The first of Seattle Yacht Club’s Tri Island Series which could be the longest running sailboat race in the Pacific Northwest. The first contest was held in 1908. This year, three courses are offered: 1) Long, 80 miles around Protection Island and back, 2) Short, 40 miles around the Double Bluff Buoy and back, and 3) Racer/Cruiser, 30 miles around the Scatchet Head Buoy and back. Boats of all sizes are pushed to the limit sailing through a wide range of wind and tide conditions and often into the night.
Race Reports
We will be posting updates here every few hours, and maybe with some pictures from our onboard reporters!
0900: 8 knots of SW breeze showing at the end of the Shilshole breakwater
0913: The Long Course boats have started. Dark Star going farthest towards Meadow Point, Absolutely jibed onto port first, setting themselves up to be the furthest west, and almost everyone onto port within the first 10 minutes.
0920: Short Course boat away. As with the long course, just about everyone onto port within 5 minutes. Creative set up furthest east, and Lift Off and Moonglow furthest west.
0930: All boats are off! Smoke jumped out just ahead of Glory with Dark Star on their hip. All on port jibe still, making 8+ knots.
1000: Big boats just bouncing out from the north end of Applytree Cove, the rest of the long course boats are jibing out from the south end of the cove. Short course boats in a very tight group right off President’s Point.
Thank you Spencer Kunath on Glory for these pictures of Blue, Dark Star and Mist off Appletree Cove.
Thank you John Renehan on Hooligan for these pics onboard.
1100: Big boats just past Point No Point. Current changing to flood. Marrowstone still showing southerly at 6 knots. Now for the interesting part. Smoke still leading Glory, with Mist, Dark Star, and Blue in the hunt. Not exactly sure which is where because they are not all on the tracker. Who is going to make it through the switch to the northerly first?
1230: Double Bluff can work up a pretty good current swirl and Dark Star came shooting out of it ahead of the other big boats. (about half an hour ago). Now they are working their way to Bush Point with Smoke back in the lead and Glory right behind. It looks like the short course boats just rounded the Double Bluff mark with Creative in the lead followed by Lift Off.
Thank you to John Renehan for these pics onboard Hooligan in Mutiny Bay.
1240: Sailflow is showing 7 knots out of the east. Which one would think somehow leads to the westerly… not sure how that works. More musical chairs I bet.
Thank you to Erik Kristen on Dark Star for these onboard photos from Dark Star plus Mist and Terramoto.
1320: We are still in the transition to the northerly/westerly — while the southeast breeze holds on. The flood is full rip now, and the boats are having to figure out how to get over to the back eddy under Marrowstone. Glory may have gotten ahead of Smoke, but has farther to go to get to the west side. Later we may look back to this as the turning point.
1400: On the sort course, Lift Off has gotten past Creative and they are riding the flood well past Point No Point now and still in the southerly.
Glory still just ahead of Smoke and now past Marrowstone.
1440: Smoke just cleared PT Wilson.
1520: Still neck and neck with Creative and Lift Off on the short course. Just south of Edmonds now. Full northerly at Marrowstone now.
1600: Northerly all of the way to Meadow Point now, Smoke and the big boats still fighting to overcome the current on the way from Point Wilson to Protection Island. Lift Off may have an edge on Creative as they close in on the short course finish.
Thank you to John Renehan on Hooligan for these pics as they round Point Wilson, into the current, with not much breeze. Aquilla had to anchor 3 times during this race in 1908. Anchoring may become a strategy this year too!
1700: Smoke leads around Protection Island, followed by Glory, Smoke and Dark Star. Pretty sure that Blue is around there somewhere, but don’t have them on the tracker. Looks like Creative is about to cross the finish for the short course.
More excellent photos from John Renehan on Hooligan. Looks like the breeze has filled in from the west. Beautiful night rounding the island.
1830: Smoke leading Glory past Marrowstone on the way south. Mist and Dark Star just passing Point Wilson. Ripple a bit ahead of a pack of Hydra, Annapurna, Zulu Tango, Freja, Tachyon, Hooligan and Absolutely — all around the island now.
2142: Glory has jumped out into the lead with Smoke, and Mist all cruising down the Sound past Edmonds. Dark Star approaching Point No Point, Ripple leading Annapurna at Double Bluff, Zulu Tango, Tachyon, Hydra, Freja and Hooligan off of Bush Point.
Looks like Glory is going to hit Bruce’s predicted finishing time of 2200 right between the eyes.
Live Tracking with Kwindoo
As a test, SYC has selected Kwindoo to do real time race tracking for the Protection Island Race. This is the same tracker that Royal Victoria Yacht Club will be using for Swiftsure. If we have good adoption and positive feedback, we will continue using the service for the rest of the Tri Island series. To be included in the tracker, at least one mobile phone on each boat must run the Kwindoo app during the race.
Please follow these instructions to install the app.
You can see the race set up on the Kwindoo website here:
When we get to race day, the race will be available in the phone app for each user to join.
If you have questions, please contact jaycleon@yachtracing.tv.