Seattle Yacht Club’s (SYC) Tri-Island Series is a pillar of the spring racing calendar, drawing large fleets for rewarding challenges on some of Puget Sound’s longest courses.
The 2026 series is off to a start that’s true to form and expectation—there’s been some glorious sailing as well as some conditions that required sailing skill be accompanied by grit and persistence. At the time of publication, two of the three races have been run: late April’s Smith Island Race and mid-May’s Vashon Island Race. The series-capping Blake Island Race takes place on Saturday, May 30.
Smith Island
A tantalizing forecast greeted the sailors for the Smith Island Race. Not only was there going to be lots of warm sunshine, but also a solid bit of breeze was likely as the day went on. Both forecast and reality aligned to some pretty classic Puget Sound conditions on a fair weather northerly spring day. The long course is 85-miles out and back from Shilshole Bay around Smith Island in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, and 24 boats came out for the long-haul across four ORC classes. The 35-mile shorter-course option turns back toward Seattle after rounding the Double Bluff buoy and drew 17 boats—J/105s and two PHRF classes, and the Cruiser/Racer fleet. The 26-mile Cruiser/Racer class was seven boats strong.
The wind didn’t arrive right away but, after a short postponement, patches of breeze filled in and the SYC committee got things underway as soon as the opportunity presented itself—leaving a few of the biggest, fastest boats with a bit of a scramble drill to get sails up and trimmed in time for their the day’s first start.
Heading north, the fleet started out in very light breeze under 5 knots, which built to the high single digits by the time boats were approaching Kingston. Though the earliest hints of the filling breeze actually materialized on the east side of the course, the west side was the place to be. The breeze filled and shifted left to right, and was into the low-to-mid teens by Double Bluff when the short course boats turned back.
Typical of the conditions on a day like this, the breeze continued to strengthen entering the bigger water of the strait. The beat north gave way to a reach near Smith Island, before kites were set for the trip south. Among the big and fast boats of Class 1, new-to-town Ker 52 Ryujin and TP52 Glory were battling tightly at the front of the fleet on the way north with Glory having jumped to a lead and maintaining it most of the way. When the time came to bear off near Smith Island, veteran skipper Greg Slyngstad and his savvy Ryujin crew quickly executed a three-headsail reach, passing and extending on Glory a bit.
Running south, it turned out to be a race against time. The farther south you were when the sun went down and the breeze shut off, the better. Passing Point No Point and entering the Central Sound, the Class 1 boats were still in touch and it was all to play for. At that time, Glory was just ahead, but as boat speeds dropped under 2 knots in the twilight, Ryujin was able to turn a couple hundred yard lead into 40 minutes and they won handily on corrected time, taking the ORC overall win along with class and line honors.
Many of the other Long Course boats, fast but not quite as fast, had a great deal more white-knuckle tedium in the nighttime absence of breeze, many finishing in the wee hours and a few into the next day.
Class winners on the Long Course, in addition to Ryujin, were Riptide 44 Dark Star, Farr 39ML Absolutely, and J/111 Hooligan
Among the Short Course boats, the overall victory went to Wauquiez Centurion 40s Different Drummer, who also topped their class. Other class winners were Ranger 33 Aurora, and J/105 Moose Unknown who trailed Peer Gynt nearly the whole race and managed to make the pass just before the finish. Cal 40 White Squall took home the Cruiser/Racer Trophy.
Vashon Island
The second installment of the Tri-Island Series, the Vashon Island Race, had a less promising forecast than the first race, and brought sailors south into an area that typically has lighter breeze. With the light northerly that started the day, concerns about the prospects of getting around Vashon’s south end were present before the race even began.
There was a more significant postponement for the Vashon Race than Smith island, and it was near 11 a.m. when the sequences got off and the fleet headed south in about 4 knots of northerly wind. Similar to the first event in the series, there were three course options: Long Course at about 47 miles (17 boats), Short Course turning back north after Point Robinson for approximately 35 miles (18 boats), and the Cruiser/Racers with a round trip of 15 miles (7 boats).
Once underway with spinnakers flying, the fleet spread wide across the Sound, with boats spanning all the way from the Bainbridge side to closer to the rhumb line down Elliott Bay—and there weren’t big advantages to either.
Consolidating back around the entrance to East Passage, the breeze stayed fairly consistent. The fleet stayed mostly in touch until around Point Robinson when they saw a perpendicular line of glass. The wind just turned off, and a handful of Long Course boats pulled the plug at that time.
Those that continued connected the dots in the calm south end, before breaking into a bit of breeze again while heading north in Colvos Passage. TP52 Mist came through the south end ahead among the Class 1 boats, holding off Ryujin all the way north until just before the finish, with Mist taking the class and overall wins in the last of the evening’s brilliant sunset. Others continued well into the night and in the end only seven boats completed the whole course. In addition to Mist, class honors went to Riptide 41 Blue, Aerodyne 43 Freja, and J/111 Hooligan.
Among the Short Course boats, the turn back north after Point Robinson yielded some more fluky sailing on the beat, but mostly this fleet was able to find enough breeze to keep moving. As there was in the first event, a battle between Peer Gynt and Moose Unknown ensued once again at the front of the J/105 fleet, with Peer Gynt prevailing this time for class and Short Course overall honors. Short Course class honors went to J/109 Eclipse and J/80 Jolly Green. Also of note among the Short Course contingent is Davidson 29 Madame Pele, who hasn’t brought home a class win, but their consistent overall performances leave them atop the overall leaderboard for the series.
In the end, it was two pleasant days of spring sailing, and some great competition. With races this long, there’s bound to be some ups and downs, but the light air portions of each race proved decisive. It’s sure to be another round of fun competition and camaraderie to finish out the series for the Blake Island Race.
Full results at www.seattleyachtclub.org
Photos courtesy of Sean Trew.
