Dan's Blog: Toliva Shoal(not "Shoals") Race 2012-Release The Crazy Sailors!

It is February and once again the crazy sailors are released from the asylums and they make there way south to Olympia for the Toliva Shoal Race. This is the third race in the four race South Sound Series. It is a 37.4 NM distance race from Olympia to the Toliva Shoal buoy and return through Balch Pass and other narrow passages. Even though it is still winter, this race has a reputation for light winds and shortened courses. I enjoy this race even with sometimes cold, wet, windless conditions. I must be one of the crazy sailors!

My race started on Thursday when I got underway for Gig Harbor. The currents through the Narrows were only favorable early in the morning or in the afternoon. After a pleasant night at Gig Harbor, I got underway at 0445. I had good, favorable currents through the Narrows and as far as Johnson Point at the entrance to Dana Pass. I arrived at Percival Landing in downtown Olympia at 0915. I was the first boat in on Friday. Boats arrived throughout the day until the harbor was packed. One of my clubmembers boat had arrived the previous day and the owner and I went out to lunch followed in the evening by a dinner at the Olympia Yacht Club.

Race day was cool and damp with winds at 8-10 knots. We had a good downwind start and stayed close to our competitors until Dofflemeyer Pt. when three leading boats pulled ahead. The wind dropped off at this point. Through Dana Pass, I stayed high and ran into adverse current. Our Speed Over Ground fell off dramatically and boats that went into the middle moved passed us. We did get some puffs coming out of Henderson Inlet and sailed close to Johnson Pt. Here, being close to the point seemed to be an advantage at we passed several boats farther out.

The wind picked up on the beat to Government Mark #3. We sailed close hauled and had good speed. We started closing on some of our competition ahead. At the mark, we got into a mess where a earlier starting cruising boat got into irons and tacked in front of a boat from the racing divisions forcing them to tack. For a while they blocked us from being able to tack around the mark. Finally an opening developed between them and the mark and we squeezed through.

The reach/run to the Toliva Shoal buoy was pretty straight forward and we gained some on the boats ahead. We rounded the mark and had a close reach past McNeil Island and through Balch Pass. The boats ahead seemed to stall some in Balch Pass and we closed up some more. Beating up Drayton Pass we again had good wind and great speed. We did have to maneuver around a raft of logs that a tug seemed to be towing in circles, strange!

As we rounded Devils Head, we had caught up with "Dulcinea"(J105). Even though they are not in the same class as us, it was a good indicator of our speed. We could see "The Boss" (J35) just ahead and getting closer. We hoped to be able to catch them before the finish. We set a spinnaker on a very close reach to Johnson Pt and started closing on "The Boss". Finally, they also set a spinnaker, wrapped it badly, sailed slower and then took the spinnaker down. Alas, we did not catch them as the committee shortened the course at Johnson Pt. We crossed the finish line at 1459. I was kind of surprised that the race was shortened. The boats that continued on to Olympia reported 10-12 knot winds all the way. I firmly believe that we (and probably the rest of the fleet) could probably have finished before dark and surely before the 18 hour time limit.

We finished fifth in our class out of five starters. Yes, last. But with one more race remaining in the South Sound Series and one throwout, we may still be able to maintain our second in class standing. The boat that was tied with us for first in the series("Melange", J35) did not start this race which helped our standing. I heard that a couple of boats did not race because their owners had been diagnosed with cancer and one had a heart attack. I hope the owner of "Melange" is OK. One other boat owner in our class was diagnosed with cancer and also did not race. I hope he is OK too.

After the finish at Johnson Point, we motorsailed to Gig Harbor where we had a car staged. The crew got off the boat and I motored home to Brownsville, arriving about 2200.

Thanks to my crew of Jim, Tom, Walter and Kathleen.

Underway on Thursday.

Sails resting in the boat.

Sealions lounging on #6 buoy in Rich Passage.

Tied up in Olympia just behind the Coastal Messenger, a Missionary boat from Canada. They come down into Puget Sound in the winter to visit friends and supporters.