(Seattle, Washington)- Here’s the report from Pacific Northwest offshore
racing guru, Ben Braden. “What an event - it’s taken days to digest
everything from the race. A four day event – 30 to 50 mile deliveries
for 2 days of racing, 30 miles each day for only 60 miles total and then
another 30 to 50 mile delivery home in some of the most beautiful
waters this country has to offer, and doing it in November when most
East Coast boats above 39 degrees North are on blocks for the winter.“Round The County,” hosted by Orcas Island Yacht Club, has become a fixture here in the PNW and is easily one of the premier point-to-point rally races that North America has to offer. Known for its majestic views of the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, Mt. Baker fixed to the east and the rugged terrain of the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands, Round the County, in her 27th year, has become a “happening” – an entity of her own – and she keeps bringing out the numbers in an era when participation has declined all across the board. They cap the entries at 100 boats and reach it a month before race day!
Is it the often frigid temperatures? The early morning, well before sunrise, dock calls? Is it the spectacular currents or the unique geographical wind holes and shifts? What is it that brings out the Olympic class sailors and Professionals (many sailing their personal yachts), the Local Talent, and even the 6 old guys at the yacht club bar that are always complaining against everything that happens? People fly in from California and the midwest, boats come together from Canada and the United States all to spend countless hours and dollars racing just 30 miles a day in the cold, wet, snowy, rainy, windy, drifty, sometimes sunny, current riddled waters of the San Juan Islands. It’s just the type of racing sailors love to do and sometimes things just make sense, right?
And
what really made sense was the Race Committee postponing the start
Saturday morning at Lydia Shoals until enough wind came up that they
could “hit a home-run” (their words) and get the first starters off of
the line far enough that the next start had a clear lane. It then
became a game of linking the puffs to work your way south in Rosario
Strait. One minute you looked like the hero as you linked from one
lifting puff to the next and even found a little escalator ride in some
good current and the next you were flushed out the back watching the
fleet sail by and around the corner out of sight.The first boats to reach Davidson rock had the tough choice of heading for the halfway point along the bottom of Lopez or sailing off over the horizon offshore. One of the leaders headed offshore and it quickly, very quickly, became apparent that offshore was the way to go. It didn’t take much more time before the TP52’s, having started last, worked their way past Davidson rock and Iceberg point with the big SC70’s hot on their heels. The wind began to pick up and things looked great as the leaders crossed the bottom of Lopez, passed the Cattle Pass lighthouse and began turning up towards the entrance to Haro Strait. But, it didn’t last long and as the wind crapped out the currents became the real battle for the fleet.
A large group didn’t make it past Davidson Rock into the Straits of Juan De Fuca and of the boats that did make it out and past the halfway finish off Iceberg Point only two boats eventually made it across the full course finish line at Roche Harbor; leaving everyone else motoring in across the line to the evening festivities graciously hosted by the Roche Harbor Resort. Heated dock tent, BBQ’s and libations meet the sailors every year now for the biggest and best dock party the month of November has to offer.
Sunday
arrived with a stellar forecast of 20 to 30 knots, clouds, a bit of
rain and a bit of sun and by 8:30am all 100 boats were pacing back and
forth waiting for their turn at the downwind start and their charge to
the first corner at Turn Point Lighthouse and into the predicted
breeze. The J/105 LAST TANGO led the way around the corner with the
J/92 HIJINKS hot on their tail and it wasn’t long before Boundary Pass
looked like a 70’s shag carpet with all those colorful spinnakers
pulling hard on port pole, but without the forecast big breeze. Enough
to keep the boats moving well but not the small craft advisory predicted
by the forecasters. Canada to the left, America to the right and the
fleet split between the middle and the left with each choice working for
some and not working for others as the finicky breeze rolled through
from the Northwest. The old Baltic warhorse Pangaea bulldozed her way down the middle of Boundary Pass while a large portion of the fleet worked the Canadian shoreline until shooting down towards Patos Island in the current heading south out of the Straits of Georgia. And man was the current running hard at Patos! The boats that worked too low along Boundary Pass found themselves slipping to leeward at over 30 degrees while they strapped their chutes in and flogged their way up and around the point while giving up every gain they had made by sailing the shorter course.
As the majority of the fleet turned their bows South towards the finish near Lydia Shoals, the big fast IRC boats and Multi-hulls had already found the finish line and were motoring off to their corners to drop off their crews. Moves could still be made in the drag race south and often boats would jibe out away from the group on what looked like a horrible VMG angle and then jibe back and smoke by everyone as they found their own personal current or puff. But, no matter what year it is, no matter what direction the race goes (it switches every year) it always comes down to the decision on going inside or outside the Peapods to make or break someone’s race.
The
large majority of the boats chose the low road towards Cypress Island
and around the Peapods but then one boat turned hard right, then
another, then the puffs began rolling down the hills, one surprisingly
creating a small water spout, and the next thing you saw was the inside
boats rounding up in the puffs and then dropping their bows down and
charging inside the rocks towards the finish. The closer to Obstruction
Island they got the better the wind became and soon their spinnakers
were out again and the inside boats slid across the line passing many of
the outside boats utilizing the shorter inside line.Finally, finally, the forecast breeze began to roll in over the hills and as the finishers turned their bows towards their respective ports the winds piped up into the 25-30 kts range. The sun was still out, the views were still stellar, the winds had picked up and the smiles stretched from bow to stern on every boat out there. Thank you, once again, OIYC for putting on a crazy fun event.” Thanks to Senor Braden for the report.
Amongst the J/Teams, the big honors go to Ellis’s J/92 HIJINKS, not only grabbing 2nd PHRF Overall but also winning their PHRF Division 4. In their same division, the Bottles’ family J/30 CELEBRATION took 4th.
As they have countless times before, the PHRF Division 1 saw Brunius & Wareham’s J/120 TIME BANDIT sail remarkably consistently to take 3rd in their division, yet another podium finish for this illustrious team.
For the IRC 2 PNW Championships, it was John McPhail’s majestic blue J/160 JAM taking 2nd place while Tom Huseby’s J/145 DOUBLE TAKE sailed fast to take the 3rd spot on the podium! Sailing photo credits- Sean Trew/ Facebook Follow the action on Facebook/ Round The County page For more Round The County sailing information
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