(San Diego, CA)- A full year ago in Spring 2020, Newport Harbor Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club hosted the Islands Race with a just a hint of the Covid-19 influence over our lives, one of the last “normal” regattas before the pandemic took over. A few weeks later as the 2020 Puerto Vallarta Race sailed down to Mexico, the US fully embraced the initial Covid-19 lockdown and sailing hasn’t been the same since. But with patience and planning, this year’s Islands Race brought 32 teams to compete in the 142-mile coastal race from Long Beach, around Catalina and San Clemente to San Diego. And for those on the racecourse at night, the offshore racing experience and competition were back in all its glory.
Many teams have not had the chance to compete in this way in over a year, so the Islands Race served as its own competition and also training and preparation for teams set to compete in the 600+ mile race to Cabo in March, and the 2225nm Transpac Race in July. Fifteen of the Islands Race teams will sail the Cabo Race, and 20 will sail in Transpac this year.
Other than a half moon rising late in the night, the conditions were perfect. Conditions were nearly ideal for racing with a WNW breeze most of the day and evening. These conditions sent the fleet surfing quickly past the backsides of both Catalina Island and San Clemente Island. All boats were around the southwestern corner of San Clemente (Mark 3) by midnight. The sea state was also nice with mostly 6’ running swells and the occasional ‘growler’ in the night (a breaking wave astern that ‘roars’ ominously, especially loud when you can’t see them). From the turn at Mark 3, it is 71 miles to the finish, and it is a race with the sun. As soon as the sun rises, the wind across the 15-20 or so miles of ocean next to the coast tend to evaporate. Boats not finished by 6 am tend to struggle until the thermal breezes restart to fill that void around noon.
Every year, it is a challenge to coordinate the course around San Clemente Island with permissions from the US Military. You might not know it, but there are dozens of charted exclusion zones which the military deploy like a playbook in order to run specific training exercises all around S. Sometimes they are “on,” sometimes they are “off.” With the help of Range Schedulers, we wait until two weeks prior to the race to see if the exclusion zones are going to require a 3-mile, 10 mile or 20+ mile zone. This year was ten miles. For a wide-open ocean, it sure seems crowded sometimes!
The most notable performance by a J/Team was Doug Jorgensen's J/111 PICOSA. Enjoying the fast surfing and planing conditions at times, the flew around the track in 17 hr 37 min to correct out to 2nd place in ORR 4 Division. Then, in ORR 3 Division, Standish Fleming's J/125 NEREID took fifth place. Sailing Photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ JOYSailing.com. For more Islands Race sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.
Many teams have not had the chance to compete in this way in over a year, so the Islands Race served as its own competition and also training and preparation for teams set to compete in the 600+ mile race to Cabo in March, and the 2225nm Transpac Race in July. Fifteen of the Islands Race teams will sail the Cabo Race, and 20 will sail in Transpac this year.
Other than a half moon rising late in the night, the conditions were perfect. Conditions were nearly ideal for racing with a WNW breeze most of the day and evening. These conditions sent the fleet surfing quickly past the backsides of both Catalina Island and San Clemente Island. All boats were around the southwestern corner of San Clemente (Mark 3) by midnight. The sea state was also nice with mostly 6’ running swells and the occasional ‘growler’ in the night (a breaking wave astern that ‘roars’ ominously, especially loud when you can’t see them). From the turn at Mark 3, it is 71 miles to the finish, and it is a race with the sun. As soon as the sun rises, the wind across the 15-20 or so miles of ocean next to the coast tend to evaporate. Boats not finished by 6 am tend to struggle until the thermal breezes restart to fill that void around noon.
Every year, it is a challenge to coordinate the course around San Clemente Island with permissions from the US Military. You might not know it, but there are dozens of charted exclusion zones which the military deploy like a playbook in order to run specific training exercises all around S. Sometimes they are “on,” sometimes they are “off.” With the help of Range Schedulers, we wait until two weeks prior to the race to see if the exclusion zones are going to require a 3-mile, 10 mile or 20+ mile zone. This year was ten miles. For a wide-open ocean, it sure seems crowded sometimes!
The most notable performance by a J/Team was Doug Jorgensen's J/111 PICOSA. Enjoying the fast surfing and planing conditions at times, the flew around the track in 17 hr 37 min to correct out to 2nd place in ORR 4 Division. Then, in ORR 3 Division, Standish Fleming's J/125 NEREID took fifth place. Sailing Photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ JOYSailing.com. For more Islands Race sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.
|
