Race Round Whidbey on Papillon

[PepperW]

POST 1/3

Hello to all, this is my first unprepared attempt to pull something together for the recap of RWR 2024. The S/V was Papillon owned by Hayden Watson. Crewed by Jason, Pepper, Bruce, Kristine, and Scotty.

The Round Whidbey Race hosted by Oak Harbor Yacht Club, a 65-nm journey around Whidbey Island, occurred over Mother's Day weekend. It was an enjoyable and exciting experience for the crew of Papillon, skippered by Hayden. The pre-race events included a breathtaking display of the Northern Lights, which were visible worldwide. Like always, shenanigans were among fellow sailor buddies with boat renaming and trickery.

We had clear skies, sunshine, and light winds on race day. Deception Pass gave us a good 6kn of current accompanied by the usual whirlpools, standing waves, and roiling eddies. At the start line, the air was light, and everyone looked as though they were in slow motion as they passed each other. Jason, Scotty, and Hayden prepared the spinnaker with Jason at the ready for a port tack. The horn blasted after the five-minute start delay, and the spinnakers flew.

 

[PepperW]

POST 2/3

As the spinnakers filled, the fleet took their chosen paths, determined to get the best wind. The water was glassy, and the winds remained around 5-8kn as we descended the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We stayed on the east side of the shipping lanes as others decided to go closer to shore and others out west of the lanes. The light winds made it challenging to stay positive, but we all put our Positive Pat Pants on, which gave us the enthusiasm to find some crazy birds yelling at us to come their way and not the way of many boats stuck at the shore before Point Partridge. Pepper was at the helm, and Hayden wasn't working too hard at the spinnaker sheets; seeing the wind was light and predictable.

The light wind and current from Point Partridge were enough to help pull us around the point towards Admiralty Head with a SOG of around 5.5- 7kn. We headed farther out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which delivered us the wind needed to heat up the spinnaker, and there was no resistance in the water due to the current from the building ebb of Admiralty Inlet. This advantage pushed us from being second to last to secure second place in the Whidbey Sprint portion of the race. For a moment, it felt like those damn birds were laughing at everyone though the truth is they were really saying, this is the way. After passing a giant container and a couple cruise ships, we finally reached Scatchet Head buoy around 6:18pm.

The spinnakers turned into drapes, and boats sluggishly rounded Possession Point's wind-hole. Bruce took the helm, the spinnaker was packed away, and the Genoa came out. This was when we needed to summon the wind gods by jamming out to Come Sail Away. Luckily, we managed to get 8-10kn winds under our sails, which got us out of the armpit of Possession Point around 8pm; however, we were passed by most of the fleet during this time. As some boats chose to go out toward Mukilteo, we stayed closer to Whidbey's side.

 

[PepperW]

POST 3/3

We started to approach Clinton after 1030pm. With Hayden at the helm, winds started to grow to 12-17kn, one reef in the mainsail was placed, and the team shared the responsibilities of tacking. Sailing on a close reach with a 20+ degree heel, we ducked and dodged the Ferries. The current coming down from Possession Sound was mounting, making it a fight to keep our SOG over 4.5kn. In addition, the Ferries were feisty with caution, radioing sailing vessels and shining their bright ass light on us twice, blinding us and losing our night vision. Winds stayed steady with gusts over 20kn as we rounded Sandy Point. We stayed on the East side of the Saratoga Passage, going North, beating against the current with mounting waves that showered the crew. As usual, the gusts were unpredictable, intense, and sometimes bidirectional. This led our close haul course to fill the sails in the wrong direction, ultimately making us do two 360 maneuvering to get back on course without making sudden tacks.

Around 100am, Hayden, Scotty, and Kristine went below for a rest shift, while Jason, Bruce, and Pepper stayed above. Hayden learned from last year's race and decided to sleep in the aft quarter birth to prevent any falling out of bed events; however, he did need to brace himself well as each tack brought deep degrees of heel. It showed because the cabin looked like a 3-year-old kid tore it apart. The team switched around 330am, and Hayden, Scotty, and Kristine got us into daybreak. Winds stayed vital for most of the night until dawn, when we settled to a crawl. We all emerged just after 600am and started the coffee and breakfast burritos; however, we lost Kristine, and Bruce got to eat her breakfast.

As we started approaching Snakelum Point, the winds came around from Penn Cove and reheated the sails, and we were making significant headway, pushing us right to the layline. Of course, the pocket of Oak Harbor and G-5 finish made for another slow crawl over the finish line. We ended the race 1st in our class and 2nd overall for the WS. 10th out of 12th overall, 3rd in our class for the RWR.

 

[MikeHoncho]

Great write up Pepper!

 

[Hayden Watson]

Thanks for the great write up and the excelent crew work on this years Round Whidbey Race. It was one to remember. For a 1988 Catalina 30 to be the third boat around Partridge point and take 2nd place in the 30-mile Whidbey Sprint is pretty dang great!
I had a great crew who made for a fantastic race.