Orcas Island Yacht Club & Friday Harbor Sailing Club Round the County


“There is something about the light in the San Juan Islands and how it illuminates Round the County boats-- simply stunning.”


There are so many fun things about


Round the County. It's a long race


(65 nm), run in two legs on two days, with a night “off the clock” at Roche Harbor. It is a reverse start and alternates yearly between going clockwise and counterclockwise around the San Juan Islands. Held in a beautiful and serenely scenic portion of the Salish Sea, it is one of the best-attended races. This year’s 23rd annual Round the


County race had 71 boats on a clockwise course. The weather and conditions were perfect. We enjoyed light to moderate breeze. There was a lot of adverse current, some sunshine, but no rain. Saturday morning dawned after


the rockin' pre-race party at Anacortes Yacht Club. We left Cap Sante Marina in the dark, and during the hour motor to Lydia Shoal, the sun rose and the magic began. As we approached the start line, there were many yachts sailing about. It was a gorgeous sight. There is something about the light in the San Juan Islands and how it illuminates Round the County boats-- simply stunning. The race began in a light-air southerly,


3-5 knots, and an adverse current. Kotuku, Graeme Esarey’s Farr 1220, fought the tendency to cross early and arrived at the start line just a bit late but, continues


48° NORTH, DECEMBER 2010 PAGE 42


Graeme, “in perfect position for a beat to weather. And as the weather boat, we got to the wind first and seemed to have current advantage too. Before long we were ahead of most of our competition, except Reign Maker, who got to the wind before us and legged out on the rest of the fleet.” The breeze was fluky—sometimes


2-3 knots, sometimes 5 knots. Yachts dispersed over the course, looking for wind and current relief. Neptune’s Car went straight for the east side of Rosario Strait and, hugging the coast of Cypress Island, did well with a good breeze and better current. Some boats stayed in the middle, like Tantrum II and the J/109s Illusionist and Astral Plane, and had mixed results. Others stayed west along Blakely Island, but it looked light there and boats seemed to slow. About halfway down Rosario Strait, spinnakers went up as the wind swung around to a northeasterly and increased to 5-8 knots. We rounded Lopez Island at


Davidson Rock with the wind steadily increasing. It was now 10-12 knots. We kept our spinnaker up until just beyond the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, then switched to the jib as a fairly strong northerly suddenly came down. The


wind decreased and we watched the big boats in what looked like a struggle to finish. Tantrum II and Fifth Season, in


Divisions 1 and 0, battled over the final tenth of a mile approach to the finish. Tantrum II, in the lead, watched as Fifth Season slowly but steadily gained on us. Fifteen seconds before the finish line, she ducked and tacked to leeward, towards the Committee Boat. We considered tacking as well but knew we’d lose time. But would we cross the line on our current tack... inside the pin? It really was a race to the finish. We held our course, and when we crossed the finish line, we were five seconds behind. Then it was the party in Roche


Harbor. Good thing the clocks rolled back that day. The next morning was gorgeous. The


sun was out, shining through dramatic clouds. A shifty, light southerly breeze again prevailed in the wind shadow of San Juan Island. Ben Braden described it this way, “The fleet started off and made huge guesswork of the best way to get around Turn Point and into Boundary Pass against the current with little to no wind.” Gary Morgan sailed his Peterson 37 What? A Tripp! to “an okay start, but


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