Back to Nanaimo

Grand Finale

As overall scores were announced it became clear that a “battle royal” was to ensue between Night Runner, Tryst and Myrrh. Whoever came out ahead in the last leg would be the odds on favorite to be the overall winner. As we motored out to the start line outside Victoria harbor the wind built to 20+ knots and Skipper called for a reef and small jib. When all the prestart maneuvering was done, Myrrh, not accidentally, found herself close to the start line and with a clear lane. Boats tacked backwards and forwards towards Discovery Island and as we all headed into Haro Strait, Myrrh was in a comfortable position ahead of many in division 2.

At this point the fleet started to spread out, each executing or modifying a predetermined strategy. Myrrh stayed low and worked her way towards San Juan Island where there is known (by Skipper and Rudy at least) to be a strong current that in the present tide cycle would push us forward by at times a couple of knots - just like coasting downhill on a bike. The wind had decreased considerably at this point, so that some of the time only current was advancing us towards Nanaimo.

Meantime boats that had headed North soon found themselves in wind/current purgatory. Before too long wind ripples appeared in spots and streaks allowing some boats to take a flyer and leaving others including ourselves languishing. Eventually the wind filled in from the North and the lead, for which we had worked so hard, evaporated as we found ourselves some miles behind the leaders. Ordinary folks would lose heart at this point, but not our fearless leaders. Undaunted, they worked the hand they were dealt with and we were soon at the first big decision point – Boundary Pass. Apparently a large contingent took this option and headed into the Strait of Georgia.

We pressed on into wind and choppy seas with Skipper and Rudy alternating at the helm. Our nemesis Tryst was hanging on doggedly in our wake, probably realizing that all he needed to do was cover and remain within 30 minutes of us at the finish line in order to beat us.

Skipper and Felix worked the GPS and Rudy the tide table to see if there was any possibility of taking the shortest of all routes through Dodd Narrows near Nanaimo. But for this to work, conditions have to be ideal. Foul current, a head wind or tug traffic would blow our chances wide open, and we knew at least one of these conditions was almost a certainty.

As we worked our way up by Salt Spring Island, the wind strengthened. We ignored Active Pass which was not a good choice and headed up towards Porlier Pass. There were only a couple of boats visible to us at this point, one of which was Tryst! We exchanged places a couple of times with nearby Jaz and, in a medium breeze, proceeded out into the Strait of Georgia along the shoreline of Valdes Island.

We rounded our final headland with only two boats in sight ahead. One was Night Runner. The other - Tinette – had taken Boundary Pass and had it worked out, should have been home and dry. As other boats started to call in within one hour of finishing, it became clear that, against historical odds, the outside passage was a big loser and that Skipper and Rudy by opting to stay inside until Porlier Pass had once again made the right choices.

We finished a little after 6:00am close enough to Night Runner to beat her on corrected time. Tryst at this point was nowhere to be seen or heard. When the final standings are tallied we think Night Runner will be the winner but by only three points ahead of Myrrh. We may not know for sure until tomorrow.

It has been a huge pleasure sailing with such talented people – Skipper for his calm and steadfast analytical approach and obvious skills and Rudy for his experience and his sailing and culinary talents – a brilliant team. And Felix, navigator and pitman extraordinaire, Leon who miraculously managed to keep all of those strings and things at the pointy end in the right place and under control, and Mikey, for whom no sailing task was too great a challenge and who was an endless source of jokes and puns.

Finally there’s the support crew, Michael and Darlene who’s meticulous but cheerful planning and provisioning made our times in between legs as relaxed and carefree as possible, and to whom we all owe a heartfelt Thank You!

After the awards tomorrow we go our separate ways. It would be my immense good fortune if we should team up again for some future sailing event.

Dave

PS: As expected Night Runner was first overall with 523 points, followed by Myrrh in second with 520 points and Zorra third with 515. It could hardly get closer than that. Congratulations to all participants and a big Thank You to the organizers and race committee.

Victoria

Leg 9 Ucluelet to Victoria

Left Ucluelet in light winds and fog with an excellent start off the line executed by the skipper. Several tacks later we found ourselves in very good position for 96 plus miles to Victoria. Conditions seemed to be good for Myrrh so the plan to not go far offshore in search of winds was put into action.  Myrrh found her slot, not too close to shore but still well within site of land. We sailed with some boats from our division as most of the other division and some of ours appeared to be headed far offshore. It was hard to get clear air in the morning but then the fog lifted, revealing us sailing with several faster boats and doing well. We came down the south western edge of the island shooting for the entrance to strait. With the asymmetrical now up we slowly outpaced our competitors and kept up the Kinetic IV. Towards sunset we approached the entrance to discover Icon, Flash, and Dragonfly catching up to us across on the southern side. Apparently the big fast boats went far offshore and despite their speed advantage did not do as well. Of course they sailed past us but we were still in our slot, hopefully competitive in our division. Spinnaker changes were made throughout the night keeping Myrrh at peak performance in the constantly changing winds. We sailed down the Canadian side, quickly closing the distance to Race Rocks Passage and the finish with no other boats lights in  sight. The crew did an amazing job of getting the tiny ship through the rocks against a strong outgoing current. With all hands fully engaged keeping the speed up and preventing a repeat visit to Kalahar Rocks, no one noticed the renewed attack of the kelp people as we hugged the shore playing the back eddies. Of course the Myrrhmen fought back with boat hook and the chain gang.  Now within sight of Victoria we battled fickle winds and currents, "the breeze is coming".  Kairos came out of the fog astern making us think we might be in good company.  We crossed the finish with a beautiful sunrise, took down the sails and motored in to see who was already at the dock.

We were first to finish in our division! A Myrrhfect leg! The first of our competitors to follow us across the line was more than a hour behind us. Can't wait to see the overall standings tomorrow.

The View from the Road

Half way down the road, we’re almost home. The short races up the Inside Passage are done and now the most heavily weighted ocean legs are being contested. As I write this, our guys are sailing a 138 nautical mile race, half way down the western side of Vancouver Island. They should arrive here in Ucluelet some time tomorrow.

Darlene and I have been sending them off every day for a week, moving operations to the next port, and then attending awards ceremonies to help collect our flags.

Such is the life of a sailing domestique.

Our friends and companions are contesting a ten stage race, composed of legs ranging from 22 to 138 nautical miles. Their, our, boat is a 30 foot yacht built by a local sailing legend, Eric Jesperson.

Their job is attempting to outwit their rivals on the water. Our job is to make their job easier. Their tools are sails, sheets, guile and tenacity. Ours are food, beer, comfort and fellowship.

Planning is a large part of our job. We sometimes need to send the crew to sea with six meals which are hot, nourishing, and tailored to the “whims” of individual crew members. Our job was made easier this year by the families of the racers who sent along main courses, deserts and favorite tidbits. We’re including their food in the regular menu and everyone is enjoying the variety.

We wrack our brains to find interesting ways to present food for the boat which can be held in one hand while trimming a sheet with the other. Rudy is a sailing and catering veteran and his ideas and recipes are invaluable. We sometimes prepare meals in port and that’s when everyone can sit down together and enjoy the rare sun we’re having this year.

Most other boats have similar support vehicles and we often meet them in the marinas or on the road. Some folks like to caravan between ports. We like to think of ourselves as a likeable group and I think we’re generally appreciated by our boat crews. Darlene and I get continuous praise for our efforts from our crew who, to a man, has pitched in to help with the chores and the preparation of our food.

A few of the boats are “going it alone” for one reason or another. That’s bound to be difficult even for a larger boat like Anam Cara, whose shore support evaporated because of health problems. The skipper of Anam Cara has already asked me what our schedule is like in two years when the next VanIsle will be run.

Tonight our awards ceremony is at the Ucluelet Community Center hall. Someone is serving a charity dinner with live entertainment for all the race participants. Traditionally, one of the more poetic racers writes a themed story which includes the names of all the boats in the race. She reads the story, and a helper says the names of the boats, for emphasis, as they appear in the story. It’s a wonderful skit. Darlene and I were unintentionally part of the entertainment, last visit, when the music moved us to dance to a couple of songs.

We would have to say we’re enjoying ourselves. We enjoy taking care of our friends and seeing the spectacular scenery on Vancouver Island. We have to go to wild places we would never have known about and wouldn’t visit if we did. Once there, we’re wrapped in the rustic beauty of the place and the people who live there.

We’ve been blessed with sunny and warm weather this year. That makes our job simpler because things can be aired and dried, and we don’t have to plan for it raining. The only down-side of this dry weather is the dust on our 120 mile trek to Winter Harbour on logging roads. But this too can be managed and is no more inconvenient than the rain.

Submitted for your enjoyment and edification by,

Michael Clemens

Leg 8 to Ucluelet

Things look grim from the start with very little wind and not much in the forecast. Still 27 intrepid yachts set out from Winter Harbor at 8:00am on this longest (138nm) leg of the event. The fleet spread out and Myrrh took a middle of the course approach until close to the tip of the Brooks Peninsula. From there many yachts stood out as much as 25 miles seeking the stronger favorable current offshore. Skipper had considered this strategy but decided to stay inshore, hoping to gain advantage from the shoreline breezes. The afternoon wind play itself out and we, along with the few others in sight held on to our spinnakers as long as we could, but eventually gave in to the calm and drifted through the night.

Dawn brought no fresh hope as there was not a wind ripple in sight. The day followed the night pattern and the miles remained long. Afternoon saw the first of the division two boats calling it quits. This boat had not provisioned carefully and had to admit to the Coast Guard that he had insufficient fuel to motor the hundred miles to the finish, despite the fact that it was a requirement of the race to carry enough fuel to be able to motor in.
An exchange between the embarrassed yacht and the CG ensued about where there might be diesel oil and phone numbers were exchanged for the CG to call for availability. These were the only moments of light relief in a long frustrating day.

Several more yachts threw in the towel and Skipper and Rudy went through the permutation that may result in us getting to the finish, but options had run out and they felt that a prudent early retirement and the prospect of rest ready for the Victoria leg outweighed hanging on and hoping against all hope. So at around 7:00pm he instructed Felix to make the radio call.

We motored on for almost 10 hours, arriving at Ucluelet at 6:00am on Tuesday. The race was called off soon after we arrived as the rules require 50% to finish fore the race to count, and over half of the yachts had retired and were motoring to the finish.

Dave

Skipper's thoughts on leg 7

Winter Harbor – Jun 13

June 12, 2009 Happy 33'rd Anniversary Carole . We started the leg about
one third of the way between the Port Hardy side of the line and the
other side of the bay. Worrying about over early resulted in a start not
quite aggressive enough resulting in a lot of dirt air. We worked our
way out of that and ended up leading our fleet after about an hour. The
winds started out very light an gradually increased up to about 10
knots. We worked the shifts and worked our boat speed very well as we
worked our way up Goletas Channel . Felix and I celebrated my
anniversary by patching up Felix's rain pants, they had two tears in the
seat where Felix works the deck. We had some Duck tape handy on the side
of the cabin so while Felix bent over , sexily I applied the tape to the
appropriate locations with all of the appropriate ribald comments. Near
the end of the process Mikey came out and said in the Mikey way, "happy
anniversary Mike". We all just about died with laughter. It was a
beautiful day with just enough wind and just enough lulls to keep us
very competitive right up to Nahwitti Bar. I guess I got a little cocky
about working through the current and that mixed with some last minute
wind changes resulted in spending about 20 minutes parked at the
entrance to the Bar and no bartender anywhere to be seen.

Nightrunner ran right up the Northern side of the channel while the rest
of the fleet worked the South shore. We started out in the middle and
then saw Nightrunner pick up a nice strong Northerly lift. We tacked to
the North and got into it on the Southern edge thinking that it would
continue to move to the South. It moved us up the ladder nicely but then
petered out to nothing. We sat and watched two other boats come into the
same breeze and pass us. We tacked over to get into the breeze to follow
it about a half a mile to the West where it connected with the
Northwesterly. We finally got across the dead spot to find Tryst
following the shore with a nice breeze and positive current. We fought
the current and finally put up the Asymetrical spinnaker to get down
into the favorable current. We were now behind Tryst by about a half a
mile. We took the chute down and had to beat hard in 3-4 knot breeze to
get above the rocks. Tryst can really point so eventually we at their
bad air and had to go low to get through it which put us into the kelp
fields. We went through a particularly dense patch and may have picked
up a major bull kelp at that point. The wind picked up to 12-14 for a
nice reach and I went down for a nap while Rudy and the crew ably worked
the boat across the tip of the island. We didn't know about the kelp
because we were just flying at 7-7.5 knots. They woke me up at Cape
Scott and we put up the Code 2S ("Big Balls") and began surfing. The
waves weren't very big and the wind dropped a little. We tried sailing
hot for a while and then put in a waypoint near the finish and found out
sailing deep gave us nearly 1-2 knots better VMG.

We had a beautiful run with winds increasing to probably 16-18 in the
puffs. Since we were surfing at 7.5-10 knots the boat was very
manageable but the boats ahead just seemed to get further and further
away. It was one of the best sails that I have ever had though. We
stayed tight to the point to get to the nearest part of the finish line
and ran into a wind hole with 0 to 5 knots of breeze from many different
directions. I checked the rudder for kelp at that point and saw a big
piece at about three feet deep. Leon got the boat hook out and went
after it. The boat hook had to be extended out to the full length in
order to get to it. When he started pulling it up and came to the root
ball I knew it was going to be a big one. It was about 30 feet long with
leaves and all totally wrapped around the keel.

We finished right behind Jazz the Beneteau 36.7 though they got quite a
bit ahead of us while we sat in the hole again. I hope that we have used
up all of our bad luck. We finished in the daylight at 2137 hrs. and had
a nice trip in to the Winter Harbor.

We seem to be really good a sailing the first half of the legs for the
last three legs, it doesn't matter though does it? This will put us out
of the top three for sure so were hoping to do well for the last three legs.

Back to the chores of the day, MK

Port Hardy

 

Port Hardy – Jun 11

The start line for this leg from Telegraph Cove was huge and difficult to judge where the line lay. But there was some wind and not much current so there were no recalls or over-earlies. Leon on bow lookout managed to guide us to within a boat length as the start signal sounded; we found a space on the line with clear wind and charged away ahead of most of the fleet.

The breeze gradually built to about 10 knots which suited us well. For the first three hours we had favorable current and were able to stay up with the Div 1 faster boats and ahead of the Div 2 contingent.

At about noon the breeze faded to a breath and once more we found ourselves playing the currents as much as the wind. A hard wind line developed far out towards the NW and we saw the bigger yachts heeling. Skipper and Rudy decided to tack out towards it. Other boats hugged the VI shore. No sooner had we reached the wind than it spread rapidly towards the inshore boats and we watched our advantage dissipate. As we round the headland into Port Hardy we saw spinnakers ahead and prepared to launch ours. The last couple of miles into the finish found us on an exhilarating downwind ride in a freshening breeze.

Result for today:  We finished 5^th beating points leader Triste While we are still in 2^nd overall, the new leader Karina is over 20 points ahead. From now to the finish, legs are much longer and the premium for winning increases due to the points weighting system.

Dave

Telegraph Cove

Telegraph Cove

The start from Hardwicke Island was in light wind and a current pushing boats towards the line. As a result, start one was a general recall as too many were over early. As time counted down for the second attempt, with one minute to go Skipper called for a headsail change. Never failing to meet a challenge, Leon pulled it off brilliantly with 5 seconds to spare. Again boats were over early, but they issued individual recalls and the race was on. We found a clear lane and pulled off one of the better starts .

 Wind and current for most of the leg were about the same as yesterday – 15 to 20 knots on the nose.

One the previous evening Skipper and Rudy had worked out a strategy for the leg taking into account their best guess as to how the various hills and channels would influence the wind direction. They identified a number of waypoints that Felix entered into the GPS. Skipper followed this general strategy (with minor amendments for local conditions) and at the end was satisfied that we had done the best we could have done given that again there was more than optimum wind and chop for the boat.

We lost count of the number of times we changed headsails or reefed the mainsail. At the dock the crew of a boat that had followed us for much of the leg teased us saying “Here they go again” whenever we made a change.To each his own!

Today’s result: a disappointing 11^th puts us one point out of the lead behind Tryst.

Dave