Saturday was the final race of the South Sound Sailing Series, the Gig Harbor Islands Race. This is a race from Gig Harbor, north through Colvos Pass to a buoy on the north side of Blake Island and return south through Colvos Pass to the finish. The race distance is 29.5NM.
But before we could race, the boat needed to be delivered to Gig Harbor. And here is where the contradiction occurs. Some people have labeled me as a "racer". But even though I race my boat more times than I cruise, I actually do both. And therefore I accept the title of "Sailor". So with this title, I started for Gig Harbor on Thursday morning and made a "cruising" stop at the state park of Blake Island.
I got a late start on Thursday. I had to buy fuel and there was a large powerboat buying several hundred gallons. So I waited. I finally got out of there at around 1100. The wind was up to about 20 knots and I had a great, fast sail to Blake Island. With the wind blowing, docking was tricky, but I docked without embarrassing myself. The moorage was actually quite full for a mid week day. Don't these people work?
I enjoy Blake Island. I walked the 4 miles around the island, spotted a few deer and took a few photos. The sun was out, but with the north wind blowing, it was cool.
After a pleasant night, I left Blake Island at about 0800 and had a great sail south through Colvos Pass to Gig Harbor. The wind was still strong from the north and since I was still in cruising mode, I set only the #3 jib. Even with this small jib, I was sailing at 6-7knots. With the autopilot sailing the boat and the cool sunny weather, it was nice.
The public dock at Jerisch Park was already crowded when I arrived at 1130. I managed to get to the dock on the north side of the dock where rafting is banned. Through the day, boats arrived for the race and rafted up as much as 5 deep. I spent the day kibitzing with other sailors, working on small projects and setting in the sun reading.
Saturday morning, the wind was gone. When we arrived at the start, the wind was light from the SW. The race committee started the races on time, but when our start occurred, the wind had lightened more and with the current flowing north, several boats were over early and some jammed up against the committee boat. So, a general recall was called and our entire class had to restart after the last class. I was probably not over the line, but we were nearly sailing the opposite direction to avoid being swept across the starting line.
When we finally got started, I timed it perfectly and started right on time and pointed the right direction. We set the spinnaker and started the run up Colvos Pass. We had a good run and did well jibing on the shifts and playing the currents. We rounded the mark at Blake Island and started the beat back. We aggressively short tacked along the shore to avoid the always flowing north current of Colvos Pass. We went into shore as close as we dared before tacking out. I counted about 67 tacks. Some boats went a little too close and ran aground. Most were able to get off, but I know at least one that had to use their motor and retire from the race.
When we got to Olalla, the wind died and we caught up to the leaders. We stayed on the west shore. Some boats went to the east shore, but by the time everyone reached Pt Richmond, the wind died again and the boats all got together.
We could see wind ahead and when it reached us, it was intense! The wind increased to 15 knots within seconds and would gust strongly to 20 knots knock us over and then back off to 10 knots every 20-30 seconds. We feathered the boat into the gusts and even though we were slower, we covered the remaining few miles safely and finished at 1757.
Our placing was 8th out of 12 entries. Not a great showing, but it was a spectacular day (until the weather front came through) of sailing. And we did not break anything.
Thanks to the crew of Jim, Peg, Kathleen and Walter for all their hard work.
We took the boat into Gig Harbor, folded sails, unloaded crew and I was back underway at 1848 arriving at Brownsville at 2215. It was a cool, windy evening and rained some.
Total distance covered for the race/cruise was 90.3 NM. Of those miles, probably 65 Nm were sailed. And only 25 were with the motor.
But before we could race, the boat needed to be delivered to Gig Harbor. And here is where the contradiction occurs. Some people have labeled me as a "racer". But even though I race my boat more times than I cruise, I actually do both. And therefore I accept the title of "Sailor". So with this title, I started for Gig Harbor on Thursday morning and made a "cruising" stop at the state park of Blake Island.
I got a late start on Thursday. I had to buy fuel and there was a large powerboat buying several hundred gallons. So I waited. I finally got out of there at around 1100. The wind was up to about 20 knots and I had a great, fast sail to Blake Island. With the wind blowing, docking was tricky, but I docked without embarrassing myself. The moorage was actually quite full for a mid week day. Don't these people work?
I enjoy Blake Island. I walked the 4 miles around the island, spotted a few deer and took a few photos. The sun was out, but with the north wind blowing, it was cool.
After a pleasant night, I left Blake Island at about 0800 and had a great sail south through Colvos Pass to Gig Harbor. The wind was still strong from the north and since I was still in cruising mode, I set only the #3 jib. Even with this small jib, I was sailing at 6-7knots. With the autopilot sailing the boat and the cool sunny weather, it was nice.
The public dock at Jerisch Park was already crowded when I arrived at 1130. I managed to get to the dock on the north side of the dock where rafting is banned. Through the day, boats arrived for the race and rafted up as much as 5 deep. I spent the day kibitzing with other sailors, working on small projects and setting in the sun reading.
Saturday morning, the wind was gone. When we arrived at the start, the wind was light from the SW. The race committee started the races on time, but when our start occurred, the wind had lightened more and with the current flowing north, several boats were over early and some jammed up against the committee boat. So, a general recall was called and our entire class had to restart after the last class. I was probably not over the line, but we were nearly sailing the opposite direction to avoid being swept across the starting line.
When we finally got started, I timed it perfectly and started right on time and pointed the right direction. We set the spinnaker and started the run up Colvos Pass. We had a good run and did well jibing on the shifts and playing the currents. We rounded the mark at Blake Island and started the beat back. We aggressively short tacked along the shore to avoid the always flowing north current of Colvos Pass. We went into shore as close as we dared before tacking out. I counted about 67 tacks. Some boats went a little too close and ran aground. Most were able to get off, but I know at least one that had to use their motor and retire from the race.
When we got to Olalla, the wind died and we caught up to the leaders. We stayed on the west shore. Some boats went to the east shore, but by the time everyone reached Pt Richmond, the wind died again and the boats all got together.
We could see wind ahead and when it reached us, it was intense! The wind increased to 15 knots within seconds and would gust strongly to 20 knots knock us over and then back off to 10 knots every 20-30 seconds. We feathered the boat into the gusts and even though we were slower, we covered the remaining few miles safely and finished at 1757.
Our placing was 8th out of 12 entries. Not a great showing, but it was a spectacular day (until the weather front came through) of sailing. And we did not break anything.
Thanks to the crew of Jim, Peg, Kathleen and Walter for all their hard work.
We took the boat into Gig Harbor, folded sails, unloaded crew and I was back underway at 1848 arriving at Brownsville at 2215. It was a cool, windy evening and rained some.
Total distance covered for the race/cruise was 90.3 NM. Of those miles, probably 65 Nm were sailed. And only 25 were with the motor.
Results can be found at: http://www.ssseries.org/ris.htm
Sea lions like to haul themselves out on the navigation buoys.
Beach at the west end of Blake Island and the Olympic Mountains beyond.
Beach at the west end of Blake Island.
Tillicum Village on Blake Island. In the summer, tour boats bring tourists from Seattle here for a show and dinner.
The moorage at Blake Island.
The easy sail down Colvos Pass.
Boats rafted at Jerisch Park, Gig Harbor.
Our course for the day. We went north up the middle of Colvos Pass and returned down the Kitsap shore.
1 comment:
Appears that you had a enjoyable trip to Gig Harbor. Results were a little less than you wished for but also see that DOI scored much lower than they usually do.
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