Dan's Blog: Winter Vashon Race 2012

The Winter Vashon Race is a race that starts at the Tacoma Yacht Club near Pt Defiance and goes around Vashon Island. This race is the first race of the four race South Sound Series. Lots of people think that we quit racing in the winter and start racing again in the spring. This race is the beginning of my racing season.

On Friday, I delivered the boat to Tacoma Yacht Club. I got an early start at 0635 and arrived at the guest moorage around 1000. I was able to get a great spot on the dock. As the day went on, more boats arrived and the docks filled up with boats. Later in the evening, Tacoma Yacht Club put on their usual pasta dinner. Much discussion centered around the weather forecast for the next day. The forecast ranged from winds in the low teens to the high twenties. Through the night, the rain pounded down and the wind rattled the rigging of the assembled boats.

Saturday morning was actually pleasant. The rain had passed and the wind was blowing at about 12-15 knots from the south. As boats milled around the starting area, it was interesting to see many boats sailing with small jibs. We were one of them as we anticipated the wind increasing.

We got a good start on port near the boat end and set the 1-1/2once spinnaker. Most of our class went right. We sailed more toward the west to try to get into stronger flowing current in Colvos Pass. "Tantivy"(J109), "Grace E" (J35) and "Absolutely"(G&S 39) stayed in front of us. The wind built and we jibed near the west shore. We had a great run north as the wind built into the low to mid 20's and saw speeds as high as nine and a half knots. It was a fun run and as fast as we could go, the Olsen 30's and a B25 stayed right with us. We gained some on the leading boats but still rounded the mark boat in 4th place.

We started the beat back along the east shore of Vashon Island. We kept the #3 jib up, but some boats tried sailing with their larger jibs and soon were overpowered. We sailed past "Grace E" and gained on "Tantivy". We tacked back toward the Vashon Island shore to avoid adverse current and look for smoother water. We gained on the boats in our class that sailed down the middle of the sound as well as some of the boats that started before us. Some boats appeared to sail far southeast into Poverty Bay and found themselves in debt as they fought more adverse current. As we approached Pt Robinson, the wind increased to gusts in the high twenties. "Tantivy" tacked back to the west and crossed our bow. From here untill the finish, we had a close battle with them.

After passing Pt Robinson, we tacked to port and intially it appeared that we could lay the finish. But after a couple of miles, we were headed and tacked away from the shore. By now, the winds had increased in the gusts to the low 30's and the waves were very steep and short. We were plowing through the waves hosing down the crew and washing water into the cockpit. I am a "freak" because I not only steer the boat, but I also trim the mainsail. While we were in the stronger winds, it took a lot of energy to steer the boat through the gusts and around the bigger waves and constantly adjust the traveller and mainsheet. Near the finish, the wind headed us more and lightened and we tacked a couple of more times to make the finish at 1423. "Tantivy" finished a little more than a minute ahead of us and since they owed us time, we corrected on them for second place. "Absolutely" finished an easy first by more than six minutes ahead of us.

It was a fast race and we were able to sail in stronger winds for a change. Thanks to the crew of Jim, Walter, Kathleen, Dave, Tom and Rainer for putting in a stellar effort. Thanks to Tacoma Yacht Club for putting on a great event

Results can be found here: Winter Vashon Class Results