Tacoma Yacht Club’s (TYC) Winter Vashon race is the first event of the four-race Southern Sound Series, and the official kickoff of winter racing on Puget Sound.
As the weekend approached, the hardy racers who don’t box up and store the foulies through the cold season watched the weather and got ready for a rainy first Saturday of December. With southwest winds forecast, we planned for teens in Colvos Passage, increasing at the north end of the island and building into high teens and low 20s through East Passage. The tide would be at the end of a flood around the warning, followed by a modest ebb.
Our Cherokee crew assembled early in Des Moines for a delivery to TYC’s annual circumnavigation of Vashon Island. Taking advantage of the Cal 33’s characteristics as a racer-cruiser, my crew enjoyed hot coffee and breakfast while delivering south.
With ample time at the starting area, we plotted which sails to start with, and soon we were in sequence. A little early for the line, we maneuvered to burn time and set up the A2 spinnaker in a good position out near the pin.
With nice pace, we were headed for Colvos in good company—Moore 24s Bruzer and Skosh as well as the Pt. Bonita 27 Pell Mell and Ranger 33 Aurora were all with us on port jibe, all close at times. With Bruzer to leeward, I noticed some guest stars aboard and thought, “In what other sport could you share the field with that many locally-based Olympic medalists?”
PRO Charley Rathkopf had announced during a brief postponement that there would be a one-minute delay between sequences. The handheld VHF was still in the cockpit, so my ears perked up when our Charley was hailing one of our competitors, the crew on Pell Mell. Realizing they were not hearing the hail, I got their attention and told them the RC had them in Class 6 not Class 7 so they had been in the wrong start. They had lobbied to race with our group and believed they were placed in our class. Total bummer, I felt really bad for them, but it was a reminder to check the official notice board on the morning of the race.
Sailing north in Colvos Passage, we all stayed mostly in the middle, only jibing a few times and relishing great speeds in the 12 to 15 knots of shifting southerly wind. We damaged the A2 in a fouled jibe, so the S2 was flying halfway through Colvos. Some distance was lost in the sail change, and Aurora was now ahead and Skosh was close behind.
The last five nautical miles of the leg were sailed in an 18 to 25 knot southerly. Our class was first to the turning mark off the north side of Vashon. Looking behind us, everyone looked fast and was catching up quickly. We had teed up the J3 for the beat back to Tacoma, and that was a great choice. With wind in the high teens to low 20s, we needed to connect the shifts and catch these very well sailed boats. A few tacks west on port, and we enjoyed a nice high starboard lift to Point Robinson. With some of the faster boats now passing us, we were in good shape.
Past Point Robinson the wind shifted south-southwest and built to 20 to 27 knots. We were crossing tacks with Bruzer and reefing the main at the same time. Pell Mell was quite close ahead, and we had been catching them, but they now split from the class, heading to the east side.
The forecast was more southwest breeze, so my plan had been to play the Vashon side so the probable shift would be a nice starboard lift to the finish. Needing to beat Bruzer by almost eight minutes to correct ahead, we rolled the dice and split off toward Brown’s Point across Commencement Bay. Hoping for a left shift and a lifted port tack to the finish, we pressed toward our layline.
We got our left shift, but it wasn’t enough and Bruzer converged with us at the line, finishing ahead boat for boat and winning the class. All the while, we were battling Aurora and needing to save our time on them. We managed to do that, winding up second in our class. Crossing the line, we dropped the J3 and turned downwind toward Des Moines. Foil wrapped sandwiches went into the oven, and I handed out some well-deserved beverages topside.
The boats that passed Point Robinson holding along starboard tack toward Redondo did very well, including Class 5 winner Hobie 33, TC, skippered by JJ Hoag, and the overall winners on the Olson 40 String Theory led by skipper Bob King.
This year‘s Winter Vashon started as a very rainy morning, but did get dry later on. However, great wind and chop made enough spray off the bow to keep everything wet even when the rain stopped. That’s winter racing!
I’d like to extend a special thank you to all of the volunteers and the race committee who put on the race. The first of the 2024-2025 Southern Sound Series is in the books. Next up is the Three Tree Point Yacht Club Duwamish head race on the first weekend in January.
Full results at: https://www.ssssclub.com/southern-sound-series-racing/
Photos courtesy of Sean Trew.
