J/109 ASTRAL PLANE Surfs Home, J/30 RADIANT HEAT To The Rescue!
(Vancouver, BC, Canada)- This annual event has enjoyed a Jekyll and Hyde reputation over the years. Rarely is it the picture-perfect, postcard event enjoying the spectacular vistas of snow-capped, pine tree carpeted 9,000 foot mountain peaks serving as a luscious backdrop for photos of beautiful sailboats gracefully gliding across the Straits. This year it was, instead a matter of survival. It was a lesson in how not to explore the deepest, darkest side of a Low pressure system racing across the Northern Pacific from Alaska and crashing into the Pacific Northwest's infamously turbulent western coastal ridges of the Rocky Mountains. Normally, the race starts off downtown Vancouver in English Bay, then heads west six miles off the point, then you sail a few triangles/ sausages out in the Straits of Georgia, then return home to Nanaimo Harbour for your pickle dish (at least that's the plan). According to one participant in this year's race, "you started, and with the wind blowing from the southeast at 25 knots, it was a siren song meant to suck you out into the Straits. Yes, it is blowing but the seas are flat in English Bay and it doesn't seem to be such a big deal. The big boats go off and pop their kites and start heading west the 6 miles to Georgia Strait. Everybody is thinking, "cool, we get to make a fast passage". But, the real race starts 6 miles west where there appeared to be little blue box cars (e.g. huge waves) running to the northwest out in the Strait."The forecast given at the skipper's briefing was for a Low pressure system to arrive at 985 millibars packing sustained 35-45 knot winds with 6-12 foot breaking seas. According to sailors on the course, the actual numbers were worse - the barometer sank below 980 millibars, the highest gusts recorded at the weather buoys were 64 knots and the seas got mountainous- over six meters (nearly 20 feet) in height. Sustained winds on the course were 45+ knots with 50 knot gust being the norm and some even higher. Do memories of Fastnet Force 10 off England or The Perfect Storm off New England (NE America) spring to mind?
Just a few hours into the race, over 50 boats turned back and never made it to Nanaimo Harbor across the Straits. One boat sank and all six people, thankfully, got rescued by the J/30 RADIANT HEAT, sailed by Tony Brogan. Apparently, Tony and crew demonstrated extraordinary seamanship and are true heroes to those whom they pulled out of the water (all completely hypothermic and one person unconscious). See Tony's story below and link to the full story.
In addition to RADIANT HEAT's noble efforts, the crew aboard the J/109 ASTRAL PLANE monitored everyone they sailed by and managed to get to Nanaimo Harbour, one of only ten boats to get there in the entire fleet. Take a ride with the RVYC J/109 crew onboard ASTRAL PLANE as they surfed across the Straits, planing most of the way. ASTRAL suffered minor damage including a blown traveller and ripped main. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13bo7-pUQ5w
