Race To The Straits May 2 & 3 2015, Will Our Great Sailing Weather Ever End?

Last weekend was the annual Race To The Straits(RTTS). This is a two day race from Shilshole Marina north of Seattle to Port Townsend on Saturday and return on Sunday. This race is for doublehanded(two people) and singlehanded(one person). Another unique part of this race is that the handicaps are applied at the start with the slowest boats starting before 0800 and the fastest boats starting nearly three hours later. In a perfect world, all the boats should be finishing at the same time.

I missed last years RTTS due to an injury. So this year was the first time I have raced my boat alone in two years. Yes, I always enter the Singlehanded division. Unfortunately, I was the only singlehander and was racing against myself...well and quite a few doublehanders too!

Our sailing weather has been exceptional this spring. And Saturday morning was no exception. The sun was out and the wind was from the north at around 10-13 knots. This year, I set the #3 jib. As long as the wind stayed above 10 knots, the boat seemed happy and moved well.

I hit my starting time perfectly and started the long beat to Port Townsend. I soon started overtaking boats that started ahead and stayed ahead of boats behind. After a couple long tacks across the sound, I found myself near Apple Cove Pt where I got sucked into working along the beach. Probably not the smartest move. When I finally settled down on port tack, I made one long tack to Mutiny Bay on Whidbey Island. Even though the current was now flooding, I made better progress than short tacking the Kitsap County shore. I took port tack close to the beach, tacked and had a perfect line along the bluff to the Double Bluff buoy. By now, the current was really ripping. I could see a lot of boats having trouble rounding the buoy. I held my starboard tack through the gate and decided to head straight to Marrowstone Island and look for current relief and westerly shift to the winds. I was alone as most of the boats stayed on the Whidbey Island side. As I crossed Admiralty Inlet the currents lightened. Things got strange near Marrowstone Island and the wind lightened some. I worked the beach, got current relief and port tack lifts. Soon other boats started showing up. Since the winds lightened, I changed headsails to the heavy No.1. The port tack lifts allowed me to parallel the shore and I muscled through the flood current at Marrowstone Pt. From there to the finish, I took a long tack nearly to Pt Hudson and a couple short tacks to the finish.

After getting settled into a moorage spot in the Pt Hudson marina, I went to the Maritime Center for another great Sloop Tavern Yacht Club party and dinner.

On Sunday morning, once again the sun was out and the forecast was for good winds all the way to Seattle. The winds were light at the start at about 5 knots. I elected to start on starboard to avoid as much of the ebb current as I could. After a short reach on starboard, I jibed and headed toward the north shore of Marrowstone Islands. Some boats that started ahead of me stayed too far from the island and were pushed north. The wind increased to 10-12 knot just in time to sail up the river at Marrowstone Pt. From past experiance, I knew that you had to be almost so close to the point that you felt you could walk ashore. This time was no exception. I rounded the point and tucked in closer to Marrowstone Island. I brought the pole back and ran most of the way down Marrowstone Island. A number of boats peeled off early and sailed across Admiralty Inlet in the maximum ebb current. I finally jibed and headed toward Double Bluff. As I neared the Whidbey Island shore, the wind seemed to get lighter. One more jibe was to take me past the buoy. Sure enough, I messed the jibe up and wrapped the spinnaker around the headstay about three times. Now what do I do? With the autopilot pointing the boat in the right direction, I lowered the halyard a ways and was able unwrap the mess. From Double Bluff, again it was pole back on starboard past Point No Point almost to Apple Cove Pt where I made a flawless jibe(this time) and headed toward the finish at Shilshole. The winds built and came forward and by the time I crossed the finish line, I was doing eight knots on a reach.

It was a fantastic weekend for a race, both days were sunny and warm with great winds. Since I was the only single hander, After not sailing the boat much in the last year, I started feeeling rocky and unsure of myself. But by the finish, I felt a lot more confident in my sailing abilities. I won my class by default. But here is a link where the results for all the boats can be found: http://www.styc.org/

Thanks to Sloop Tavern Yacht Club for organizing another great event!

 Pt Hudson Marina filed with nearly 110 boats.

 Pt Hudson Marina filed with nearly 110 boats. Sloop Tavern Yacht Club rents the entire marina for the weekend. The Maritime Center is the building in the background.

 Look Ma! No hands. The autopilot is doing a good job of keeping the boat pointed in the right direction while I am cleaning up after a jibe at Marrowstone PT.

Photo: Jan Anderson

 Here is the North section of my track for Saturday. Things got a little strange near Liplip Pt, but finally everything straightened out. I could not get the GPS to cough up Sundays track.

Here is the South section of my track for Saturday.


EDIT: I was finally able to extract Sunday's track from the GPS

 Here is the North section of my track for Sunday.

 Here is the South section of my track for Sunday.

Poulsbo Invitational Race- 4-25-2015

Saturday was the Poulsbo Invitational Race. This was the 4th race in the seven race West Sound Sailing Association(WSSA) series. This race starts just north of Battle Point and with a south wind it heads to a temporary buoy near University Point, then north to the #6 navigational mark near Pt Bolin and then follows the shoreline to a finish off of Poulsbo Yacht Club in Liberty Bay. This course was 9.6 miles. In case of a north wind, the race is run first to #6 mark, University Pt and then PYC for a distance of 11 miles.

The weather forecast was not good. The winds were predicted to be variable at up to 5 knots. Furthermore, even though the day was suppose to be somewhat sunny, there was also a chance of rain. This all pointed toward winds that would be changing direction throughout Port Orchard and Liberty Bay with a good chance of convergence zones forming parking lots between wind shifts.

The start was toward the south and with a NW wind, it was a downwind start. The wind was only about 4 knots. We started at the pin end of the line, was forced up by a leeward boat and ended up in the lee of a larger boat. We reached toward the west shore toward Brownsville where our early reconnaissance showed some wind flowing out of the lagoon. We lost three positions, but gained on boats that took the more direct route from Battle Pt toward University Pt. As we neared Brownsville, we could see the boats ahead getting a new wind from the SW. Sure enough, we too got the new wind, so up with the jib and down with spinnaker. The winds filled in to about 7 knots and we had a good beat to University Pt. We gained on the boats behind and seemed to close a little on the boats ahead. We rounded in fourth place.

Rounding University Pt. in fourth, we set the spinnaker, pulled the pole back and headed toward Battle Pt. As we neared Battle Pt, we could see the boats ahead struggling with a convergence zone and a change of wind direction toward the NE. We prepared for it and when the wind did change, we did not seem to skip a beat and sailed right into the new wind. The new wind filled in to a NW wind of about 10 knots accompanied by big black clouds and rain. We beat up the middle of Agate Pass to ride the ebbing current toward the Pt Bolin government light.

At the Pt Bolin mark, we set our spinnaker on starboard, pulled the pole back and had a straight run to round Pt Bolin. We were able to sail low enough to avoid the shallows and stiil stay out of most of the adverse current. Soon we were able to head toward Keyport. So we put the jib up, took the spinnaker down. Now the wind had dropped off again, so we worked the puffs coming off the north shore. We cut fairly close to the point heading into the channel. Then the wind shifted toward the SW and we tacked. We elected to not reset the spinnaker as the wind was ahead of the beam a little and I wanted to head high enough to get to the Keyport shore for current relief and also to be near another black cloud formation.

We stayed to the left side of the channel and sure enough, a new wind filled in from the black clouds to our left. We past the boats that were to the right of us. We sailed across the channel to the Lemolo shore and found better winds from the west as well as great current back eddies. We tacked close around Lemolo Pt and tacked in about two feet of water under the keel just as the black clouds passed over and the wind filled in from the north at about seven knots from the N. We thought we could make the finish line in one tack, but had to make a short hitch at the end. And just as we finished, the wind started dropping and eventually changed to a light southerly. Most of the boats behind set spinnakers.

We were the first boat to finish and should have corrected out to first in class and overall.

The results can be found here when they are posted: http://wscyc.net/event/poulsbo-invitational-2015/

This was a challenging day for a race with lots of shifting wind and sail changes. Thanks to Jim and Tim for all the hard work and keeping me focused.

This is our track for the day. We started just north of Battle Pt.and headed south to University Pt., north to Pt. Bolin and then to Poulsbo. The first leg to University Pt turned into a "great circle" course toward Brownsville.

Rich Passage Ramble Race- 4-18-2015

Sailboat racing in the northwest this spring has seen many days of warm, sunny weather and remarkably it has included wind too! The Rich Passage Ramble Race this was no exception. 

The Rich Passage Ramble Race is the third race of the seven race West Sound Sailing Association (WSSA) series. It is a 20 nm race that starts at the Port Orchard Marina, heads out Rich Passage, around Blake Island, around the navigation Buoy "4" and back through Rich Passage to finish at the Port Orchard Marina. With the typical currents through Rich Passage and around Blake Island, this race can be quite challenging.

For the start of the race, we had NW winds near 10 knots. With the winds from the NW, everyone lined up for a port tack start. I was a bit late and on the breakwater end of the line buried under several boats. Most boat soon tacked away and with clear air, we sailed north along the breakwater. By the time we tacked toward Bremerton, the wind was much better on the left. After finally tacking back to port tack, we started passing boats. With long port tacks and short starboard tacks, we reached Rich Passage in four tacks. By now we had passed everyone but one larger boat that owed us time. 

Sailing through Rich Pass, we had the last of the ebb current helping us along. We passed the larger boat just before exiting the pass and set the spinnaker for the long reach around the south side of Blake Island. At the east end of Blake Island, we took in the spinnaker, set the jib and had a fast beat riding the north flowing current from Colvos Pass. We had a fast close reach to Buoy "4" and then headed down the middle of Rich Pass with the now flooding current.

At Point Glover, we set the spinnaker but after just a few minutes, the wind died ahead and we were left with the current pushing us along. We could see a new breeze coming down Port Orchard from the north. We reset the jib and headed toward the north to try to get in the new wind. In the meantime, "Dulcinea" (a J105) headed to the north earlier than us and got in the new wind ahead of us. When we finally got into the new wind, we reset the spinnaker and set off in pursuit of "Dulcinea". We finished 2nd and in the final results, we also corrected out to second in class and overall.

Complete results can be found here: http://wscyc.net/wp-content/uploads/Rich-Passage-Ramble.pdf

This was a great race. A after missing all my races in March due to a family emergency, it was great to get back on the water. Thanks to my crew of Jim, Tim and Tyson for 

Only photo from the race. It does not get much better than this: nice wind, sunny skies and and shirtsleeve temperatures.

Photo taken with my GoPro Hero 2 camera on my Redneck Engineering self leveling mount.

Here is our track for the day. Starting at the Port Orchard Marina, we headed out Rich Passage, around Blake Island, around the navigation Buoy "4" and back through Rich Passage to finish at the Port Orchard Marina.

Kalakala's Artifacts Sale

The ferry "Kalakala" was a Pacific Northwest icon. Built originally in 1927 in San Francisco as the "Perlata". The "Perlata" burned in 1933. Purchased by Captain Peabody of the Black Ball Line, the remains were towed to the Lake Washington Shipyard at Kirland for renovation. Many new techniques, such as welding, were used for the first time during the rebuild of the "Kalakala". The "Kalakala" also had a two stroke diesel engine installed that at 3000 hp was the largest ever installed in a ferry. The decision was made to build the super structure in the art-deco streamline appearance. And the overall layout was to be one of luxury and uniqueness In service from 1935-1967, it mainly serviced the Bremerton to Seattle run but was also shifted to the Port Angeles to Victoria BC run for short periods. During its time on Puget Sound, in 1946,  it was installed with the first commercial radar ever licensed. After life as a ferry, "Kalakala" was towed to Alaska and converted to a seafood processor. Eventually it ended up beached in Kodiak. In 1998, a Seattle artist bought "Kalakala" refloated it and managed to get it towed to Seattle. Unfortunately, funding for restoration was never obtained and "Kalakala" fell into a deteriorated state and was condemned and scrapped in early 2015.

Following the scrapping of "Kalakala" by Rhine Demolition, many large pieces were purchased by museums and businesses for display. Smaller pieces were collected and offered to the public for a two day sale on March 13 and 14. I drove down to Parkland early on the 13th. Arriving at 0650 for a 0800 opening, I did not have any problem finding a place to park on the street. Later I found out that when the gate opened, we could park in side the fence near the warehouse. I joined about  a dozen people at the gate. Rumors started  that the sale would actually start at 0700. Sure enough, at 0715, the gates opened and the rush was on to get into the warehouse and grab something. The local news talked about "hundreds" and "scores" of people, but it did not seem to be that many there. Also, there was not all that many pieces being offered for sale. And some pieces were just too big to easily handle. The workers helped load the bigger items. Most of the "artifacts" was just scrap that had no name or tie to really say that it was part of the "Kalakala". The news said that everything was sold out in an hour and the rest of the sale dates cancelled.

I elected to buy a couple of paperweights cut from brass bar stock riveted to copper pieces. Rhine had them polished, stamped them with an image of "Kalakala" and clear coated them. Overall, it was a fun outing and I suppose I picked up some pieces of history.

This is the ferry Kalakala during one of it's runs from Bremerton. It spent most of it's life on the Bremerton/Seattle run. A lot of Shipyard workers rode this ferry to and from work. 

 Lots of covers, some ROG's and big bolts. I missed the valve handwheels, they went fast. You could buy a big rusty bolt for $10.

 Pistons and rods from the auxiliary engine. About $500. 

 These railings were really neat and the price was not bad at $300-500.

 This was just miscellaneous pieces of steel. One guy did find a piece that had either the "Kalakala" name or the hull number engraved.

 This is a main engine piston and connecting rod. I was told that it weighed two tons. It was going for $1500. In the foreground is an engine cover. It was cast with raised text. They only wanted $2500 for it.

 Pistons and connecting rods, some with cylinder liners. These were from the auxiliary engine. 

 This is a crankshaft from probably the auxiliary engine. The main engine crankshaft was 38 feet long and held the record at the time for the longest crankshaft. Comment on the news was that you needed a crane to move it. No kidding!

This is what I bought. They are brass pieces riveted to two copper pieces on the back. The Kalakala image was inked on with a rubber stamp and then clear coated. One of the guys from Rhine Demolition said that it was a splice piece from some trim. With the copper, I wondered if it was from a switch gear. They had a box of these and some smaller paperweights made from brass barstock and half round material. Paperweights are showing up on Ebay already for many times the original price,

Port Madison Jim DePue Memorial Race-WSSA #1-It Does Not Get Better Than This

The Jim DePue Memorial is the first race of the seven race West Sound Sailing Association (WSSA) series. It is also the first race of Pt Madison's eight race Big Boat Series. It is a 16.5NM race run in the waters of Puget Sound, starting at Point Monroe and sponsored by Port Madison yacht club. All week before the race, the predicted wind were reported to be very favorable in the mid teens. Furthermore, as the weekend drew near, the weather forecast started predicting clear sunny skies. The prediction was pretty close as we saw winds at 12-20 knots all day and sunny, cloudless skies.

The winds at the start was blowing out of the northwest. We got a good start in the middle of the line on starboard. We soon tacked to port and our heading was straight toward the weather mark location. As we approached the weather mark position, it was soon apparent that there was no buoy at the weather mark location. The lead boats headed right to where the photographer boat was holding position. Since we were farthest to the left, we lost a lot of ground reaching down too the substitute "mark".

We set the spinnaker on port and with the westerly winds blowing out of Pt Madison, we soon found ourselves in the middle of Puget Sound. One jibe to starboard, and we were headed toward the next mark at West Point. The winds stayed strong and we were sailing at ten knots and more. As we got closer to West Pt, we could see a boat in trouble ahead of us. "Dos", a Sierra 26, broached while jibing and was capsized. The photo boat was standing by and by the time we got there, they had there sails down, the boat righted and the engine started. 

At West Point, the course is a reach across the sound to the red nun buoy off Eagle Harbor. I made the decision to take the spinnaker down and jib reach across the Sound. The two boats ahead reached with their spinnakers and gained on us and one J80 sailed up to us flying there spinnaker. We rounded the buoy in fourth just behind  a larger boat.

We started the beat back to the finish at Pt Monroe. The winds on the beat were 15-18 knots. We had a great beat. We pointed higher and sailed faster than a couple of larger boats behind us and gained on one boat ahead of us. It was a sloppy beat with short chop made for a wet ride. Some waves we sailed over and some we went through. At the finish, we were the third boat to finish. 

This race was scored using Time on Time(TOT) instead of Time on Distance(TOD that was specified in the sailing instructions. As a result we placed 5th in class and overall. TOD would have scored us 3rd.

It was a great day for a race. After the previous week at Toliva Shoal, I did not think it could be any better. But it was!

Thanks to my crew of Jim, Rainer and Tim for working hard and getting us to the finish line.

An album of pictures by Jan Anderson can be found here:  http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/Jim-Depue-Memorial-Race-2015/47766353_Pm6v53#!i=3904481031&k=sCW8Nx9

And race results are here: https://portmadisonyachtclub.wildapricot.org/Resources/Documents/Racing%20Documents/Jim%20Depue%20Results%202015.pdf

 Right after the start. The winds were great all day.

Photo: Jan Anderson

 Fun day for sailing.

Photo: Jan Anderson

 The crew of "Dos" working at righting the boat by standing on the keel.

Photo: Jan Anderson

Unfortunate that "Dos" broached and capsized. They were in the lead at the time. Fortunately, no body was hurt and they did get the boat righted.

Photo: Jan Anderson

Our course for the day. We started at Pt Monroe and sailed clockwise around the course.

Toliva Shoal(not Shoals) Race-Feb 21, 2015

It is February and once again the crazy sailors are released from the asylums and they make their 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 Friday morning when I got underway for Olympia. Even though the currents were not favorable, I chose to get underway very early in the morning. I was underway at 0415. Even though the current was against me the entire distance, I practiced current evasion techniques and arrived at Percival Landing at 1310. The day was actually quite pleasant and warm.

That night Olympia Yacht Club hosted a pre race party and dinner of prime rib with several veggies and salads. After a quiet night on the boat, I again went to the Olympia Yacht Club for their hardy breakfast. After the crew arrived, we talked weather. All week, the prediction was indicating NNE winds to 14-16 knots for the South Sound. The crew that came from Kitsap County confirmed that the winds were blowing well through the Narrows.

We got to the starting area just as the winds started to fill in. Soon it was blowing in the lower teens and gusting higher. We considered the heavy no. 1, but looked around at the other boats and determined that the No. 3 was the better choice. As we sailed around the starting area, I failed to notice that the starting sequence had been compressed and at what should have been 6 minutes to go was really one minute. I was able to sail around the boats closest to the starting area and get a mid line, second row start. 

The wind was somewhat NE and we carried one tack down the west shore of Budd Inlet. Whenever we thought of tacking, the wind would lift and increase. We were slightly underpowered, but by the time we reached Dofflemeyer PT, the winds had increased to the mid teens.

 We had a great beat out Dana Pass with now favorable current and rounded Johnson Point for the reach to the Number 3 marker. The wind was too far forward for us to set a spinnaker until we were about halfway to the marker and then we only flew it for about a mile before we had to take it down. Rounding the marker, we again were close hauled on one long tack along the Nisqually Flats before tacking toward Ketron Island. We tacked several more times until we rounded the Toliva Shoal buoy. By now, the wind was steady at about 16 knots.

We rounded the buoy and set the spinnaker for the run toward Balch Pass where the current would be starting to flood. Often with a northerly, this would be a reach, but with so much easterly, it was a run and the wind stayed fairly steady through the pass. A couple boats had spinnaker issues and we passed them. We had a great run down Drayton Pass. At Devils Head, we could see a lot of boats  go wide, but with the easterly bent to the wind, we chose a tighter course around Devils Head and reached toward Johnson Point. Unlike previous years with northerly winds, we were able to carry the spinnaker on a close reach to Johnson Point. We had gained on a boat ahead and thought we could catch them. 

But then some silliness happened. A sport boat from another class came planing up to us and tucked in close to our leeward side. With their asymmetrical spinnaker, they were sailing on a much higher angle then we would have liked to have sailed. But every time they would make a run at going under us, they would be blanketed by our sails and we would forge ahead again. And we were sailing away from the boats in our class that we thought we could catch. We finally convinced them that they were not going to make it through our lee and they jibed away only to jibe back and try it again with no success. We finally "stopped" our boat by luffing the spinnaker to finally let them go by so that we could jibe back toward our competition who had now gained on us. The boat that was messing with us went right and tangled with another boat before getting straightened out. Funny thing is that they came close to correcting on another boat in their class. If they had not been so insistent with trying to get by us, they might have saved their time and moved up one more spot. Strange!

So back to the race. We had a good run down Dana Pass and after a last jibe at Dofflemeyer Pt., we had a close reach up Budd Inlet where we finished at about 1612.

We motored in to Percival Landing, cleaned up the boat and went to the Olympia Yacht club for some post race soup. I started home at about 1800 and had a fast motor home with a now ebbing current and arrived back at Brownsville at 0100 in the morning. The sky was perfectly clear and the starts and planets were intensely visible.  

It was a great weekend for a race. The temperatures during the race were warm, the sun was out during the race and the winds were pretty consistant. Thanks to my crew of Tom, Jim, Michelle and Rainer for working hard at keeping us heading in the right direction. And thanks to Olympia Yacht Club for the great hospitality.

Results can be found here: Toliva Shoal Race Results
And report and pictures here: Toliva Shoal Race Site

Our track for the day. With the favorable current, we had great tacking angles! From Nisqually Reach to Toliva Shoal, we stayed on the right side. Those that went left after Lyle Pt did not do as well.

 Here we are just after the start just ahead of Grace E.

Photo Credit: S. Nelsen

Fast reach toward Dana Pass.

Photo Credit: S. Nelsen

The Pony Car Project- Old Is New Again.

It has been a long time since I posted anything about new work being performed on the Pony car. After my accident last March, it was difficult to do much and work on the Pony car ceased until I was able to be more mobile. 

My Pony car is a 1990 Mustang GT. From 1987-1993, the GT models used a taillight with painted "louvers" and strips of visible lens. Amongst Mustang people, this style was often referred to as the "cheese grater". If someone wanted to be original, this was the taillight to have. The "cheese grater" style was not real popular and now replacement parts are very hard to find. Many changed their taillights to the taillights from the Mustang LX model. This was a much simpler looking taillight.

 These aftermarket taillights are often referred to as"Euro" style. They are round lenses with chromed sculpted bezels covered with a clear cover. This style can be seen as OEM taillights on a lot of newer cars now. One of the previous owners changed the taillights to these aftermarket lights. At first I thought I would like them, but they got old after a while. Also, one lens cover came loose and I needed to glue it back on. Plus, they did not fit on the car real good and there were gaps between them and the body sheetmetal.

  I found these taillights on Ebay and after negotiating with the seller I got a good deal. They were shipped from his business in Ohio last week.These new/old taillights are from a 1986 GT. The Mustang LX taillights are similar except the amber lens section was clear in 1987-1993. I like this look. Furthermore, this style of lens was brought back in 1993 and used on the Mustang Cobra and Cobra-R models. The only difference in 1993 was the addition of a couple of horizontal thin black stripes in each lens section. I can buy those lenses if I want this car to look more like a !993 Cobra.  I would suppose that some people could be critical that I am not maintaining the stock nature of my Mustang. That is not my goal as this car has been far from stock for a long time! 

And everything lights up! There seems to be more light emitted then the old "Euro" style taillights.