The 55th annual Toliva Shoal Race was held on Valentine’s Day 2026, attracting sailors who love winter racing with the passion of Cupid’s arrow.
This third race of the four Southern Sound Series events is jointly sponsored by Olympia Yacht Club (OYC) and the South Sound Sailing Society (SSSS).
I visited with the Equus crew for Friday’s event dinner, owners Dean and Shelli Conti are long time Southern Sound Series participants from Des Moines and Three Tree Point Yacht Club. They told me they treat it like a cruising weekend that happens to have a race in the middle.
Sailors must really love this stuff if their home ports are far from the start line. Olympia, of course, is located at the southern terminus of Puget Sound and can be a long commute, especially in a winter southerly. The delivery is too much to ask for some, while others prioritize staying in the good graces of a shoreside sweetie for Valentine’s. However, those who made the effort this year found wind and temperatures so pleasantly mild that everyone could have brought their Valentine sailing.
Race day morning started with breakfast to warm and nourish the racers before heading to the line. In combination with the excellent dinner the night before, the event lived up to its reputation as the best South Sound race party. Thanks to volunteers, and specifically SSSS Commodore Robert Hargreaves and Race Chair Marvin Young for orchestrating all the details. Bill and Vickie Shelton, Principal Race Officers, coordinated on the water support.
The full 38-mile course brings racers north out of Budd Inlet, through Dana Passage, and around Johnson Point, where the outbound course heads south of Anderson Island by way of government mark #3 on Nisqually Delta on the way to the rounding at the Toliva Shoal buoy. The return trip stays north of Anderson Island, and then retraces steps back to the start.
The cruising and commodore classes get the traditional 30-minute head start in the race with spinnakers flying gloriously on Cal 40 White Squall and C&C 37 Xocomil, both Tacoma competitors heading north with the Olympics in full view.
The forecast had been for a light and variable winds around 5 knots. However, we were pleasantly surprised to see 7-10 knots off the starting line. Heading north out of Budd Inlet, our Ranger 33 Aurora sailed in Class 7, starting side-by-side with Peter Stewart’s Cal 33 Cherokee; we matched boat speed up to Dofflemyer Point. The course through Dana Passage passes a very picturesque side of Harstine Island and Boston Harbor. While we were enjoying the view, Cherokee made a move and passed us down the narrow channel, extending their lead past Johnson Point. Luckily for us, the back side of Johnson Point became a restart for most of the fleet as the wind was converging from three different directions as noted by the skipper of Antrim 27 Anarchy, Ian Bestwick, who was one of the first boats to escape the restart. Aurora’s crew kept the boat moving efficiently, with the wind spotters selecting our path to the Nisqually Delta.
Aurora sailed with six total crew for this race. A pretty diverse group of experiences, including Dave Branch at age 78 who has had decades of experience in the one-design Finn and Star classes, and longtime Star crew Jonathan Turvey who is teaching his son Jackson how to sail and race. Also aboard were experienced Tacoma PHRF sailor Mike, and our mountain climber Luke who is new to racing but is learning fast in the Olympia Star class—he can tie any type of knot that we need.
Finding pressure was key as we passed Cherokee and continued a seesaw battle, only to have them and a group of boats choose the shore lane that returned them to the front as we all made our way to the turning mark near the Nisqually Delta.
At the Nisqually turning mark, our rounding turned into a close reach heading for Lyle Point, the southeast tip of Anderson Island. Racing in a nice pack of Class 3 boats and a freshening northerly breeze that was filling across the Sound, we were still chasing down Cherokee. Aurora seems to enjoy this point of sail, or maybe just wanted to run with the big dogs.
After Lyle Point, we trimmed to weather as the fleet started choosing sides of the Sound. Going up the east side tends to pay off early with the flood still in play, and our group was seeing gains by using Ketron Island as a current blocker. Rumor has it that one Seattle boat went up the east side of Ketron Island to avoid the flood. To date, I’m not aware that it has ever paid, but it would be good to know for future reference. During this leg, the Race Committee announced that the race would be shortened at the Toliva Shoal Buoy. It was a relief for all the crews that knew it would be a long evening sailing back against the ebb tide, but now the race was on to the finish!
As the tide changed to the ebb, the fleet spread out farther across the course. The Aurora crew kept working hard to find stronger breeze and work the shifts up the west side of Ketron Island, making some nice gains on Cherokee. Once we reached the north end of Ketron Island, we noted a fresher breeze to the north and decided to split with our fleet and tack out to the northwest. It was a risky move, but proved to be a good one once we had the lay line in sight and we managed to tack and cross Cherokee for a class win. As it often is, it was another great battle between our boats, and it is an honor to come out on top.
After the shortened course finish many boats from Seattle or other ports north headed straight home. That included Cherokee, so most of their crew joined us for the motor back to Olympia.
Shortened though it was, it was a lovely day on the water and involved some terrific sailing upwind, downwind, and reaching. The first boat to finish was Flying Tiger 10, Tigger,, winning the Governor’s Trophy and ORC, First Overall PHRF and the Class 3 win went to J/35 Grace E. Other class winners were Anarchy, Aerodyne 38 Kahuna, Beneteau 35s5 Les Chevaux Blancs, and congrats to all the cruising and Commodore’s class boats as well.
The final Southern Sound Series race is the Islands Race hosted by CYC Tacoma on March 14. See you there!
Full results can be found at ssseries.org
