(Tacoma, WA)- The sun was out, Mount Rainier was standing tall, the
Olympics were looming over Colvos Passage and temperatures were well
above the forecast for this year’s Winter Vashon Race, hosted by Tacoma
Yacht Club. The first race in the annual South Sound Series, this 30
odd mile race takes sailors from the starting area off the Tacoma Yacht
Club near Point Defiance, through Dalco Passage then a right turn into
Colvos Passage along the Western shore of Vashon Island. Up at the
North end of the Island the fleet sails through a shortened course
finish line, just in case, and then continues their right turn along
Vashon and into the East Passage until their final right turn at Point
Robinson then past Poverty Bay and Commencement Bay and back to the
finish at Tacoma Yacht Club. 
58
boats made it out on the race course for this year’s Kick-Off race, a
race many see as the first race of the season in the Puget Sound area,
and in the now balmy conditions, well above the forecast 24 degrees,
easily pushing almost up to 29 (that’s not Celsius...) and with winds
out of the NE at 10-12 kts the crews dug around in their bags for their
sunglasses and left that last layer, the 7th or 8th, in their bags.
Without a cloud in the sky some even searched in vain for the sunscreen
they had long ago put into winter storage. Things were “windy and
warm!” says Stephanie Schwenk, sailing aboard Nimbus. “Warm-ish, wearing
7 layers but I am warm!” But not everyone was as well dressed as that
smart girl Stephanie . . . according to Patrick Gibbs “Winter Vashon -
Spanish for ‘I can’t feel my toes!’” Considering the only 9 hours of
sunlight this time of year up at the 48th parallel, the first two
cruising classes got off the line early at 8:30am followed by the racing
classes at 9:00am hoping that the wind forecast was wrong and that the
fleet might finish the 30 odd mile course before sunset (4:30pm).Off they went through the reaching start line onto a tight jib reach through Dalco Passage, trying to cut the corner at Neill Point close enough to sail the shortest distance but not so close that they find a wind hole under the bluff. Some took the longer route outside in better breeze but a few boats played the gamble well and got just the right puff at just the right time to make it through close to the point and off they went up Colvos Passage. The puffy winds rolled over the Island from the NE giving an opportunity for the higher boats to sail close hauled almost straight up Colvos Passage.
None
did this better than the J/160 JAM. John McPhail’s big blue machine
charged up the middle of Colvos with their small jib up, plowing through
the miles sailing higher and faster than all of their competition. The
small jib became the trick here, some of the boats started with their
small jibs, initially falling back from the boats with genoas at the
start, now came into their own as the winds piped up over 20 knots and
took a smart advantage over the boats making tough sail changes in cold
windy conditions in the narrow confines of Colvos Passage. The winds settled down and shifted a bit Northerly as the fleet entered the East Passage for the long run back to Tacoma Yacht Club. This is when crews began to worry as the forecast for the afternoon included diminishing breeze, eventually dying by night fall. The fleet tactics split in the East Passage with many of the A-sail boats pushing East towards Des Moines and some of the Sym boats sailing low along Vashon hoping for some positive current and sailing the shorter course. Dan Wierman’s J/35 GREAT WHITE, after sailing an amazing weather leg, led his class low along Vashon, rounding Point Robinson tight and continued close along Maury Island but in the end didn’t have enough of a lead to stave off the advances of the quick J/109 TANTIVY and the waterline speed of the G&S 1 ton Absolutely as the three finished within a minute of each other after the long 30 mile course.
But
- the winds held, and not only for the monster truck class that rolled
across the line just over 3 hours after they started but for the slowest
rated boats in the fleet as they rolled across the line just as the sun
was setting off their bows behind the Olympics. An epic Winter Vashon
race, and a beautiful kick off for the new and full year long season of
PNW sailing. Not without its carnage on the race course, this year’s
event also brought the demise of a well loved and avidly raced Olson 30
Lunch Box. When hoisting in for the event their hoisting gear on the
boat failed as the boat was being swung out over the water. She dropped
into the bay from up in the air but she wasn’t in deep enough water yet
and her keel found the bottom compressing it up into the hull, cracking
her right down the middle from keel to rudder. A very sad moment for
one of the best Olson 30’s out there.The fast boat Class 2 was dominated by the J/160 JAM, owned by John McPail. Correcting almost 5 minutes in front of the quick Custom 40 Madrona sailed by the famous Buchan family (Carl steering) with the Ker 46 New Haven just a few seconds back in third. The J/133 CONSTELLATION sailed by Ron Holbrook took fifth in class.
Battling
to the end, Class 4 was deservingly won by the J/109 TANTIVY owned by
Stuart Brunell, a class dominated by J/35s and the 109. Not giving up
and settling in ‘til after they crossed the finish line TANTIVY got
ahead on the second half of the race just far enough on her competition
to correct into first, followed by Absolutely just seconds back and then
J/35 GREAT WHITE in third. Rounding out the top five were the J/35s
SOMETHING SPECIAL driven by Glenn & Joanna Cowling and MELANGE
sailed by Jerry McKay, finishing 4th and 5th, respectively.Class 5 was easily won by the nimble and quick little “Dos”, owned by Brad Butler. Over 10 minutes back in 2nd was the J/105 DULCINEA sailed by Matthew Gardner-Brown.
Class
6 was stolen by the smallest boat in the class, the beautifully rebuilt
J/27 RICOCHET owned by Dennis Clark. RICOCHET sailed an amazing race
able to stay in touch with some larger and very fast upwind boats,
rocket downwind and finish abeam of a J/29 to correct into first in
class by almost 4 minutes over the always well sailed Santa Cruz 33
Muffin and another 4 minutes over Madame Pele back in third. Taking
fourth in class was Mayfield & Nelson’s J/29 SLICK.
The
“Commodores Flying Sails Cruising” class, was cruised away with by the
J/35c WILDFLOWER, owned by Tom Mitchell (note- the required “gas cooker”
covered in blue on the stern pulpit!). Correcting almost 15 minutes
behind them in second was the beautiful Cal 40 White Squall, with the
big Steamy Windows another 10 minutes back in third. Huge “thanks” for
the contribution from Ben Braden at Sailboats Northwest in Seattle,
WA! Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson/ Janpix.smugmug.com Full sailing results can be found at the Tacoma Yacht Club website
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