Whidbey Island Race Week 2015, aka Adult Summer Camp

Whidbey Island Race Week(WIRW) is the third week of July and is five days of sailboat racing, partying, pranks and silliness. It has also been referred to as "Adult Summer Camp".  With a history of 30 years, it is one of the last race "weeks" that still exists in the country. Many "race weeks" have been shortened to a long weekend.

I was invited for the third year aboard a J105 named "Dulcinea" owned by Matthew. This boat is from my yacht club and is one of my primary competitors in the West Sound. This was actually my second year racing WIRW on "Dulcinea". I was invited for 2014 but could not race after I fractured my hip. My WIRW started on Sunday. The boat was already in Oak Harbor and I made my way there for a day of practice and to set up my camp at our team compound in "tent city". We sailed out into Penn Cove and tried to sail through some maneuvers. We were not very successful as the wind were very light. Also with the intense heat of the day, it was unpleasant on the water. So we pulled the crab pots and towed some of the crew members behind the boat. I guess we were trolling for sharks!

The racing was intense all week. This year the J105 class numbered 10 boats.  The starting line was crowded and often the boats stayed close together during the entire race. The winds blew each day at 10 knots or more. A few days it took a few hours for the winds to arrive. We raced a total of 12 races for the week, two days of three races and three days of two races. Twice we raced in south winds in Saratoga Pass and the rest of the days in Penn Cove. Matthew had good starts for most of the races and we had good upwind speed. On Thursday we had one first and one fourth and placed as the top boat for our class for the day. I was happy with our upwind speed compared to some of the top boats that we raced against. Unlike two years ago, our speed in stronger winds seemed good even though our placings sometimes were not the best. By the last day of racing, I was so tired I could hardly stand up. I was not the only one, many crews were pretty tired.

The J105 class is pretty close. On Wednesday, they class had a barbecue/potluck at a home overlooking Oak Harbor.

WIRW was a lot of fun for me. The racing was some of the most intense racing I have ever done.  Our foredeck crew of  Tessa and Jeanie for the first two days and Tessa and Melissa for the rest of the days were awesome. The cockpit crew of Mike and I did everything we needed to do to keep up with Matthew. The shore side activities were interesting and just like the expression "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", some things are best left in Oak Harbor. Matthew runs a great program and arranged good logistics. Mike had his Class "A" RV and made us breakfast each day and provided a place for evening meals. In addition to Mikes RV, Matthew had a large travel trailer. The two formed a nice compound in the "tent city". We also had several tents and I slept in my truck.

Results can be found here: WIRW Results 2015

 Lisa on Last Tango greeting her visitor during a windless delay.

 And the Poke and Destroy crew getting in a little wake boarding while waiting for the wind.

 The entire fleet of J105's behind us during one of Thursdays races. A race that we won.

 Melissa awash in a sea of spinnaker fabric.

 Melges 24 planning down course.

 Sport boats planning down the bay.

 "Last Tango"

 The J105 fleet moored together.

Party "tent" where awards were presented and post race activities were held.

 The traditional crew photo after the last race of the week.

The actual crew photo after the last race of the week.

A New Belt For Ulysses

I remember the day and time when it happened. I was riding my Buell XB12X Ulysses motorcycle up the road to Sunrise at Mount Ranier National Park. The road was freshly chip sealed. I felt a thump and heard a bang. I did not find anything wrong, but after I got home, after a closer inspection I found a small hole through the drive belt. Evidently a small rock from the chip seal stuck to the outside of the belt, rolled over the idler pulley and pierced the belt from the outside.

I did not stress too much over the damage. Most of what I read on the internet said that it was minor damage and the Harley Davidson people (Harley discontinued the Buell line in 2010 GRR!) said that with the fiber orientation in the belt, that a small hole would probably not weaken the belt much. I continued to ride the Uly for a while and did not ride at all last year after breaking my hip.  A few weeks ago I found a new belt for sale on Ebay at a good price from St Paul Harley (Harley again GRR!). So today I finally carved out a block of time to change it.

The whole belt changing process is not too complicated. It just requires the removal and reinstallation of a lot of components: fender, belt guard, drive pulley cover, two chin fairing screws, idler pulley, foot peg bracket, brake pedal and master cylinder, partial removal of the rear axle and removal of part of the swing arm. Most of the fasteners are either allen head or torx head machine screws. Did not have to remove the rear wheel, but did have to jack the back of the bike off the ground. It took me about an hour and a half including being interrupted by a phone call.

After everything was reassembled and properly torqued, I went for a short ride. Everything worked fine. Now Ulysses has a new belt. Hopefully I can get out and ride now!

 The old belt almost removed.

 The new belt installed. Just need to install the covers, guards, foot peg bracket and rear brake lever and master cylinder.

 Here is the culprit. No, not the toothpick, but the small hole in the belt.

And always present, the shop manual.

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.