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 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.
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.
Dec. 6 500MB
Dec. 6 Surface Analysis
Dec. 8 500 MB
Dec. 8 Surface Forecast
Dec. 9 Surface Forecast
Dec 10 500 MB
Dec. 10 Surface Forecast
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.
December 6 Satellite
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 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)
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.
Slow-mo start
Crossfire gybing
Chasch Mer
Ben and Jen Glass’s Ocelot
Emma Lee sailing in the non-flying sails class
Bob King’s String Theory won her class
It was also a fine day for fishing.
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 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.
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.
November 30 500MB
November 30 Surface Analysis
December 1 Surface Forecast
December 2 Surface Forecast
December 3 500MB
December 3 Surface Forecast
December 4 Surface Forecast
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.
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)
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 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 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.
Chinook won her class.
Headed into Colvos Passage.
Mist.
Auxiliary power on a Cal 20.
I guess didn’t miss much - this year. Here are Jan’s photos, and if you want to remember the day, visit her web site!
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.
As usual, there will be a great turnout for the start of the South Sound Series. Where else do we get a chance to race in rain, snow, and sometimes a pretty good breeze. Unfortunately, this year it’s looking like some breeze for the start then dropping off as we transition from a very rainy November to a dryish and coolish start of December. November is traditionally our wettest month and this year will be no exception as we are two inches ahead of our average rainfall for the month. The good news is that we’ve only had 42 inches of rain so far this year and the record is 55 inches set in 1950. The normal amount of rain for the year by the end of November is 32 inches.
As you can see from the charts we’ve got quite a mishmash of weather systems lurking off the coast and by Monday we’ll have the start of a fairly big high-pressure system starting to build over the area with a whopping low-pressure slamming the Aleutians, again.
2 Dec 500MB
2 Dec Surface Chart
4 Dec 500MB
4 Dec Surface Chart
While it is Thursday, the models are still divergent with the general consensus shifting towards some wind on Saturday morning from the south then gradually becoming lighter before it shifts to the north by around midnight. For racers, this will mean drag racing from puff to puff as you ride the tide up Colvos. While you may have 8-10 knots of southerly for the start, this will drop to five knots or less as the day goes on with plenty of dead spots in Colvos. The masthead Windex will give you some warning about where the next puff will be coming from. The boats with the tall rigs will make out as long as the trimmers are working hard. After you get around the top mark you’ll probably have a due southerly until it goes really light around mid-afternoon. As you beat towards Pt. Robinson, don’t get too close to Vashon and don’t stray too far to the east of the rhumb line. While on starboard if the puffs start to become lifts that will tell you to stay to the west just not too close to the Island.
The great thing about TYC is that if it gets too sticky in Colvos, they usually have the good sense to end the race at the top mark so make sure someone has the bino’s out and you’re checking the flags on the mark boat.
While the parties, both pre and post race, at TYC are legendary, remember that the first day the high-pressure ridge builds over the Northwest will result in the most wind from the North and if you’re delivering the boat back to Seattle on Sunday you could have 15-20 cold knots of wind right on the nose. If they finish you at the top mark and Seattle is your home port, head straight for the barn after you finish and juggle the cars later.
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)
