Boats and sailors made their way from their home ports to Olympia for the annual Toliva Shoal Race on February 15, 2025. The southernmost of the Southern Sound Series is a February classic and marks the third of the four monthly winter races in this great series. The unique course sends sailors north from Olympia out of Budd Inlet, and then zig-zagging on an out-and-back route east to the Toliva Shoal buoy, flanking Anderson Island to the south on the way out and north on the way back.
Unlike many local races, with a different hosting club and starting point each month, the deliveries to and from Southern Sound Series races are a part of the experience for participants. With most boats making the sometimes-long delivery on Friday, there was a chance for racers to chat it up on the dock and in the club on race eve. When Friday falls on the 14th, as it did this year, the sailors are amongst the lovers on Valentine’s Day—better go to dinner early or have reservations for the good restaurants!
Our delivery crew on the Cal 33, Cherokee, made it to Olympia by 3:30 p.m., and enjoyed the scenery of the South Sound in better weather than we expected, staying dry and even basking in some February sunshine. We appreciated the great dinner put on by Olympia Yacht Club, who also hosted a breakfast the following morning.
Racing in the South Sound in February is not easy. The Toliva Shoal course has multiple extreme changes in direction; add strong currents and it will challenge anyone. Some love it, and some do not. As is so often the case in sailboat racing, taking on something tough leads to reward, if you’re up for the challenge.
The 2025 edition of the race was sailed as we exited a week-long cold spell. Clear sub-freezing sunny days gave way to some snow leading into the weekend, which had some prospective racers holding out on registering. Public service announcement: Please register ahead of time anyway, hosting clubs and their volunteers are planning and providing and it’s really helpful to know who and how many hope to attend.
The wind forecast called for a light southerly, becoming east-southeast in the afternoon, followed by a northerly late in the day. Tides were ebbing until 1 p.m., which would help us progress in the right direction in the light wind. But could we get to Toliva in time for the flood?
Out at the starting area, the ebb was in its early stages and we had wind from the southeast between 3 and 6 knots. Approaching the line from the west with the genoa up, we hoisted the S2 spinnaker. Some of our Class 7 friends and competitors, Moore 24 Bruzer and Ranger 33 Aurora, had started on the opposite east end of the line, which helped them extend on us early in the race.
As we sailed toward the top of Budd Inlet and our first turn at Dofflemyer Point, the shifty wind went as high as 8 knots. Not bad! Unfortunately, those were the best conditions we saw all day. After the turn at Dofflemyer, heading into Dana Pass, the wind lightened while the favorable current increased to 2.5 kn. With this change, we were still headed slowly in the right direction, but we all doused spinnakers and went back to headsails, looking for the best currents.
We had a lengthy match race with J/160 Jam, and crossed tacks a number of times with Flying Tiger 10m Tigger and J/88 Sea Stories. This was your typical light-air flavor of white-knuckle racing. And when boats with such different ratings are going the same speed, you know the conditions have gone a little haywire.
Ultimately, the hope of improving winds evaporated, and the race committee broadcast a shortened course at Johnson Point near the top of Dana Pass. This is just the second of twelve marks of the course, and only about 7 miles into what would have been a 38-mile full course. Clearly, the conditions didn’t cooperate, and shortening course was a wise decision, so a nod to the committee.
As mentioned previously, the deliveries are an important component of the Southern Sound Series experience. Accordingly, I had pre-arranged to have some crew hitch a ride back to Olympia on Aurora in the event of a shortened course, so that I didn’t have to backtrack (if the race didn’t take us there) before starting my trip home. Thank you, Derek!
So, while this wasn’t the Toliva Shoal Race that we’d all hoped for, it was still a race and a challenging one. A few boats pulled the plug early, but most were able to finish at the shortened course endpoint. In our class of PHRF 7, Bruzer took the win, giving them a trio of bullets in the series thus far. Around the fleet, class honors went to Farr 395 Zulu Tango, Aerodyne 38 Kahuna, Express 37 Rock Paper Scissors, Antrim 27 Redline, J/80 Jolly Green, and F32 Pax the Space Spider. Cruising and Commodores class honors went to Emma Lee, Yonder Star, White Squall, and Jolly Rumbalow.
The conclusion of the series takes place next month with a new race and course (still called the Islands Race) hosted by Corinthian Yacht Club of Tacoma, which is nestled into a packed calendar of March distance races that also includes CYC Seattle’s Center Sound Series. Seems like spring is here. And we’ll see you out there!
Results can be found www.ssssclub.com.
