April 18-19 2014 - Southern Straits Race!

All preparations done!...

• my bottom was repainted with new zincs
• fully fueled with diesel, propane, water, food, drinks, etc.
• Safety items rechecked
• crew loaded aboard with all their gear...enough gear for a few days, change of clothes, rain gears,  safety gear, etc.
• Sail covers off, electrical disconnected, docking lines released, reversed out of my slip and.... WE'RE OFF TO THE RACES!

 We left the dock at 9:08 am fully loaded, motoring to Atkinson Point. Rounding the point we found great winds, allowing us to sail up to the start line.

Beautiful motor / sail to the start line. The picture shows Ian at the helm, with Vern and Alan discussing the day to come

Vern getting a feel of the helm, with Alan learning / setting my GPS

We hoisted the sails... sailing to the start line, with Vancouver in the background

 It took over an hour to reach the start line... beautiful sail over! really nice winds.

Here is Hank... the only picture of him during the race :(

As you can see... lots and lots of boats milling around, practicing their starts.

Vern sizing up the boats, jockeying for position, with the rest of the crew looking out for right-a-way sailboats.

 As we approach the start line, there were over 100 sailboats milling around the start line. With that many boats around, Vern was silently elected helmsman as he was the most experience sailor.

With so many racing boat in a confined area,  with good winds, your really have to concentrate to avoid a collision. I sure wouldn't like to ram one of those thin hull racing sleds... I would sink it for sure.

We were in the Short Race (50nm), the third division to leave the start line. The crew trying to listen to the radio with the winds and wave noise, plus fully concentrating on what was going on around them, we missed our starting time by at 10 minutes or more. But hey, we started without any mishaps! Now heading full speed ahead!... my type of wind... leaning almost to my rails... catching up to our fleet. I perform best with a strong breeze, but not so good in light breezes (due to my age of 43, I'm just overweight and showing my age in body design)

here you see us at the back of the fleet

Ian now at the helm

Lions Gate Bridge in the background

Just tacked, heading toward Atkinson Point

Once on our way,  we're doing great! catching up to the fleet.

When we reached Atkinson Point (lighthouse park) the winds petered out!! :(

Dam winds!!...catching up would be come a problem.

As you can see from this slide, we are catching up to the fleet and started to overtake a few boats

the winds were diminishing minute by minute... loosing ground

Ian laying on my port side deck, taking it easy :)

A time costly decision was made (my Hank) to raise my staysail. Hauling it out, rigging the lines, setting the sail, cost time! The fleet pulling away.

Here you can see a sliver of the stay sail.

The staysail proved to be more a nuisance than any help in speed, so down it came.

Due to the diminishing winds, the next decision was to replace the jib with the 170 genoa foresail. Great decision, but the crew has never changed my sails before, so it was a time learning experience... we lost at least 5 or more minutes for the sail change over.

With the sails reset, we were gaining on the fleet...

Vern looking toward Entrance Island

Now rounding Entrance Island

Catching up to the fleet was extremely difficult as the winds were not in our favor.

Running last place, but gaining on them

Sailing along at 7.2 kts










One of the pleasures of racing with a great team... story telling!
Begin aboard a confined area, with a group of men... lots and lots of stories...

Alan

Sailing around 5 + knots

We kept the jib on deck, as the weather forecast was for heavy winds later in the evening...

What can you say... beautiful sunset eh!

Vern checking the sail set

with the sunset on our stern

Looking back where we were.

coming up to Halibut Bank Mark

Round the mark at Halibut Bank.

 After rounding Halibut Banks, we decided to go off the beaten track and try a different approach to gain on the fleet; we were in last place, with nothing to lose.

If we head south, staying on one tack, we would save time tacking back and forth beating up the wind (each tack costs us at least about 2 minutes or more on recovery time), plus the current should give us a lift up to the finish line...making up more time. The plan was sound, but depended upon one thing...the winds begin consistent and equal.

We are located at the bottom of the picture

 Fearing the worst for the high winds during the night (25+ knots winds were predicted), the crew decided to take down the 170 genoa, and raise the 120 jib, before the sun completely set. This again was another costly time loss, but well worth the safety aspect.
Sailing with my 170 genoa at high winds would overpower me for sure.

As you can see, we caught up to the fleet fairly well,

As said, the plan was good, but the winds were not... they never did materialize... matter of fact they diminished!

 Sailing around 5 knots, in the blackness of night, only seeing the city lights on the horizon, we did passed through a patch of phosphorescence...looked like little stars flashing in our wake.

However, things that go "bump in the night" are not a good thing. We ran into a log... luckily we must of just grazed it...no damage done.

Here you see Ian at the helm... night sailing

Needless to say, no more pictures from here on... to dark.

As we approached the finished line, we have to call in approximately 1 hour out before the finish line. Hank called it in around 1:00 am... we crossed the finish line at 3:13am... needless to say the winds died! we would of done fairly well, but the wind "god" was against us :).

We crossed the finish line!!!!... Vern and Hank had a victory rum heading toward the yacht club for the safety inspection.

We were greeted by the safety inspectors... Dave and Lionel... passed the safety inspection of course!

Alan decided to just jump ship at the inspection station, as his car was parked by the Yacht club... then motored for home.

Now resting... in my slip... waiting for my wash down and getting ready for my next race, next week... the Spring Stag Race.

Keep ya posted!!!

Tarka..... out!

oh ya, Hank has made a YouTube video of this race, as well as added a link to last year's race.. click on the links directly below...

    2014 Southern Straits Video

    2013 Southern Straits Video

here is the race results for our division and Short race...