard. The puffs will be lifts and the person on the main and traveler will be working really hard to take advantage of each and every puff.

Once at West Point you’ll want to hold onto starboard tack to take you off the Point and stay in the ebb tide. Tacking too close to West Point will run you into the back eddy that sweeps along the north side of West Point. Tack to port when you stay outside of the restricted zone at the entrance to the Ship Canal. Then plan on one tack at the breakwater to make the finish.

This was the optimistic race forecast. On the other hand if it goes according to the forecast models and we start with a southerly that then clocks to a southwesterly and dies as we transition into a northerly in the later afternoon, it will be a matter of drag racing from puff to puff and sailing the shortest possible course. The big boats with tall rigs and code 0’s could have a real advantage on the reach/run back to Meadow Point. The next problem will be negotiating the rounding because the deep draft boats are going to have to tack immediately at Meadow Point because over the winter the sand bar has moved off the beach and there is now a bump to the north of the usual location of the bar.

Have a great race and don’t get sunburned!