Vela has had a good year. She was first in C-Fleet in the first eight races they entered. As I write, they need two more firsts, out of the five remaining events, to have a perfect score in the Season Championship, 7.5 points.
Here George gives us a blow by blow description of his strategic plan and how it worked in the Skookum Inlet Race.
Oh boy here we go again. A downwind start with a fair current. Better be careful that we are not swept over early as we may have a heck of a time getting back. It does not look like either end of the line is favored. So why not start from the port end, reach along the line on starboard, then bear off at the gun? That way we will have rights on everybody, except those on our tack below us. We will be assured of not being too early or too late.
Well that worked out O.K. Could be better, but it could be worse. Now it looks like we will have along spinnaker run. Just as soon as we clear those other boats, we will set the chute. Although it is an ebbing tide, I think we will pretty much play the middle of the channel and head for Hunter Point. We could have tried for favorable current off the entrance to Eld Inlet instead. We will get close under Hunter Point, so we do not get caught in the ebb to far east of Hunter Point, as we try to go up Squaxin Passage.
Well, we are moving along O.K. We are keeping our wind close up under Hunter. Let’s see now, oh yes, a line from Hunter Point to the north end of Hope Island should show the best depth of water over the bar off Squaxin Island. We will try to follow that as best we can. Watch the depth sounder as it does get kind of thin in here. With a falling tide, we sure do not want to spend our race time here.
Approaching Hope Island I am having to sail by the lee a bit on port. I think I can hold on and perhaps the wind will head us a little as it bounces off the north end of Hope. That would allow us to get past without a gybe. We will do a port takedown when get over by Potlatch Point.
Well, that worked. Now the genoa is up and drawing nicely. We are moving pretty good, but are not going anywhere, not making any trees at all. We had better move over closer to Potlatch and out of the worst of the current. I do not want to be on the Hope Island side. We would get blanketed by the Island, like that boat off to port, which is still struggling with the current but with no wind.
O.K. we are through that bottle neck. Now the only place to hide from the current is just NW of Steamboat Island. After that we will just have to bite the bullet and tack through the entrance, against the current, into Totten Inlet. Maybe we can lessen the damage if we take a long board to the south and west of Steamboat. We avoid the worst of the current and get clearer air to boot!
Oh boy, now that we have cleared Windy point the wind is backing a bit. We have over stood a tad, but we will be able to sail free and fast to the mark boat.
We approach the mark boat with the wind blowing. I do not think we will take any chances trying to cut close. We will just sail by on this close reach for two or three boat lengths. Then tack and reach back, with plenty of time to get the jib sheeted and no chance of falling down on the mark boat. Sure do not want to catch his anchor line; it looks like he has a pretty good scope because of the breeze.
Grand sailing now. It is a beam reach coming home. Just smoking along and doing good. Since the current is starting to flood now, let’s hide behind Windy Point a bit. Then shoot across to Steamboat Island and hide behind the spit. Wish we had a fast boat and could ignore the current.
O.K. Now we will round the day mark close by. We will stay close along the spit and the Island, but avoid the submerged ledge just off the Steamboat’s bow.
Well, it is Squaxin Passage, again with a foul current. What luck! From Steamboat we will dash across the current for what refuge we can find next to Hope Island.
Then it is time to bite the bullet again, as these rocks along Hope are about as close as I like them to get. So let’s tack onto port. I hate to cross the brunt of the current again, but we do not have much choice. Boy are we being set down! Hang on we are almost through.
We can tack back onto starboard and follow our original strategy, to fight our way up the south side of Squaxin Passage. We want to stay just clear of the current, but still keeping our wind. Things seem to be paying off as those boats over by Hope Island are lacking enough wind to breast the flood. Too bad.
We may be able to hold this course and pass south of the nun guarding the south end of the Squaxin shoal. With the tide lower the water north of the buoy will be thinner. I am not anxious to test it, although those boats ahead appeared to have made it. [One A-Fleet boat made a brief stop at that bar. Ed.]
Woops, we stretched our luck and waited too long. The wind is filling in on the north side of the channel. The boats close to Hope that we passed got us back. Time to kick this south side strategy and get in to the new wind before we lose our shirt.
O.K. now, this is better. We are moving good and heading just north of the buoy. We will have to take our chances over the shoal. So watch the sounder. Mercy! 10 feet, 9, . . . keep watching that sounder . . . 7, 6, hang on here we go, 7, 8, 10. O.K. we are clear now.
Since we are on the north side of the channel, why not follow the counter current along Squaxin for a while. We can avoid recrossing that lovely current. Neither tack is particularly favored, so we might get away with it.
Well, we have managed to work our way a half mile south of Unsal Point. The wind is lifting a bit, which puts us on the wrong side of the wind shift. Some of the lift may be due to lee bowing the current out of Dana, which will not hurt a bit. So we will just carry on being lifted towards Dofflemeyer.
With Dover Point just ahead we will have to tack to port now. Then the current will be with us for a change. Might as well carry the flood on down to Cooper Point and along the west shore of Budd.
Wow, that was the long way around. But I think we made some on the boats rounding close to Hunter Point.
We are about as close to shore as we need to get. So we will tack towards Gull Harbor. The wind seems fairly steady and straight from the finish line. So we should be able to take longer tacks and cut down the work load.
We are nearing Gull Harbor. Look at that streak of foam and stuff in the water. That is a rip line for sure. Let’s continue across it and see how bad it is. Judging by the way it swung the bow it is foul. So we will tack out of here.
From now on the only thing to do is to hold on try to stay ahead of Wind Shadow. She is making a little on each tack, but we will give it the best we have got! [Wind Shadow, first in D Fleet, got by to finish 30 seconds ahead, but owes Vela a little over a minute].
Here is the finish line. Hold on. I am going to round up and shoot the line to save a few seconds. Here we go!
Well, that is the Skookum Inlet Race as we saw it on Vela. All in all we did O.K. If we had not fouled up a bit in Squaxin Passage on the way back, but moved over to that wind streak sooner, we might even have been able to stay ahead of Wind Shadow. Oh well, next time . . .
George Hansen, Vela