Blake Island Race, WSSA #6-Sunny Warm Weather But Light Winds!

Today was the Blake Island Race. It was the sixth race of the seven race WSSA(West Sound Sailing Association series. This race starts near Pt Herron, goes through through Rich Passage, around Blake Island(either direction), leaves Bainbridge Reef Buoy #4 to port and finishes off the Port Orchard marina. This race is sponsored by Bremerton Yacht Club and has a history of at least 40 years.

The weather forecast was initially looking good. A high pressure zone was parked over the NW for the weekend with possibly record temps developing. The temperature was predicted to climb into the upper 70's or mid 80's but all the wind models indicated winds of less then 6-7 knots. But the winds never really developed as predicted. The current would be near ebbing at the start and could be flooding with us when we sailed back into Rich Passage on the return.

At the start, the winds were very light out of the north. I attempted a starboard start at the pin end. The wind headed us just before the start and we started about halfway down the line. When we were clear of the line we tacked to port. What little wind there was oscillated between NW and NE. We got closer to the Waterman shore and a little more wind and stronger ebbing current. We tacked to starboard for a while and then back to port for our entrance into Rich Passage. We had a strong header and tacked back into stronger ebb current along the Bainbridge Island shore. Another tack and we headed to Pt Glover. There a boat got in our way trying to pinch around the point or something. They slowed us and them down, so we tacked away and when we tacked back, we were ahead of them buy staying out of the Pt Glover back eddy. We had a nice beat between Orchard Rocks and Bainbridge Island and out of Rich Pass.

We had a close reach to Blake Island staying close to the Blake Island north shore avoiding some adverse current. We rounded the east point, set the spinnaker and sailed close to the east shore of Blake Island to avoid the strong current flowing north out of Colvos Pass. We gained on the boats behind and almost made it around the SE point of the island before the wind shut off and we started drifting backwards. We reached offshore found some wind and managed to get around the SE point into the west bound current. By now a lot of boats had gained on us and some passed us. Mainly the current carried us west until we cleared the west end of Blake Island where we headed up into new wind and sailed toward buoy #4.

Just before we got to buoy #4, we set the spinnaker. After rounding the buoy, we jibed and headed toward the south shore of Rich Pass. We worked in favorable current to Pt Glover. The winds were very variable. We jibed toward the Bainbridge shore and found some favorable current to Pt White. At Pt White, we could see some new wind coming out of the north. So we headed up high past the stern of another boat on the opposite tack, got into the new wind and left several boats behind.

From there to the finish, the wind built to 5-7 knots and we had a good run to the finish where we finished third at 1548. Following the race, Bremerton Yacht Club put on a social event at the Port Orchard Marina.  

This race was challenging with the light variable winds and the higher temperatures. But the crew kept focused and we sailed well through some of the difficult sections. Thanks to the crew of Jim, Tim and Rainer.

Results, when they are posted can be found here: http://wscyc.net/event/blake-island-2015/

 Rainer trimming the spinnaker.

And if you did not notice before, there is Mt Ranier in the background.

Our track for the day. Our outbound and inbound tracks crossed several times.

Race To Alaska-R2AK

Today I drove with a friend to Port Townsend to check out the participants in the first Race To Alaska (R2AK). This is a 750 mile race from Pt Townsend Wa to Ketchikan, AK. It is for non motorized  craft(sail, row, paddle, pedal). The rules are simple: set your own pace, no outside assistance or resupply, re provision or repair on your own. The award for the first boat to reach Ketchikan is $10000. Second place is a set of steak knives.

It was interesting to see the various concepts that people thought would work. Some boats were open with no provisions to escape the weather. Others were larger with nice accommodations. Some boats placed most emphasis on sailing with minimal rowing or pedaling capabilities. Some placed more importance on rowing or paddling. It will be interesting to see what concept prevails. I would think that a small, fast, light boat that will move well under sail as well as under human power would be the real ticket. The BC coast has it's share of unsettled conditions: wind, no wind, strong currents, cooler weather, cold water, rain. All this can present a challenge to any team not prepared to endure.

The race starts tomorrow morning at 0500 with the first leg to Victoria. There is a class for boats that only want to go as far as Victoria. This leg is also a qualifier for the complete race. I would assume that the qualifying criteria would be that boats need to arrive in Victoria by 1700 on June 5. The boats restart at 1200 on June 7 and race non stop to Ketchikan. 

For more info and access to a tracker see: http://r2ak.com/

 Lots of activity and gear on the floats.

 I believe that these two are just sailing in the first day event to Victoria. The boat on the right is a 11 foot Scamp.

 This is an interesting proa purpose built in Seattle. The ama always stays to weather and instead of tacking, they "shunt" where the swaps ends and the sail is moved from one end to the other. The rudder on the first end is raised and the rudder on the second end is inserted.  The boat is totally double ended and can go either direction.  Hard to describe and visualize. For the windless days, they have a removable pedal powered propeller system. A lot has been written about this boat and a lot of thought has gone into it. This is my favorite right now.

 A small Whamaran catamaran cruising around the harbor with a pedal/propeller arrangement.

 This was the stern of a large Chrowder 38 catamaran. Evidently, the plan is to put two people on the stern rowing on a sliding seat with oars. They were still assembling the brackets with sheet rock screws.

 An interesting addition on the stern of a Farrier F25C trimaran. For two people peddling, but with oscillating vanes instead of a propeller., 

 This is a made for the purpose monohull. Interesting design with an open transom, integral leeboards, twin rudders, trapezes and a movable sliding seat beam hor hiking or rowing.

 This little outrigger was sailed by a single lady intending to go all the way to Ketchikan. Don't know where or how she was planning on storing her gear. Her back up to sails was oars.

 Many of the boats tucked into the Pt Hudson Marina.

 This appeared to be one of the solo entries.

 Interesting beach cat that had a well thought out navigation pod and a pedal/propellor systm just forward of the mast.

This is a Mirror 16 foot sailboat. They actually were a well set up program. They could sleep in the bottom of the boat. They also had lots of experience cruising the British Columbia coast in Mirror 11 foot dinghies! They did not think they would win, but my money is on them that they will finish. 

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.