The biggest, grandest distance race in the region provided a whole lot of variety this year, and allowed long course boats to test out some seldom used gear—anchors—before those who continued were rewarded with more classic Swiftsure conditions.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all in Swiftsure, the event delivers another unique experience for the 98 competing yachts–an anchoring party! The 80th anniversary of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race started on a beautiful sunny morning with a light southerly and tricky currents making it challenging to get the time and distance right at the start. A few boats suffered over early starts and despite a few shouts and hollers on our Cape Flattery start, we all got away pretty cleanly. 

The light close reach to Race Passage featured a close jib and spinnaker reach into the William Head shore line but as you got closer the flood current started to build forcing the leaders on the Swiftsure and Cape Flattery fleets to get in along the shore and take advantage of a nice back eddy. Steve Travis’s Smoke and Pete Gibbons Zulu 5 did a nice job getting to Race Passage first and were able to break out in the strong flooding current with enough southerly breeze to make some progress southwest into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 

Aboard the Riptide 35 MKII, Longboard, we were in the next pack of boats with Terremoto, Mist, Glory, Joyride, Maelstrom, Free Bowl of Soup, and Tachyon, but the southerly died off as we approached the big adverse river off George Point. As we approached, it was clear there was only one solution – get the anchor out. We were one of the first to set our anchor alongside Terremoto and then one by one, the fleet stacked up on anchor behind us. At one point we counted 21 boats anchored no more than 10-feet from each other making it an interesting couple of hours as we swung around, enjoyed lunch, used boat hooks to keep the kelp beds from fouling our rudders and keels, and for a few, using their engines to avoid collisions. 

While all this was happening along the shore, we watched Smoke, Zulu 5, Mist, Scatteraction, and Mach II lose their footing against the building current and get washed eastward back down the Strait. Scatteraction and Mach II eventually fought their way into shore and short tacked up to the rest of us to join the anchoring party. 

For those who tried to go outside of Race Rocks, they looked real good while the southerly held up but eventually were also washed eastward in the building adverse current. After a couple of hours on anchor, the forecasted westerly started to build and it was a three-ring circus as we all hoisted jibs, pulled up anchor and ‘re-started’ the race in close proximity to one another. There was lots more shouting and hollering, but eventually we all got away and short tacked the Canadian shoreline in the building westerly breeze. Mark Cloutier’s Scatteraction was the only casualty in our group after hitting a rock pretty hard, forcing their early retirement. 

From Race Passage, the leading pack in the Swiftsure and Cape Flattery fleets short tacked the Canadian shoreline to almost Sheringham Point before taking the long starboard crossing tack to the American shore as the westerly shifted slightly to the west-northwest and built into the low 20 knot range. It was a classic westerly Swiftsure beat out to Neah Bay, but unfortunately for us on Longboard, it came to an abrupt end when our port D2 shroud elected to unthread and detach itself from the spreader tip. With no more port tacks in our future, we elected to douse the sails and power home to Victoria thankful we noticed the problem and didn’t lose the rig. 

The upwind leg to the Neah Bay rounding culminated with a tactical layline battle between a lead pack consisting of SC52 Rosebud, Riptide 41 Blue, Riptide 35 Terremoto, Club Swan 42 Free Bowl of Soup, and SC 52 Escargot as the light faded, the breeze lightened, and the tide slowly turned to the nighttime flood. Rosebud was the first around. On the return, the front portion of the Cape Flattery fleet enjoyed a nice, fast run home in the relatively steady westerly breeze, while the late arrivers found dwindling pressure. The Swiftsure Bank course fleet saw the wind die after Cape Flattery and they all had a slow night in their progress to Swiftsure Bank, and only 2 of 7 boats headed for the Lightship were able to finish.

Flying back to the barn, boats found increasing pressure as they went farther east and crossed the Canadian side. In the building breeze, the two Riptides, Terremoto and Blue, legged out on their competitors, putting more than five miles between themselves and the chasing pack, and finishing well ahead in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, back closer to Victoria, another fun story was unfolding. Here’s Steph Campbell’s report from the Inshore Race: 

Wild Rumpus Returns to the Swiftsure Inshore

By Stephanie Campbell

Way, way back, there was just Swiftsure. My parents went to race Swiftsure before I was allowed to go with them because it was a big deal and I was a bit young. I went on to race a lot of Swiftsures; and then I had kids and sat a few out watching from shore. 

In 2008, we bought my Santa Cruz 27, Wild Rumpus, and—though tempted to try the Sooke Harbor Race with the kids—around that time they came up with the brilliant idea of the Inshore Race, and we were in. The kids dragged makeshift boats and rubber ducks behind us, and we still managed to have decent results. We loved it. 

Many Swiftsures have come and gone since then, but flash forward to 2025. We came back for another go at the Inshore, and my son Dylan was back on board.

For the Swiftsure Inshore, there are 20 different possible courses, ranging from 15 to almost 30 miles. Generally, the first mark is in Pedder Bay, the last point of land before Race Rocks. If you get a good start and play the course well, you can be in the thick of it with boats doing the long courses. And then you turn and burn for the yacht club and wave goodbye to big boat friends. Adding to the intrigue, the inshore course is not announced until right before your warning signal. 

On the water on race day, boats on the long courses were having a difficult time clearing the line with the flood tide, especially boats starting at the boat end of the line. It was fun to watch the big boats, and get a sense of what their strategy might be. Of course, a TP52 is better able to fight the flood than a Santa Cruz 27. Still unaware of our course, I was expecting the Pedder Bay course option, and readying for a pin end start with the intent to play the shore. When our course was finally announced, we learned that it would be 17 miles: up to the VH Victoria Harbor mark, and then around the shoals in the vicinity of Cadboro Bay before finishing in front of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Our plan went out the door. 

The VH mark is course left, and not that far away. We got to the middle of the line as best we could, hoping to be able to hoist the kite in the southwesterly. Joy and Stuart Dahlgren kept to the original plan and started at the pin with their Moore 24 C moore, and Simon Walker also favored more of the pin end with his Hotfoot 27 Caliente. We all used to race Moore 24s back in the day, so it was a lot of fun to get back out there again together. 

I think we arrived at VH first, but it was hard to keep track because there was a lot of cat and mouse between Wild Rumpus and C moore all day. One of us would catch something good and scoot away, only to cross a tide line or get sucked up in a hole. We flew kites for the majority of the race… at least it felt that way. Started with headsails up, swapped to kites, rounded and put up headsails again, swapped back to kites as soon as we could. 

We rounded Trial Island, Discovery, Fulford Reef, and eventually Johnstone Reef, before the last upwind around the corner and back to the yacht club. With light winds and a lot of current, it was a game of snakes and ladders. I don’t think we ever parked, and nobody used an anchor, but there were times when we were not making a lot of progress. Hugging the shore along the islands and reefs as you passed them was a pretty good plan, until it wasn’t. Luckily we had the big boat Raven to point some of that out for us. 

In a scenario repeated far too often, we were focused on the back and forth exchange with the Dahlgrens, and then we saw a boat WAY out there, almost over to San Juan Island. Could they be in the race? The shape of the boat and sail plan looked decidedly like a J/70, and they were coming our way, ahead. Jeremy Whiting took the clever long way around on Mini Mojito, and finished first. We thought we had C moore behind us, but they found the inside corner at Cadboro Point and got us at the end. 

Congratulations, friends! It was a fun day on the water, and the Dahlgrens have challenged me to brave the Clallam Bay Race next year.

Now for the results – on the Swiftsure Lightship Classic course, John Bailey’s beautiful and fast Sir Isaac won on corrected time over Ged McLean’s Hana Mari who was first to finish. They were the only two boats to finish the full course so kudos to them both for hanging in there to the finish. 

In the very competitive Cape Flattery ORC fleet, Bill Weinstein’s Terremoto skippered by Alyosha Strum-Palerm was first on elapsed, overall corrected time, and in division 2. In division 1, Blaine Pedlow’s Rosebud narrowly beat Iain Christenson Blue by less than four minutes to take the divisional win. Alex Smyth skippered 65 Red Roses to the division 3 win over John Murkowski’s Joy Ride. And in division 4, John Polglase’s Double Time comfortably won on corrected time. 

In the Cape Flattery Monohull PHRF fleet, J/105s owned the podium with John Atchison’s Moose Unknown winning for the second year in a row over Mike Cain’s Panic and Chris Phoenix’s Jaded. Interesting to note that these three J/105’s were only separated by less than 8 minutes on elapsed and corrected time making it a very competitive one-design experience. 

In the Juan de Fuca Monohull PHRF fleet, Peter Dennis’s Swan 46 Setri continued their winning ways this spring by being first on elapsed and corrected time over Jeffery Blyth’s venerable Mata Hari. And in the Juan de Fuca Multihull PHRF fleet, it was impressive to witness first-hand the speed of Nigel Oswald’s Kelona as they were finishing first on elapsed and corrected time. It’s an awesome sight to watch a well sailed multihull in full send, even in the dark.

And in the Inshore Racing Division, Jeremy Whiting’s J/70 Mini Mojito was first to finish but the local experts on the Moore 24 C moore won on corrected time over Stephanie Campbell’s Wild Rumpus. And in the Inshore Cruising Division, Dan Tedrow’s Resolute took the elapsed and corrected time win. 

Swiftsure is a special event for all of us who make the pilgrimage each year to Victoria and the nice weather this year combined with the helpful volunteers greeting us on the docks before the event or serving hot soup after the finish made it just that much more special. This year, the awards presentation, weather briefing, and skippers meeting were moved to Royal Victoria Yacht Club, which was a welcomed and enjoyable change. Many thanks to the Swiftsure Chair, Kirk Palmer, and to all the volunteers who make this event a privilege to participate in each year.

Full results here.