Gig Harbor Yacht Club Islands Race
On “He Lives,” a J-92, a crew member peeks under the sails searching for the wind. Photo by Jan Anderson. Gig Harbor Yacht Club’s Islands Race, on Saturday, March 19, is the fourth
and final race in the Southern Sound Series and notoriously delivers very little breeze. This year was no exception. The race was an exercise in patience. But while there was little breeze, there was sunshine to share with our comrades. The conditions at the start included
1-2 knots of northeasterly breeze and current flowing with us, northwards through Colvos Passage. Alex Simanis, sailing on Neptune's Car, a SC 70, added, “The day started off with a strong ebb and a light easterly off of Gig Harbor. This made it tough to start the 32,000 lb Neptune's Car on a short line with a mix of 30-70 footers. Everyone had kites tee'ed up for the anticipated light southerly, but to our surprise, the sun was out and made for a light northerly thermal.” With a risk of being carried over the line and OCS at the start, many boats played it safe and erred on the side of being later to the start rather than right on time. A few boats motored up until prep time to maximize their speed at the gun. After the start,
beat ing up Colvos 48° NORTH, APRIL 2011 PAGE 66
“Whoever was in the right tidal rip or finger puff that layed down, extended. For a light-air race that finished half way, it was really a fun,
challenging day on the water.” — Alex Simanis on “Neptune's Car”
Passage was pretty painful—certainly a struggle. Sailors scanned the narrow passage for breeze. We all strove to reach that small wind patch over there... oh, but now is over there. Yachts criss- crossed the passage, and some favored a side. One thing is for certain: there is no Islands sailor who is not grateful for the fairly strong north-flowing current. The
day generally brought northeasterlies, but the strong current messed with the wind, making it highly variable for the main group of boats. Some might even say that hilarity ensued. Alex continued. “Whoever was in the right tidal rip or finger puff that layed down, extended. For a light-air race that finished half way, it was really a fun, challenging day on the water.” On his J/160 JAM, John McPhail
The T-Bird “Swan”, new-comer B25 “Superfriends” and T-bird “Showtime” searching for the breeze. Photo by Jan Anderson.
in Class B, “saw our wind cups stop spinning several times, but never saw the speed-over-ground dip below one knot. Thank goodness for the current. The Class C boats did extremely well sorting out the very light air conditions, garnering the top three spots in the fleet: Nefarious first overall, Snake Eyes second, and Gardyloo third.” Steve Travis,
whose OD48 Flash took first in Class B, had a simple strategy. “We just sailed from point to point, which is the standard way of sailing Colvos, and waited for the wind to fill as it came in little spurts now and then! If you assume we had, on average,
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