Round Whidbey Race

Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Papillion is under sail sharing the breezes on the western edge of Whidbey Island as 11 boats attempt to sail 65 nm around the island and get to Oak Harbor before 1500 on Sunday.
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It is a sailing, navigational, endurance experience. The present conditions are pretty.
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The crew leaders.
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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Good times!!!

That is IMPRESSIVE lifeline fencing. Almost looks like chainlink. But makes hiking out impossible. Are there often dogs or tots on board??
 
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Likes: Hayden Watson
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Grandchildren protection.

It is 10:00. We are still at it. Lovely night. Full moon lite up the course. We drifted for a while. Then the tide changed and we drifted backwards for about an hour. About 0345 a breeze of 4 knots started to appear. Thru the night we ghosted up to a a couple of the fast boats. A 42 Valiant and a 30 ft Beneteau. They were both caught in reverse currents. They drifted back towards us as we advanced.

Then a morning breeze freshened and we had 15 - 18 knots to tack up the 20 nm Saratoga Passage.
 
May 17, 2004
5,028
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
Then the tide changed and we drifted backwards for about an hour. About 0345 a breeze of 4 knots started to appear. Thru the night we ghosted up to a a couple of the fast boats. A 42 Valiant and a 30 ft Beneteau. They were both caught in reverse currents. They drifted back towards us as we advanced.
Though sometimes forgotten, anchoring during a race is legal and can prevent the backwards drifting.

Sounds like you're having a good time!
 
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Likes: Hayden Watson
Aug 28, 2006
564
Bavaria 35E seattle
John,
This looks like a challenging race.....I think I'd like to do it next year. Glad to see on the results on the club page you finished. Congrats! Put up a post in advance of the race for next year (I'm assuming it's open to non club members). Maybe other SBO folks in the PNW area will join in.
 
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Likes: Hayden Watson
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
I have finally finished sleeping so I will chime in. First of all, John needs to actually LOOK at the side of the boat. The name "PAPILLON" is in 9" tall letters on both sides! :eek::kick:
We all got some sleep. My wife said that I got two naps that were about 30 minutes. I think John got a two hour nap while we drifted in a windless back eddy on the east side of Marrowstone island with the 30 ft Beneteau. We each when around twice in the 1/4-mile by 1-mile whirlpool. :soapbox: Without that misadventure we would have been in the thick of the pack. Even with that, we were easily correcting ahead of the Bene and Valiant until 6 miles from the finish. We saw the Bene get headed 120º right into the beach so we tacked out. He picked up a shore breeze that was about 100 yards wide and wrode it all the way up to Penn Cove and we ended up in 0 wind. Two hours later we finally started to get a bit of wind which built up to the high teens so we finished with a bank.
To say that it is a challenging and technical race is an understatement. We had long periods of 0 wind and significant time up around 20. We reefed at least 6 times and also were sailing upwind under spinnaker because that was the only sail that would fill.
The only failure we had was the flooding of the head and galley. Forgot to close the sink drain thru-hull and the galley and head sinks both back-flowed seawater onto the floor. :banghead:
Fun was had by all. Good food, good friends, good fun.
 
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Likes: Jackdaw
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Handy unless the water is 400 feet deep!
We were in 300' to 500' of water and tried for over an hour to get over to where the Bene and Valiant were anchored. Once we got there we found that they were about 100 yards out from the Possession Pt shoal and also unable to get to anchorable depth. They had making just enough headway to keep from being flushed back to the start line by the ebb tide. :banghead:
 
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Likes: Jackdaw
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
We were in 300' to 500' of water and tried for over an hour to get over to where the Bene and Valiant were anchored. Once we got there we found that they were about 100 yards out from the Possession Pt shoal and also unable to get to anchorable depth. They had making just enough headway to keep from being flushed back to the start line by the ebb tide. :banghead:
I have total empathy for boats and crew in these 60+ mile coastal races. I’ve done tons. They usually run about 24+ hours, and deal with shorebreeze and Seabreeze and all the zero knot transitions. Dead spots in the lees of islands. Add in the floods and ebbs, anchoring and general tiredness based on not being able to have a true watch rotation and it’s real work. Nice job!
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Almost 29 hours on the water. Ugh. Hope you are getting some sleep!
All of my favorite races are long distance. I hold one of the record times for another favorite. The Northern Century has a trophy for Longest on Course which is the last boat to cross the line before the 40 hour timeline. I got the trophy several years ago with a time of 39:59:40. That should stand for a while. Of the 41 boats that started the race, only 25 finished and most of the DNF's had much lower PHRF's than mine so that year any finish was a tremendous victory. I was 2 seconds behind a J30 after 100 miles of racing. Win,win!
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
I have total empathy for boats and crew in these 60+ mile coastal races. I’ve done tons. They usually run about 24+ hours, and deal with shorebreeze and Seabreeze and all the zero knot transitions. Dead spots in the lees of islands. Add in the floods and ebbs, anchoring and general tiredness based on not being able to have a true watch rotation and it’s real work. Nice job!
And on this race, the tides run up to 4+ knots. Most of us that do this race on a regular basis count any finish as a victory. given that I am one of the highest PHRF's in the fleet, I count that as double. Last year I was 3rd in the Whidbey Sprint, which is the half-way race. I 2008 and 2013 I was 2nd <edit> in class in the Round Whidbey. Not bad for a cruiser.
 
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Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Fair winds to Pampillion. Hayden has a secret weapon on board so you guys will do well.
Ward, are you referring to my single-line reefing that got much use this weekend? Or was it the offerings of my wife "The Galley Wench" (her self-proclaimed title) which drove the other racers crazy with the smells of lasagna and French bread wafting from the cabin about dark? Or was it the stellar efforts of our Crew Leaders, Claudette on helm for many hours and my wife at her normal station, main sail trimmer for almost the entire night?
We have lots of weapons at our disposal.