we arrived to round our first mark as the sun set. Having lost ground to the swifter light wind competition, we felt relieved as we rounded Bellenas Island and set the spinnaker to close the gap. Entrance Island, often a difficult


island to round in darkness served as one of the three rounding marks. The buoys that mark the shallows off the Island are not usually seen until your right on top of them. We rounded the island, dimly lit ashore, with the local sea life barking at our heels. As we started our reach up to Halibut Bank and peeled spinnakers, I made my way out to the end of the sprit to spike the tack line. Only a couple feet from the water line, the lions and seals felt like they were only inches away. I’m almost glad I could not see into the dark water below. We pressed on through the cold night


proves to be an excellent way to fight fatigue and waning crew morale. A warm meal and some hot tea or coffee, in the cold of the night, doesn’t hurt either. The next morning before day


break, Kevin Welch’s Icon passed in the dark. They were on their way to an exceptionally sailed race and line


photo courtesy of wildmanphotography.com


“The sky above was bright with fixed and shooting stars. The water below was bright with burst of phosphorescent algae. Having to spend most of our time on the leeward side to heel the boat in the light evening breeze, staring down into the glowing algae plumes was mesmerizing.”


taking short rests and rotating crew. The sky above was bright with fixed and shooting stars. The water below was bright with burst of phosphorescent algae. Having to spend most of our time on the leeward side to heel the boat in the light evening breeze, staring down into the glowing algae plumes was mesmerizing. As we proceeded with the evening legs of the course, we passed our time keeping the boat at speed while telling the occasional harrowing tale of a previous Straits race and maybe even a few too many jokes. Humor always


Pl Boat


Division 1 1 Icon


Type Custom


2 Neptune's Car SC 70 3 Wasabi 4 Strum 5 Raven dnf GEM


dnf Occam's Razor ILC40


Division 2 dnf Mad Max


Division 3 1 M Power


2 The Shadow


dnf Night Runner Perry 42 dnf TigerLily


1D35 5 Amazing Grace C&C 45


Beneteau 50 Farr 30


Skipper Kevin Welch


Kernan 44 Greg Slyngstad Riptide 50 CM1200 Farr 40


Davidson 40 M. van der Heide Doug Fryer Dan Boyko


James Duess Peter McCarthy


3 Radical Departure 1D35 Andre Wojcieszek 4 Kinetic IV


Aerodyne 38


Farr 30 OD David Sutcliffe Timothy Rann


6 Absolute Kaos Cstm Dash 34X Reigh North 7 Papillon


Pierre Frisch


Paul LaMarche Tim Vogel


Ian Lloyd


Andrew Allan Rick Reynolds


honors for the long course. Dave Martin, aboard Icon, recalls “that the diverse sail inventory and uncompromised crew work helped the boat recover from light breeze and shifty conditions early that day.” By pushing hard into the night with a split crew watch they entered the last legs of the morning’s race well rested. The night race can often become very disorientating. All you may see is the occasional red or green bow light. Maybe even a transom light or two. You’re not sure who the other boat is, just that they either do or do not have starboard rights on you. If you can maintain your focus and keep the boat sailing to its optimal


8 Anne Bonny Beneteau 1st 40.7 Fraser Hall Division 4 1 Diva


J/109


2 Manana 3 Merlin 4 Kotuku 5 Ptolemy


Express 37 C&C 115


6 Cu na Mara C&C 115 7 Kiva


X-119 J/109


Jim Prentice Trev Salmon David Wilson


Farr 1220 Graeme Esarey Express 37


8 Fortissimo Grand Surprise 9 Dominatrix 10 MOJO 11 Havoc 12 Aorangi 13 Turicum


dnf Astral Plane


Division 5 1 Windyfeat 2 Ultraman


Saunderson 3 Sjora


C&C 44 J/109


Petersen Olson 30


Eric Moulton Francis Walsh


Finngulf 41 Julien Sellgren Chris Ladd


Richard Stewart Pierre Martin


SR 33 Gunnar Jonsson J/35


Brent Sands Warren Hale Aada Korbin


Jason Fanjoy Jason


Sweden 36 Lennart Edstrom


boat speed and race the shortest course possible, you can surely out sail your competition. Many times after a long night of racing, in what could be called a perceptual bubble; you find yourself well positioned in the morning light. The following morning, with a clear sky and a brilliant sunrise, the fleets made their way to the finish with all hands on deck. As we passed across the


Strait into English Bay the wind lightened to complete stillness behind us. Many of the fleets compressed along the edge of the Strait and had very close races all the way to the finish. Graeme Esarey noted that “many of the boats in his division finished within minutes of each other, making it a very close and exciting end to the Southern Straits Race.”


Such a close finish is the greatest thrill for a race of this length and with such varying conditions. Like many, Wasabi hoisted our code reaching spinnaker for the last few miles and battled for a podium spot against the Riptide 50 Strum.


The wind continued to die off into


the afternoon on Saturday. A handful of the boats never made it to the finish or even to the time cut off. These crews that continued against all odds, proved to be the most courageous of all, sailing the hardest course - that of patience and determination.


by Joshua May


4 Lunch Box 5 J


6 Ion


7 Rubato 8 OPUS


Division 6 1 Meltemi 2 Incisor 3 X-S


Olson 30 J/33


Beneteau 43 Hanse 400e C&C 43


dns Passepartout Stevens 47 dnf Radiant Heat dnf IT'S MAGIC


J/30


CY 8.0 HF 30


Larsen/Nelson Richard Fowler Bill Jones


Steve Blaine Joe da Ponte Pete Shainin Tony Brogan


Sloop Dorothy Cunningham C&C 35 mk1 Sean Hulscher


Clint Currie Colin Nichols


4 ELECTRA Aphrodite 101 Roger Kibble 5 Aeolus dnf Godzilla


2 Dusty Mauch Peterson 25 Ed Karadontis 3 Surveyor 4 Sea Weasel


CS 27 Tyler Campbell results courtesy of www.wvyc.bc.ca 48° NORTH, JUNE 2011 PAGE 55


Sceptre 36 C & S Telford J/29


Carl Richardson


dnf Wild Rumpus Santa Cruz 27 Andy Schwenk Division 7 1 Salus


Ericson 27 Edward Estabrook Catalina 27 Mardy Grossman


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