West Vancouver Yacht Club
Southern Straits 2010
Most of us are not about to forget
this year’s Southern Straits race. In the face of storm-force winds and a
whittled down fleet, the Race Committee abandoned the race for the first time in its 42-year history. Of 62 boats registered, 51 boats had
been forced or had chosen to retire by the time the race was called. Four boats pulled out before leaving the dock and a number of the smaller boats could not make it upwind to the start. The Envi ronment Canada
meteorologist who presented the forecast at the skippers meeting the night before had been quite clear: the models showed gale force winds across the racecourse, but veering south and abating somewhat in the afternoon. The Southern Straits race
until we got to Point Atkinson on the way to the start line. Seeing our motoring speed slow down to one knot, we decided to put up a number four jib and follow the shoreline out of the current. We are not exactly sure what happened, but the brand new Dacron number four never made it all the way up the track before coming apart and being destroyed. That’s when we realized this was not going to be an ordinary race. We motored in the lee of Stanley Park, set up our roller furler and put
The crew aboard“Mojo”
one of our crew members asked to get off Mojo and we dropped down to seven sailors determined to make it through the day. We barely made the start on time,
and ended up putting up our double- reefed main a few minutes after the start. Boats ahead of us, many whom had their kites up at the start, were all rounding up and getting slammed. The writing was on the wall: when we got out of English Bay and into the Strait, this was going to be a war of attrition. We lowered the main,
secured it to the boom, and put the companionway board in. We progressively reefed our number three jib as the wind and seas continued to build. We were surfing toward the mark at 14-15 knots and the boat felt great.
is known for its potentially difficult conditions and serves as a qualifier for the longer Van Isle 360 and Vic Maui. Cold weather and wind are the draws for this race, which attracts many racers from Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver to test their skills and crew. This year the lived up to its reputation, and then some. Aboard Mojo, a 35 foot J-109, our day started off well (the coffee was good)
48° NORTH, MAY 2010 PAGE 68
Wind speed was climbing
and our B&G instruments kept turning off with an error message that said “input too high”. Even the instruments knew better, but we continued on.
When we passed Nanaimo, we saw Radiance, a Dufour
up our number three jib. That way, if the conditions deteriorated, we could turn our jib into a storm jib. At that point, feeling uneasy about the race,
38, motoring back without a rig. Our navigator, who had been down on the VHF with the Coast Guard, came up and informed us of the new weather forecast.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98