Tales of sailing, cycling, hiking, motorcycle riding and the retirement lifestyle.
"It's my blog, I will write what I want to, I will write when I want to!"
This week was the annual Whidbey Island Race Week(WIRW) at Oak Harbor. This is a gathering of over 100 sailboats and crews that spend five days of intense racing in the waters of Penn Cove and Saratoga Passage and five (or more) days of intense partying. Also known as "adult summer camp", it is one of the few "race weeks" in the country that is actually a week long.
But I did not race in the WIRW. I elected to sit this one out this year. I did come up with an idea to ride the bicycle to Oak Harbor to kibitz with people I knew and possibly get good pictures of boats racing close by the Coupeville Dock. Unfortunately I did not think up the plan until late in the week when the weather was starting to turn nasty.
A few weeks ago I thought I could drive a car or ride the motorcycle to Oak Harbor. But while on a local ride Thursday, I thought: "Why not drive the truck to Port Townsend, park in the Park and Ride, board the ferry to Coupeville and ride the bicycle to Oak Harbor. After all, it is only 14.5 miles from the Coupeville ferry dock to Oak Harbor. It sounded like a good plan.
But Thursday night, the weather started changing. Thunderstorms rolled in from the south. The forecast for Friday was for 50% chance of rain in the morning. Sure enough, by the time I got to Port Townsend it was raining and it only got more intense as I rode to Oak Harbor.
On the ferry, I put on my shoe covers and rain jacket. The ride to Oak Harbor seemed difficult. The rain was coming down hard and I saw some lightning while underway, When I got to the maina, it started raining harder. I talked to friends at the marina, took some photos and after about two hours I started getting cold so I started riding back to catch the ferry.
It seemed like the rain was abating, but it increased once I was back on the road. I rode through the town of Coupeville and walked out onto the dock. The return ride seemed easier. I must have been warmed up better. When I finally got to the ferry, the rain stopped.
It was a fun ride even with the rain. The total distance was 32 miles, all of it in the rain. I was cold when I stopped and was soaked through. I tend to plan events without regards to the weather and then work around whatever the conditions are. I have good clothing for inclement weather, but I still get wet. I was also optimistic that it would not rain that hard.
This is old stuff! In 1984, I sailed solo around Vancouver Island in 4-1/2 weeks. I took lots of slides that have set neglected for years. Last winter, I scanned the slides and put them in a movie format. I have been downloading some of my movies to YouTube, but they set a 15 minute limit on my downloads. Last week, YouTube must have decided I that I am a respectable person and have allowed me to download larger videos. So I finally was able to down load this video for all to see. I have another video of a 1988 cruise to the Queen Charlotte Islands and again around Vancouver Island. I need to confirm that it is a format that can be downloaded and then interested people can view it.
In 1984, I sailed around Vancouver Island. From Bremerton the total distance was just over 800 nautical miles. In that day, this was considered a extreme voyage. We did not have affordable or available electronic navigation aids. GPS had not even been invented! The most sophisticated device I had onboard was a radio direction finder(RDF), it was of limited use on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Fog? I navigated by dead reckoning.
I left Bremerton in the middle of June and worked my way north and west to the north end of the island. After getting caught in a storm off Cape Scott and blowing out a sail, I retreated to remote Bull Harbor for a couple of days to repair damage.
After setting out again, I worked down the coast. Many cool adventures occurred in some remote areas of the pacific northwest. Highlights? Probably Hot Springs Cove was certainly one of the most memorable stops as was the several days spent in Barkley Sound. I can not imagine traveling down this coast without making many stops.
After this trip, I returned in 1988. That trip was much longer as I sailed first to the Queen Charlotte Islands before sailing overnight to the west coast of Vancouver Island. Then again in 2011, I again sailed around Vancouver Island. This was a race though and we did not stop on the west coast.
Monday I went to Newberry Hill Heritage Park for some mountain bike riding. This is a newer 1082 acre park west of Bremerton and between Newberry Hill Road and Seabeck Highway. This is really an old clear cut that has regrown. The county recently acquired the property from the state and is planning for future development. Currently the area is crisscrossed with old roads and trails that were developed by the local mountain bike community. Most of the roads and trails are multi-purpose, non-motorized use trails. Some are marked "no horses" and some accesses to wetlands are marked "hikers only". But this acreage has long been used for off road activity. In the early 70's, I rode motorcycles here. It had not been long since it was logged and you could see across the area from the higher points. In the 80's, I rode mountain bikes here and discovered more trails than I used when I rode motorcycles. After I moved in 1990, it was no longer close to my home, so I never went back until this week.
There are several accesses into the trail system, but I chose the road into Klahowya Secondary School. This is a allowed parking area as long as you stay outside the schools gate. The trails are all named, so after consulting with my map, I started heading south on Deer Fern. After crossing Old Loop, I headed down Bird Meadow and Wildlife until I reached the southern side of Old Loop. These trails were all flat, smooth, fast trails.
The southern end of the park has three loops that are rough singletrack tracks named Ricochet, Gear Jammer and Strange Days. I intended to ride all three. Ricochet was across the road from where Wildlife ended, so it was the first logical choice. I started down the trail and soon found that it was a tight challenging course with some ups and downs. About halfway around the loop, I was grinding up a short steep section when MY CHAIN BROKE! I have not had this happen in many years and this is a newer chain so it was a surprise. Well, no problem, I carry tools including a chain tool for pushing the rivets in and out of the chain. So I started digging into my seat bag and sure enough, the first tool was the chain tool. Great! But wait! It was missing the pin for pushing the rivets. So I carefully unloaded the contents of the bag and in the very bottom I found the missing pin. Whew! I quickly reassembled the chain and continued the ride. I deferred riding Gear Jammer and Strange Days.
I continued south on Old Loop until I reached a kiosk near the southern park entrance. I reversed my route and rode east and north on Old Loop, turned right on Rhodie Hill, right again on Salal to Whisper Ridge. This area I recognized from my earlier days riding here. It has really changed with a forest replacing the old clear cut.
I continued west on Rhodie Hill, to Old Loop, right on Deer Fern and back to where I parked the truck.
This was a fun day of riding. I intend to go back soon.
Saturday was the last race of the seven race West Sound Sailing Association(WSSA) series. This race was at Brownsville and listed as the "Brownsville Race", no invitational or benefit or any other catchy phrase. This race starts at Brownsville, goes to a temporary mark at University Point, north to Mark "6 at Pt Bolin and then return to Brownsville. At Brownsville, the fleet is to continue for a second lap to University Pt, Battle Pt and again to Brownsville where lap three begins. Lap three is the same as lap one. This course provides many ways to shorten the course in time for the post race party.
The forecast was for winds from the south to 10 knots in the morning nd dropping to 2-6 from the SW in the afternoon. Rain was also predicted. At least that was how I read it.
At the start, we had gusts to 12 knots. We got a good start on the boat(breakwater) end on time in clear air. "Karma" (Dash 34) started closer to the pin end and was ahead but to leeward of us. On the first leg, we slowly worked upwind of "Karma" and started overtaking them. At the first tack, we were ahead of them. It was one port tack that took us to the mark where we rounded, set the spinnaker and headed toward the Bainbridge Island shore.
We worked north along the shore in favorable current and rounded Battle Pt with the two bird boats, "Falcon"(Cal 9.2) and "Swan"(Thunderbird) just ahead of us. We soon passed them and continued on along the Bainbridge Island shore between Battle Pt and Arrow Pt. The current in Agate Pass was flooding and after some previous night studying of the current charts, I decided to stay toward the right side of the pass. This move seemed to pay off and after the final jibe, we easily made the mark against the current. Some boats behind jibed earlier than us and struggled to make the mark. "Dulcinea" (J105) rounded behind us. They went farther upstream than we did and came into the mark on a much hotter angle.
Now came the first substantial beat. The wind was fairly steady at about six knots. I looked forward to the beat. This is where we have to make time on the slower rating boats. We are one of the faster rating boats and we need to stay way ahead to save our time. This is when it gets lonely at the front. There are no boats to watch for trends and we have to make all our decisions by ourselves. Sometimes I think it was more fun when I sailed slower boats because there was usually boats ahead to indicate what was going on ahead.
We had one long beat nearly to Brownsville, when right on que, we got a large header coming out of Burke Bay. We sailed into the header, tacked and easily cleared the line. Boats behind us that tacked early did not benefit from the header. We were nearly six minutes ahead of "Dulcinea".
We continued on towards University PT. But, the boats behind were getting stronger puffs and were lifted on the now SW wind. They started closing on us. The wind was flukey near the mark and we had to take a couple of extra tacks. We still rounded first, but a larger faster boat had closed up to us as did "Dulcinea". We set the spinnaker and looked for the fast lane. This time the wind appeared light toward the right, so we jibed toward the left. We sailed away from the larger boat and jibed back to stay between "Dulcinea" and the Battle Pt mark. The wind filled behined and brought "Dulcinea" closer. We rounded the mark ahead of them and started the beat to Brownsville. We gained some on "Dulcinea" and when we crossed the finish line, the RC finished the race. We were only about 1.75 minutes ahead of "Dulcinea', not enough to correct on them.
We ended up second in class and second overall with "Dulcinea" first in class and overall. When the series scores were added up, we were tied with "Dulcinea" for the WSSA series, both of us with 13 points. In the tiebreaking process, we were the overall series winner. This is the seventh time I have won this series since it started in 1978. I have raced every series and learned from many of the sailors who I have raced against. Many of them no longer race. Hopefully, some newer sailors like one of the "Young Guns" will step up and win this series in the near future.
For this race, thanks to my crew of Walter, Kathleen, Dave and Tim for working hard and staying focused. Also thanks to other crew of Jim, Tom and Michael who raced on other races in the series.
Last Saturday 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, through Rich Passage, around Blake Island(either direction), leave Bainbridge Reef Buoy #4 to port and finish off the Port Orchard marina. This race is sponsored by Bremerton Yacht Club and has a history of at least 40 years. I like this race, it was my first racing win in 1975 with my Tanzer 22, "Rascal Too".
The forecast for the day did not look real favorable. The models I looked at showed light S to Sw winds and the possibility of rain and maybe even thunder showers! While we were lining up for the 1030 first warning, the winds were very light from the SW and we hovered around the left end of the line. But as the time started counting down to our 1045 start, the wind shifted around to very light out of the north. We scurried over to the now favored right end. We approached the line on starboard, squeezed out one barger and had a great start on time.
We sailed about a quarter of a mile on starboard before tacking to port above most of the boats that started in the earlier classes. After tacking to port, we sailed toward the eastern shore to get a boost from the ebbing current. As we approached Rich Passage, the wind increased to about 7-8 knots and with good ebbing current, we quickly passed Pt Glover and tacked toward Blake Island.
We had one long port tack between Orchard Rocks and Bainbridge Island and rode the current towards Blake Island intending to leave it to starboard. As we sailed into the open water, we noticed the rest of the fleet stalling at the east end of Rich Passage. When it did start filling in for them, it was out of the SW. As we aproached the east end of Blake Island, our northerly winds started easing and right on que, the wind shifted to the SW along with black clouds and rain. It quickly built to about 15 knots. We had a good beat against the ebbing current along the east shore of Blake Island. We could see some boats approaching Blake Island behind us, but it was hard to make them out with the distance and the heavy rain.
We set the chute and had a fast reach along the south shore of Blake Island and toward Bainbridge Island to buoy #4. The winds built to a puffy 20 knots. After rounding buoy #4, we close reached into Rich Passage with the #1 genoa. We could see that the wind was still blowing strong around Pt Glover, so we changed to the #3 jib. Sure enough, the wind continued blowing strong. We had a fast beat. We kept to the right side of the course sailing close to shore looking for relief from the still ebbing current. We finished off the Port Orchard Marina at about 1413. The next boat to finish was "Dulcinea" (J105) about 14 minutes behind us. The pesky Thunderbird "Swan" finished close enough to us to correct on us by about 80 seconds. So, we were first in class and second overall with "Swan" first overall and "Dulcinea" second in class and third overall. When the results are finalized, they can be found here: Blake Island Race 2012 Results
Bremerton Yacht Club reserved the party float at the Port Orchard Marina and had a great time of socializing, drinks, brats and awards after the race. Just before we finished, the sun came out making the social event a fun affair.
I am not supossed to name boats that had difficulties(I have been called insensitive and various other things in the past), but several boats seemed to be surprised by the sudden increase of the wind. Some boats finished overcanvassed without reefing or changing to a smaller headsail. One boat reported a ripped #1 jib.
The next race is June 30th at Brownsville. It will be the final race of the series. The top boats are very close in points. "Great White" is one point ahead of "Dulcinea" for the overall championship. But "Swan" is lurking about four points back. A lot can happen!
This was a challenging race for us and it was a suprise that it was mostly beating or close jib reaching, very little spinaker work was involved. Thanks to my crew of :Walter, Kathleen, Dave and Rainer for staying focused and working well together.
No track charts today, nor any pictures. Just this video from the GoPro mounnted on the Redneck Engineering levelling camera mount.
WSSA stands for West Sound Sailing Association. Formed in 1978, it joined the yachts clubs of West Puget Sound and Kitsap County into an organization and sponsored a series of races to determine a "Sailor Of The Year". Initially, the clubs that formed WSSA included: Port Orchard, Sinclair Inlet, Bremerton, Brownsville, Poulsbo and Port Madison. Over the years, this list has changed dramatically: Brownsville and Poulsbo dropped their racing programs(Poulsbo reinstated theirs about four years ago), Sinclair Inlet Yacht Club has ceased to exit, and a club named Eagle Harbor Yacht club sponsored races for a few years but, the club may have ceased to exit. West Sound Corinthian was formed in 1981 and added it's own race.
Each club sponsored a race(or two) and for a few years, the WSSA organization sponsored a weekend regatta that moved to different locations each year. In the early years, the WSSA series started with the first race in February at Port Madison, no races during the summer and two races in the fall with the final race being the Poulsbo Race. Some of the races (Brownsville, Sinclair Inlet, Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo) usually sponsored a post race dinner/social event.
The race format included two or more classes based on handicap and later a cruising class was added. Standard scoring was used with as many as two throw outs used when the series included up to nine races. Most of the clubs had their own races or regattas prior to the formation of WSSA and some were the result of the formation of WSSA. From the early 1980's, until at least 1999, the WSSA series was a qualifying race for the Seattle Yacht Club Gran Prix event.
The WSSA races are usually quite challenging. The outcome of many of them are determined by who can negotiate the currents of Rich Pass, Agate Pass and the entrance to Liberty Bay. The final results of the series is often not determined until the final race.
Here is a complete list of WSSA "Sailors of The Year" for 1978-2011:
Past West Sound Sailors
of the Year, and their Yachts
2011
Matthew Gardener-Brown
DULCINEA
J-105
2010
Matthew Gardener-Brown
DULCINEA
J-105
2009
Steve Trunkey
EGRESS
Hotfoot 27
2008
Dan Wierman
GREAT WHITE
J-35
2007
Dan Wierman
GREAT WHITE
J-35
2006
Matthew Gardner-Brown
DULCINEA
J-105
2005
Arnie Jarlock
TENSION
Tartan Ten
2004
Arnie Jarlock
TENSION
Tartan Ten
2003
Arnie Jarlock
TENSION
Tartan Ten
2002
Bob Lubowicki
CARENE
X-Yacht 119
2001
Jim Snow
YANKEE
Ranger 37
2000
Paul Faget
EGRESS
Hotfoot 27
1999
Dan Wierman
GOOD NEWS
Bystedt 30
1998
John Kerrigan
NEW HAVEN
Baltic 38
1997
Paul Faget
EGRESS
Hotfoot 27
1996
Dan Wierman
GOOD NEWS
Bystedt 30
1995
Jim Snow
YANKEE
Ranger 37
1994
Dan Wierman
GOOD NEWS
Bystedt 30
1993
Jim Snow
YANKEE
Ranger 37
1992
Ted Morneau & Jim Wright
FLITE'
Olson 40
1991
Paul Faget
EGRESS
Hotfoot 27
1990
Ted Morneau & Jim Wright
FLITE'
Olson 40
1989
Jim Snow
ENDEAVOR
Catalina 27
1988
Dan Wierman
GOOD NEWS
Bystedt 30
1987
Bob Verger & Rich Koch
ELAN
Catalina 38
1986
Milt Michaelis
SHADOWS
Erickson 34T
1985
Gary Davis
SWAN
Thunderbird
1984
Jerry Lowrie
FAST BREAK
Ranger 28
1983
Jerry Lowrie
FAST BREAK
Ranger 28
1982
Paul Estep
ELAN
Catalina 38
1981
Jerry Lowrie
FAST BREAK
Ranger 28
1980
Jim Snow
ENDEAVOR
Catalina 27
1979
Dick Ziglar
D2Z
Catalina 27
1978
Steve Nelson
MAAKEN
Custom Miller
The demographics of this list of winners is interesting:
16 Total Winners
6 Are still active racers
3 Have raced the series since the beginning.
1 Has raced in every series
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that many different styles and sizes of boats has won the series. It has not always been the fastest or largest boat.
WSSA has also been involved in sponsoring seminars and presentations. They have hosted talks from designers(Bob Perry), sailmakers (Keith Lawrence) and various sailing movies.
More info on WSSA and the series can be found here: WSSA Homepage
This was a short(unauthorized) history, others may be able to provide more information.
Recently, I read a post on another blog where the writer linked to an online magazine article: What's In Your Spam. In the article, the author pokes fun at Spam, what is in it and states that it is "the go-to food for Depression-era Okies and would-be subterranean
nuclear holocaust survivors." Obviously the writer has some snobby, preconceived notions about what Spam is and who eats it. I would think that he would be surprised at some prominent people that eat Spam. One of the best American mountaineers eats Spam on his climbs and he jokes about it in a movie during a climb of Mt Everest. I don't eat Spam very often, but I do like the long shelf life that it has and that it can be taken places where refrigeration is not available(camping, boating, mountain climbing) and since it is pre cooked, it can be eaten cold. I have carried Spam on my boat during lengthy voyages and particularly like the idea that it can stay fresh long after the ice has melted. In my youth, my mom occasionally fed us Spam, probably for it's ease of cooking(she worked long hours) and it's cheap cost. I would rather eat Spam than the liver from a forced fed goose! I hear that that is considered a delicacy by some people! And probably very expensive!
My choice of Spam is a version called Hot & Spicy Spam.This version of Spam originated from a chain of restaurants in Guam named "Shirley's".
Spam was a treat in the Pacific Islands after it was introduced during World War II. It lasted well without refrigeration. Shirley mixed Tabasco sauce with Spam and used it in her restaurant for rice and other dishes. The Hormel company heard about this, worked with her and actually packaged Hot and Spicy Spam, mainly for sale in Guam and other islands. They also test marketed it in Hawaii and some southern states. It is still available in Hawaii, I bought some during my last vacation there. It is also available in the Navy Commissary at Bangor for those that can shop there.
When I was working in Guam, we usually ate breakfast at the "Shirley's" restaurant next door to our hotel. Unusual dishes were offered for breakfast at "Shirley's" and I found that fried rice really stuck with me and gave me strength through the day when I was working long hours on the ship in the high heat and humidity. Fried rice at Shirleys could contain shrimp, chicken or Spam. Yes Spam! And it could be regular Spam or Hot and Spicy Spam! I preferred the Hot & Spicy Spam version. I have some Hot & Spicy Spam stockpiled and occasionally make the fried rice with it. You do need to like hot food to enjoy it! The recipe for the rice was on the can.
Besides Hot & Spicy Spam fried rice, Spam also is good in scrambled eggs. I have cooked scrambled eggs with Hot & Spicy Spam for friends with rave reviews.
Hot & Spicy Spam a version of Spam that is often the butt of jokes and ridicule.
This is fried rice made today from brown basmati rice, eggs, stir fry veggies and diced Hot & Spicy Spam. I picked up this recipe while I was working in Guam a few years ago. The restaurant next to our hotel was named Shirleys. She had several restaurants around the island.
And don't tell me that I need some sauce to put on this rice dish. I like it naked, the rice that is, without anything on it! And it really hits the spot after a long day of activity like riding the bicycle.
I am a single person. I retired in Dec 2008 after working 31 years for the federal government. Thanks taxpayers! I hope to be able to indulge in my activities of cycling, xcountry skiing, hiking and motorcycle riding.
