Showdown at Peapod Rocks(Seattle,
WA- Nov. 19)- In 1790, Francisco Eliza, captain of the 16-gun Spanish
pacqueboat, Saint Carlos, sailed around a complex of islands in what was
to become Washington State, naming the islands the ‘San Juan
Archipelago’. 197 years later, the Orcas Island Yacht Club took the
same approach as Captain Eliza, sailing around the archipelago— now San
Juan County— and called it the Round the County Regatta. In its 23rd
running, Round the County has become one of the most popular end-of-the
season races in the Pacific Northwest.
Round the County starts at
Lydia Shoal off Obstruction Pass, which separates Obstruction and Orcas
Islands, two of the fabled San Juan islands. This year the race went
clockwise; other years it has gone counterclockwise. Either way, the
racers overnight at Roche Harbor, once the home of a limekiln, which
supplied that key ingredient for tons of cement, used to rebuild San
Francisco following the big one of 1906. After a quiet night at the now
posh Roche Harbor, the fleet sails around the other half of the County,
finishing at Lydia Shoals.
The race always falls on the first or
second weekend in November. The day temperature in early November is in
the low to mid 50s (Fahrenheit) and the winds can be light and variable
to howling. The race also highlights the Northwest’s long-standing
allegiance to the PHRF handicap.
73 boats registered for this
year’s race despite a forecast for the weekend for - yes, rain (what
else would you expect?)- but also light and variable southerly wind.
Predicting the weather in the Pacific Northwest is difficult. Much
changes as the Pacific fronts collide with the mountainous terrain of
western Washington State and the long rocky shore of Canada’s Vancouver
Island. This Round the County proved that point.
Three starts
were scheduled at Lydia Shoal in Rosario Strait between the sprawling,
mountainous Cypress Island to the east and Orcas and Blakely Island to
the west. Rain seemed written on the underside of the solid blanket of
low hanging gray. Strong current ebbed south through Rosario. The wind
was, as predicted, an underwhelming two knots from the southeast.
The
small boats were away at 0840 hours. They hugged the steep-sided,
Blakely Island shore. Chris White’s blue-hulled J-80 CRAZY IVAN took the
early lead ghosting under a big asymmetric chute, white against the
dark green mass of Douglas Fir blanketing the steep hillside. Mid-sized
boats were off at 0850 hours, with the majority on port tack. A few
spoilers, coming in on starboard, caused mayhem at the committee-boat
end, forcing a phalanx of port-tackers to go wide, with some having to
tack to starboard in the light air. The boats fanned out across the
current driven waters of Rosario Strait. Fingers of wind reached into
the jumbled fleet beckoning, with the fickleness of a wickedly beautiful
woman, first one boat forward only to drop it in favor of another. The
rain did not fall. After the first hour, the maddening fingers of
southerly breeze settled into a slowly building southeasterly. The
current was with the fleet, adding about 2.5-3.0 knots of VMG to a
boat’s hull speed.
The first turn for the fleet is Davidson Rock,
situated at the southeastern tip of Lopez. This is the point where the
race turns west, out the Straits of Juan de Fuca, keeping the shores of
Lopez and San Juan Islands to starboard as it steadily arcs toward the
north where San Juan Island becomes the eastern shore of Haro Strait.
The
wind held steady from the southeast. Strategy and tactics began to play
out on the chess board of Juan de Fuca Strait. Some boats turned west
not long after passing Davidson Rock, but others carried straight south
seeking stronger wind and a gybe angle to keep them off the islands’ lee
shores. With eight knots of southeasterly breeze, and favorable tide,
the fleet makes the half way point Salomon Bank Buoy with ease. A race
committee boat noted times in case the race had to be called before its
1800 hours limit.
Not long after Salmon Bank, the steady
southerly—quickly and unpredictably—swung round to the northwest.
Poled-out spinnakers were suddenly against the forestay. Jibs and genoas
went up as spinnakers were snuffed below. Tacking up the shore became
the strategy, although constant care was needed to avoid perilous wind
holes or tangles with the kelp. That's how it ended for the first day
of racing on Saturday.
For Saturday night, the fleet stayed at
Roche Harbor, which had plenty of open slips this time of year to dock
the fleet. Overnight a 35-knot front blew through, but the morning
dawned clear. Sun sparkled the water as the fleet checked in for the
start of racing on Sunday. The wind was light; the tide ebbed in Spiden
Channel as the boats reach across toward Stuart Island’s aptly named
Turn Point, home to one of the most beautiful lighthouse settings in the
San Juans. The southerly breeze continued to build as the fleet rounded
Turn Point heading northeast up Boundary Pass, Canada is on the port
side. The big boats legged-out as the breeze rose to 14 knots. At 19
knots of true wind, at least one spinnaker was turned to long,
ineffective ribbons. The sun was warm. White caps pocked the sea, and
the air was clear and clean as only it can be in the Northwest. Alden
Light, on Patos Island, was the halfway mark and the turning point to
the southeast for the day’s 34 mile leg. To escape the hard current, a
number of boats tucked behind Patos popping into the current at the last
moment as they rounded rocky Alden Point.
The real showdown came
at Peapod Rocks just off the east shore of Orcas not far from the
fleet’s southerly turn around the island’s eastern most Point Lawrence.
The current was pounding north up Rosario Strait. The old adage warns
never go inside Peapod, but the tack carrying a boat beyond Peapod put
her broadside to the sweeping current with little breeze apparent all
across the Strait. A few brave tacticians venture across the flooding
tide while the majority of boats tack the eastern shore of Orcas, inside
Peapod Rocks, working hard to keep out of the current,
The wind
was fading as boats, having pealed down to light number ones, broke from
the Orcas shore on their last tack out toward the Lydia Shoal line.
Only then did they witness those boats that went wide of Peapod Rocks,
mad with delight, on a steady southeasterly lifting right to the Lydia
Shoal Buoy.
A number of J's took part in this classic Northwest
event, savoring the gorgeous scenery and the extraordinary camaraderie
that is unique to sailors in this part of the world. In Division 0, Bob
Brunius's J/120 TIME BANDIT took 5th and Lynn Adkins J/124 TINETTE
sailed nicely to stay out of trouble and get 8th. In Division I, the
J/109s were seemingly match racing around the track both days. In the
end Adam Korbin's J/109 ASTRAL PLANE finished 2nd and Dave MacLean's
J/109 ILLUSIONIST was 3rd. Like the J/109s, there were to well-sailed
J/33s in Division II that are strong competitors in the light conditions
often seen in the Sound and Straits. Todd Koetje's J/33 HRAVN finished
4th and not too far behind, other than a few tactical errors, was Tom
Kerr's J/33 CORVO in 7th. Early race leader in this division, Chris
White's J/80 CRAZY IVAN, ended up struggling in some of the lighter
patches against the bigger boats and finished 8th. Finally, in
Division III, Jim Bottles beautifully maintained J/30 CELEBRATION sailed
strongly to get a 4th! Article contributed by Stephen Orsini.
For complete Round The County sailing results.
Command A Rocketship with Finger-tip Control!
* Vincenzo Onorato- another former J/24 and J/39 sailor from Italy
(and leader of the famous MOBY Lines providing ferry service to the
islands of Elba, Corsica and Sardinia)- is now the leader of the
MASCALZONE LATINO AC34 Challenge. Vincenzo was a good sailor when he
was racing his J/24 and J/39 and was always an honorable and fun-loving
person that loved the sport of sailing and, most importantly, included
many of his friends and family. Recently he wrote Michele Tognozzi,
editor of FareVela (a leading Italian sailing publication): "Dear
Michele, I read Fare Vela Online with interest, every day. I have also
read the criticism leveled at my club, seen as a sleeping partner of the
Defender rather than a Challenger of Record worthy of its name. I
partly feel responsible for these opinions as a direct result of our
scant communication on the work we are carrying out. Oracle and
Mascalzone, and their respective yachts clubs, inherited a disastrous
Cup in terms of image, a result of the long and, I point out, legitimate
litigation with Bertarelli. Russell and I meet almost every week and
our teams are in daily contact.
What? Offshore? Great Lakes? Yes, you're not dyslexic. Milwaukee area
sailors gathered last Saturday to collect awards for the summer of 2010
and to crown their season champion. And a kid, a teenage girl, won it
all! Awesome story, read on.
Nobody
expected the boat to get to the starting line. Then RAFIKI won the PHRF
Section 3 season series even though they missed the first two regattas
readying the boat. And while Whitney led her inter-generational RAFIKI
team to the series title, she demonstrated sailing leadership in many
other ways:
