Whidbey Island Race Week-2010

Whidbey Island Race Week 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".

This year I had the privilege of being invited to race aboard "What? A Tripp!" a Peterson 37. I have never raced on this boat before, but skipper Gary invited me about a month before. This boat and crew have a great reputation in Puget Sound for being a very competitive boat, so I quickly accepted and packed up my sailing gear.

The format for race week is 9 classes of one design keelboats and tightly grouped classes of handicap racing. Races are held outside of Oak Harbor in either Penn Cove or Saratoga Passage(depending on wind direction). We raced in class P3. This class is sometimes referred to as the "Furniture 40" class because it often consists of older somewhat heavier boats in the 35-43ft range. The class was not that large, a couple boats dropped out just before Race Week started, one from some damage and lost and destroyed equipment and rigging incurred a few weeks earlier. The class was still very competitive.

The first day of racing on Monday was a bust. The race committee waited most of the day for the wind to fill in and then set a fairly long course which we could not finish. The rest of the week the wind filled in enough each day to get in 11 races in four days, three races a day on Tuesday through Thursday and two on Friday. The racing is usually multiple laps of tight buoy races. The RC does a good job of trying to keep the starting line square and the marks directly up and down wind.

My job was to work in the pit. I tailed halyards during hoists, set halyard tension, raised and adjusted pole height, dropped the spinnaker and adjusted the foreguy. It was a lot of fun working with a well trained crew. I was a bit insecure at first(and did trip one halyard inadvertently the first day), but felt like I did my job well and added to the effort.

The entire week, our chief competition was "Shoot The Moon" a Peterson 40. We virtually matched raced them the entire time. They owed us a small amount of time. We started the week leading them for two days, but then they had a run of firsts, often correcting on us by only 5 to 20 seconds! When it was over, STM beat us for the week by two points. Our score of first and second place finishes was very respectable, but STM was just a little bit ahead.

The post race partying was typical with bands, dancing, award presentations, volleyball and something called a "Bacon Off" which would be sure to be a artery clogging event! Thursday night is the boat "renaming" night. A few of our crew participated late at night.

Thanks to Gary and the rest of the "What! A Tripp?" crew for giving me the great opportunity to race with them and providing me with a place to sleep and eat.

Results can be found here: http://whidbeyislandraceweek.com/results_2010.html

Boats racing in Saratoga Passage on Thursday.

My ride for the week.

Boats at the dock.

One of the boats that was renamed on Thursday night (AKA Teddy Bear).

Friday's crew on "What! A Tripp?". We were missing two people, one who was taking the photo and our sewer rat who slept until we needed him.

Motoring out to the start.

The fleet motoring out to the start.

Spinnakers racing in Penn Cove.

Spinnakers in Penn Cove.

Over The Mountains.

I have been watching the weather(and my busy schedule) and chose today to take a motorcycle ride to central Washington and back. I rode over Chinook Pass, through the Yakima River Canyon and I90 over Snoqualmie Pass to return.

The weather was perfect. It was a little cool on the western approaches to Chinook Pass, but as soon as I crested the summit, it warmed up. The traffic was light on most of the ride and even the boring(to me) I90 highway over Snoqualmie Pass was pleasant. Even the ongoing construction was not disruptive.

I have not been on some of these roads in a long time. Probably the last time for the Yakima River Canyon Road was the late 1960's.

I made a side trip to Roslyn(where "Northern Exposure" was filmed) and a quick stop at the Factory Outlet Stores in North Bend.

The traffic through Tacoma was stop and go and by the time I got home in the afternoon, the temperature was warming up. I was tired by the time I got home.

Total riding distance: 360 miles.

Mt Ranier and Lake Tipsoo. The lake is still partially covered with snow and the parking lot is completely plugged with snow.
Mt Ranier.

Looking east down the valley from Chinook Pass.

I am not a senior! I'm not, I'm not I'm not!

I need to confess. I have been in denial for a long time. And I need to come clean and finally admit that I am a SENIOR. That is a hard thing for me to do. I still feel young. I probably need help coping with my denial!

About 20 years ago I discovered bike racing. I was 35 years old and the cycling federation called the racers over 35 "veterans" implying our years of experience. There were some fast guys in that category. I was not that good at road racing, I am a bit large to fly up hills, but I do have good endurance. I was good at mountain bike racing and in another off road event called cyclocross, I had a national ranking one year. I quit racing about 10 years ago.

Last week at the bread store(where I claim a discount for being a Se----), I noticed an add in the window advertising the Bremerton West Sound Senior Games. I knew of this from past years, but had never entered. They offer many sports including basketball, tennis, track and field, horseshoes, disc golf, swimming, cycling and many others. The criteria is an age of 50 or older. I started thinking this might be fun and the only thing I could do was cycling. So after an email to the organizer to determine that I could still enter, I submitted my entry fee(including late fee).

I researched the times for the last two years in the cycling time trial and knew I had my work cut out. These are some fast guys! A Tuesday practice of the 7 mile course did not inspire much confidence. My practice time of 21:13 was much slower than most of the riders in my 55-59 year category. So, I installed my old aero bars and rode a couple of days to make sure I could control the bike safely. I have not used aero bars in at least 15 years and never on my current road bike. I was surprised that I was stable.

Saturday, the time trial was at 1330 north of Poulsbo on the Big Valley Road. I was intimidated by the number of high end carbon fiber, aero shaped time trial bicycles. These guys looked formidable. And here I was on an aluminum tube framed bike with add on aerobars!

The participants started at one minute intervals. I started in the second group for the 55-59 year olds. I got up to speed and dropped down onto the aero bars. I stayed down on the bars all the way to the turn around. I was able to really keep my speed up and my breathing under control, but thought I should have been able to get to the turnaround sooner. The return is up a slight hill. This concerned me the most. I got off the aero bars and rode on the hoods to keep my chest open so I could get plenty of oxygen. I surprised myself by keeping up a very fast pace. I passed one rider at the top of the hill and one guy from behind passed me. I went back on the aero bars and stayed on them until the finish. I posted a 19:29 which was good enough for second in my age group. I was extremely happy. The guy that past me was in my group and set the fastest time of the day in the 16-17 minute range! He was one on a specialized time trial bike.

The organizers of the Senior Games sponsored a dinner Saturday night for all the participants. It was fun to meet up with some of the people I have not seen in years.

Now I can get back to being in denial: I am not a senior! I'm not, I'm not I'm not!

Website for the games: http://www.ci.bremerton.wa.us/display.php?id=679

After the time trial.
Great looking group of cyclists!

Craig(75-80 year old group) and I with our 2nd place silver medals.

Cruise to Liberty Bay Fireworks-July 3

Poulsbo, Wa is a quirky little town on the shores of Liberty Bay. Poulsbo is decorated in a Scandinavian theme probably because the early residents were Scandinavian. The town has many shops and a "to die for" bakery. Also for a small town, they put on a killer fireworks display! The fireworks are on the 3rd of July. This allows people to watch fireworks on the 3rd and then go somewhere else to see lesser fireworks on the 4th. The fireworks are shot from a barge anchored in the bay and boaters from around Puget Sound plug the bay to watch.

My yacht club(West Sound Corinthian Yacht Club(WSCYC)) usually schedules a cruise for the evening. Since I moor about five miles away, I volunteered to go early and stake a claim on a good spot near the "line of death" around the barge. Later arriving boats were told that they could then raft up to me and with additional anchors set we could be secure for the evening. Also, an evening pot luck diner and breakfast pot luck are planned. In the past we have had large groups of boats and a large variety of good eats.

I arrived at about 1223 and anchored in an open area near the buoy line. Boats started showing up a couple of hours later, first Emerald Lady and then Sea Rose. Toward evening other WSCYC boats showed up and anchored near us, but would not raft up with us. Hmmm! Whats with that? More boats showed up and rafted with the second group. Oh well the three boats in the WSCYC raft and one more that showed up later shared our culinary creations and had a good time.

The fireworks were awesome! Not a long display, but lots of energy. And the night was clear and calm giving us a great view.

In the morning, the three boats in the WSCYC raft(one left in the evening), again shared breakfast and everyone had plenty to eat. The wind was light out of the south. I sailed away from the raft and had a good beat out of Liberty Bay, thru the narrow pass near Keyport and home to Brownsville. Lots of boats leaving at the same time created quite a traffic jam near Keyport.

Next year I will let someone else pick the anchoring location.

Short video of some fireworks.

West Sound Corinthian Yacht Club Brownsville Race-WSSA #7

Saturday was the seventh(and final) race of the West Sound Sailing Association(WSSA) series. Going into this race, Dulcinea(J105) was the leader overall with us on Great White(J35) four points back. After the last race around Blake Island, other potential front runners like Falcon(Cal 9.1) had fallen many points behind.

This race is in my home waters near Brownsville. But it is far from a favorite. The race starts off the Brownsville Marina breakwater, and is typical, the wind was shifty and light, with a large westerly component blowing out of Burke Bay and off the SW shore line. Up until our 4 minute signal, the wind was blowing lightly. We were a bit late for the start, but when the starting signal was put up, the wind dropped to zero. We were the farthest upwind of the rest of our class and coasted above Tantrum II(Schock 35). We could see the wind just upwind and when it finally reached us at about 5 knots, we took off in the lead. After some close crossings with Dulcinea (J105), we rounded the weather mark at University Point in first. Downwind toward the leeward mark at Pt Bolin, Dulcinea sailed passed us and rounded well ahead. I did not sail very fast downwind and tried to keep left away from the flooding current in Agate Pass.

On the beat back, the wind lightened and we started gaining on Dulcinea. We stayed close to the left side of the course near Battle Point looking for the port tack lift along that shore and kept gaining on Dulcinea who stayed out more in the middle. At the start/finish line we were 10 minutes ahead of Dulcinea as we started the second lap. The wind built back to 5-7 knots. We maintained the lead around the mark at University Point, but once again Dulcinea gained on us going downwind. We rounded the mark at Battle Point and headed toward the Brownsville mark again. This leg turned into a close reach. The committee shortened the race at the Brownsville start/finish mark for a race of 11.4 NM. Dulcinea finished about three minutes behind us and since we owe them four minutes, they corrected on us for first overall and first in class. We saved our time over everyone else for second overall and in class.

For the series, Dulcinea was the series winner and we were second. Complete results can be found at: http://www.wscyc.net/new%20site/WSSA/index.htm

WSSA sponsored an after race picnic in the marinas park with drinks and eats provided by an anonymous donor.

We did have a good race, and even though the winds were light, the sun came out in the afternoon and the day was warm. Thanks to my team of: Jim, Ron, Peg, Kathleen and Michael for working at keeping us moving.

The course for the race. A complete race would be: long lap, small lap and long lap. We completed a long lap and short lap.
Spinnakers approaching Battle Pt. on the first lap. Left to right: Dulcinea, Great White and Tantrum II.
Photo: Rachel H.

June Friday Night Six Pack Race Series

My club(West Sound Corinthian Yacht Club) sponsors an evening race series twice a year in June and September. For nearly 20 years it was a Friday night series with a race each week. I always found it a fun series. Most of the competitors did not take it too seriously. What better thing to do in the summer than to get your boat out and race. Ussualy there was enough time after the race for socializing afterwards. I used to go to work early, get off early, be underway by 1530 and have the boat at Port Orchard ready to race by 1700. After the race I usually was home by 2230 and then sleep in on Saturday morning, until at least 0700. I was hard core about participating. I would do strange things like get off the airplane from places like Japan and go directly to the boat to go to Port Orchard to race. Sometimes I would go to work REALLY early, work overtime and still go racing.



A few years ago the race day was changed to Thursday night to accomodate someone who could not race on Friday. Since Thursday was a "school" night and I needed to get up early(0430) to go to work, I felt that I could not race on Thursday, get home late, go to work the next morning and be productive. So I stopped racing the evening series and fell out of the habit.



This year the Club moved the race night back to Friday night. So now I am racing the Friday Night series even though I have no excuse for not racing on Thursday because of work.



These races are short races around club and Navy mooring buoys in Sinclair Inlet. Three classes are started: Cruising, Race B and Race A. I start last in the Race A class for the fastest boats.



First race was a one lap race around the Club Buoy south of Port Orchard, through the start/finish line, around the light at Pt Herron and return to finish. The wind was a strange angle from the west that turned most of the race into a reach. I started behind "Reign Maker"(C&C37/40XL) , but past them shortly after the first mark. Had a nice beat to Pt Herron, set the spinaker and reached out into the favorable current to finish 1st in class and 1st overall.



Second friday, the wind was out of the north around a Navy mooring buoy and the club buoy, twice around. I had an ok start right behind Tantalus(Express 37), but past them before the first mark and proceeded to sail away to once again place 1st in class and 1st overall.



Third Friday was a beat to Pt Herron, club buoy and return for about 5 miles. I had a great port tack start at the pin end of the line. I was concerned about crossing the ferrys path, but there was plenty of room and I got by him OK. I jibe set the spinaker at Pt Herron and sailed a good route to the leeward mark. The wind was spotty allowing some boats to get closer, but I made up lots of time on the final beat and once again corected on everyone for 1st in class and 1st overall.

Tonight was the final Friday night race for June. The winds were light. I had a good start and closed up on the slower boats that started 5 and 10 minutes ahead and by the first mark, only a couple of boats were ahead. I set the spinaker. The winds were puffy and changed direction a lot, making it difficult to get ahead of a couple of the slower boats. Finally I snuck ahead and by the leeward mark I was ahead of everyone. The wind settled some for the beat back to the windward mark and I started stretching out my lead. I was first to finish and saved my time, to finish first in class and first overall for the fourth straight race. I collected my six pack of soda and had a nice evening motor back to Brownsville.

The series went well onboard "Great White". My sail handling, boat speed and tactics seemed good. But it was just fun to once again get out and race in the warm summer evenings. I was the overall and class winner for the series.

The award for the winner each night is a "Six Pack". Hence the name "Six Pack Series". Since I don't drink beer, I hauled away several six packs of soda and gave away most of it!

Blake Island Race-6-12-2010-WSSA No. 6

Saturdays race was Bremerton Yachts Club's, Blake Island Race. This is the sixth race of the West Sound Sailing Association's(WSSA) seven race series. This race starts near Pt Herron in East Bremerton, goes out Rich Passage, around Blake Island(either way) and returns to the finish at Pt Herron for a total of 17 NM. There is also a shortened course option that finishes at Orchard Pt on the return for 12.5 NM.

This race is probably my most enjoyable race. Maybe because I have won it many times, but also because of the tactical challenges involved with the current and wind shadows from the nearby land.

This race was my first sailboat race win 35years ago in 1975. I had been racing for two years and had actually placed well in the Blake Island race in 1974. But in 1975, I had just bought a new(to me) 22 ft boat two weeks previously and found it much faster that my older boat and in the Blake Island race, I sailed a smart race and beat a field of about 25 larger faster boats. Of course, there was a outcry that it was not possible to own a boat for such a short time and do so well, so my handicap must be in error. So after my handicap was changed by a large amount a few months later and I still could do well, and owed larger boats time, the noise subsided some.

This years race was started at 0935 to take advantage of a strong ebb current changing to flood in the early afternoon. The weather was fantastic, clear sunny skies, but the wind was quite light from the NW at the start. Also, even though the current was ebbing, close to shore where the starting line was set, there is a back eddy and the current was actually setting the boats away from the line.

We got a good start near the pin end and tacked as soon as possible toward the east to get into the ebb current. Dulcinea(J105) and Tantalus(Express 37) started farther down the line near the boat ent and stayed on the western shore(against the current?). Tantrum II(Schock35) and us continued to tack up the eastern shore. Near Waterman, the wind really died and we found ourselves out of the main river of current. Tantrum pulled ahead and Dulcinea, Tantalus and Reign Maker(C&C40) passed us. We entered Rich Pass in last place in our class. At this point we also noticed that the boats that started in the two classes behind us were mostly still setting on the start line!

In Rich Passage, it was time to get to work. We could see the wind just past Pt Glover, but the important thing was to position the boat in the most favorable current. Reign Maker slid left and when we got to the wind, we easily past them on starboard tack. We short tacked up the Bainbridge Island shore riding the strong ebb. The other boats went right into the less favorable current. We tacked between Orchard Rocks and the Bainbridge Island shore and gained on the fleet. Reign Maker followed us through the gap. As we exited the pass, we stayed on port tack that took us away from the shore on the left. Tantalus continued too far left and found themselves in the backeddy and light air near Beans PT. Dulcinea and Tantrum headed way right past the Manchester fuel docks after making the decision to go counterclockwise around the island.

We stayed on port tack and as we approached Blake Island, we were lifted up into the new NW wind. We could see slick areas ahead, but when we got to them, they collapsed and we had ripples on the water. We worked the boat hard, kept our speed up and continually gained on Reign Maker and Tantalus. We set the spinaker near the state park boat moorage and reached across the top of the island. We had a good run down the east side and stayed close to the shore to avoid the north flowing current out of Colvos Pass. As we neared the SE corner of Blake Island, we saw Dulcinea on the Southworth shore and Tantrum much farther back. We now had favorable current along the south shore of the island. The wind came forward, so down with the spinaker and up with the jib. The wind was spotty until we cleared the west end of the island. The wind came up to about 5 knots and came farther aft until we could set the spinaker again. As we neared Orchard Pt at the entrance to Rich Pass, we could see the comittee boat anchored out. Time for the shortened course. As we approached the finish line, I became concerned about the now flooding current flushing us past the line or setting us into the boat. So we jibed to port and reached up to ensure we made it across the line.

We were first to finish and were far enough ahead to correct on everyone behind us. We owed time to everyone but Tantalus. Only nine boats out of 19 starters finished. When we motored home, several boats were setting near the west entrance of Rich Passage.

We did well by staying focused and putting 36 years of experiance in racing this race to good use. Local knowledge rules!

Thanks to the my crew of Jim, Walter, Kathleen and Michael.

Results can be found here when they are posted:

http://www.wscyc.net/new%20site/WSSA/index.htm

Division 2 and 3 boats stuck at the start.

Photo: R. Johnson

Here we are finishing at Orchard PT.

Photo: R. Johnson

Our course for the day. We went clockwise around Blake Island.