What a change from last year! The 1996 Smith Island Race was canceled for lack of wind, and it took us nearly the entire time limit, 19 hours, till 0400, to sail the 1996 Seattle Vashon. This year, we sailed the 85 mile Smith Island in less than 10 hours, finishing in daylight! We had favorable tides, and it was downwind both ways. Now, if only we had been able to get the race instructions, we would have known that you could round the Island either way ... oh well. There were many ripped chutes and some impressive looking broaches. We went conservative early and flew the "inch and 1/2", a new crew’s new nickname for the 1.5 oz chute, most of the way. This helped avoid major hardware damage, despite a prolonged knockdown off Port Townsend, just as I called for a set. However, our software suffered a little damage: a recent convert to the point learned the hard way why it is a good idea to control the pole with the downhaul, and stay on the other side of the forestay, during a heavy air jibe. Anyway, the bleeding stopped quickly, he didn’t appear to have a concussion, and was even willing to do more jibes — wait, maybe he was experiencing brain damage after all ...
Weather was delightfully odd for Seattle Vashon too. A consistent, warm (!) 20-25 knot northerly blew all day. I think our entire fleet was out. It looked like sailmakers had been very busy, since the sails that exploded two weeks before seemed to be back in use. At Point Robinson, everyone else dropped chutes and went down the shore, "it’s shorter, so it must be faster". We pursued what is becoming our usual strategy of screeching wide of the Island under cute for speed, and avoiding the holes that seem to crop up at Quartermaster and on the south side. As the trimmer, I was working hard to stay attuned to the boat and ease just enough to keep it from rounding up.
At the corner, we managed to sneak between the Point Defiance hole and the black hole at the end of the Island, and get back into the breeze in Colvos with the J fleet. Now, upwind is not always our strongest point of sail, and I expected that some of the boats we had passed, Nightrunner in particular, would catch up. That they did by the end of the Island. But after that, they could not pass us in the seven miles to the finish. Was it the number 3, which helped to keep us on our feet? Did we have a better line in Elliot Bay, following Something Special close into the shore for current relief? I’m not sure, but we beat them on straight time and finished second in class which took us both by surprise!
To top this all off, the northerly persisted for most of the delivery on Sunday. Three of us sailed under chute as far as Anderson Island, stopping for a tropical lunch at the Tides. I’ve now got a good start on my summer tan ...
Needless to say, we are hoping for similarly good conditions for Swiftsure. We’ll be joined by Damn Yankee, Camouflage, Koosah, Uncle Juicy, Gadzooks, Flasher, and Something Special. A good race, followed by the pleasures of Victoria. What a great way to spend Memorial Day weekend!
Susanne Windels, Sky Hi, sailing aboard O-My-God