photo by Kevin Welch 2010 Northern Century The “Iron Man” of Northwest Racing While most Northwest sailors have


heard about such prestigious local events as Swiftsure, Southern Straits, and Round the County, most haven’t heard about the Northern Century, a relatively new race at the end of each summer, sponsored by Anacortes Yacht Club. The Northern Century originally


started as a double-handed event three years ago by Gary Stuntz and Andy Schwenk and has grown from six boats in 2008, to 14 boats in 2009 and to 32 boats this year. The regatta also now includes both double-handed and fully crewed boats. The race starts on Friday evening in


Fidalgo Bay (Anacortes) and heads north to Point Roberts, then south across Georgia Strait and out Boundary Pass, around Turn Point (Stuart Island) then down Haro Strait to Hein Bank (in the Strait of Juan de Fuca) and finally on to a finish near Anacortes. What makes this race both interesting and challenging is that there are only three marks in the course and it is left completely up to each boat to decide what route to take. The faster boats can


typically make it around the course sometime before


48° NORTH, OCTOBER 2010 PAGE 40


noon on Saturday, while the slower boats usually arrive sometime between midnight on Saturday and noon on Sunday. While this is nothing exceptional for a fully crewed regatta, it can be a long and grueling slog for the double- handed boats, given the navigational challenges, hence the event’s well deserved reputation as being the “Iron Man” of the Northwest. The 2010 running of the Northern


Century lived up to this reputation with only about half of the boats managing to finish the race. The event was kicked off on Friday afternoon with a skippers meeting and weather briefing at the Anacortes Yacht Club, followed by sack


photo by Dave Hodgeman


dinners for all competitors and a rousing sendoff at Cap Sante Marina complete with live cannon fire and salutations by the Anacortes town crier Richard Riddell. The double-handed boats started


first at 17:30 Friday night in light westerly winds followed by the fully-crewed boats at 17:40. Both fleets immediately hit the first of many parking lots between Huckleberry and Saddlebag islands – this quickly became a major party scene as many boats decided to anchor and wait for the tide change after trying unsuccessfully until midnight to make it through. Not willing to wait that long, Chris Sherman on his double- handed trimaran, Son-Of-Raven did the unthinkable and sailed east of Saddlebag Island over the mud-flats, leading a number of other monohulls with him. Miraculously, the J-30 Radiant Heat managed to make it while the rest of the boats spent the night on the mud-flats waiting for the incoming tide. While Chris was showing the way east of Saddlebag, several boats, including Stuart Burnell’s J-109 and Gavin Brackett’s San Juan 24, managed to find a course along the rocks beside Saddlebag and escape the rapidly growing


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