'Round Whidbey 2004

The Story

The Story and Results

Dave French | Rod Hubbard

From Dave French:
Following the great party on Friday night the fleet left Coronet Bay mostly on time. The air was light and the water flat. The trip under Deception Pass bridge was beautiful as usual. There was enough air to sail, barely, so after a brief delay the race started.

We had a nice start, next to Skookumchuck and gradually worked out ahead. There were little patches of wind here and there and we worked from one to another. It was so light that we would get offf-shores where-ever there was a low spot. By 1000 we had worked out a nice lead with Jim McAlpine and Isabeau following. At about 1045 we rounded Partridge Point Buoy and headed for the Port Townsend side. We were passed by two huge container ships as we passed Port Townsend and shortly after that we picked up a light westerly. We set the chute and enjoyed lunch while sailing down the east side of Marrowstone Island. Behind us there seemed to be a smog bank developing and though we kept looking we did not see other racers form out fleet. We did see a large navy supply ship and accompanying frigate bearing down on us at a high rate of speed (probably 20 knots or better), so we headed for the Marrowstone shore. After the ships passed we were subjected to a wake that was 6' to 7' high and we got some surfing in that we didn't want as we were headed away from the course. Surfing in light air is some what exciting as the waves are going considerable faster than you are!

When we got squared away and back on course we could see the racers from the Single/Double Handed Race heading for Port Townsend. There must have been 50 boats at least. We dodged through them and passed Double Bluff about 1430. Continuing south towards Possession Point we passed the racers, 3 tug and barge combinations and a Russian Tanker. I don't think I have ever seen so much traffic a such a small space!

We rounded Possession Point Buoy about 1600 and the wind got very light and started to go on the nose so we dropped the chute and went back and forth between the genoa and windseeker several times. Scott Cline, my erstwhile foredeck got a workout! We finally broke out of the flats and started to slowly head for the mainland. Sailing from wind patch to wind patch we made Mukilteo about 1800.

The breeze then began to build out of the Northwest. By the time we passed the ferries it was becoming quite choppy and was blowing a steady 15-18. After sailing up to the tip of Camano we hitched for the Langley side and passed about a mile above Langley at 2000. We were enjoying the sail and watching two Grey whales swim along with us (Grins seems to attract whales) but the wind was continuing to build. It was a beat up Saratoga and we were pretty light for a lot of breeze (it was blowing a steady twenty with higher gusts), and the whales must have decided it was getting rough because they stood on their heads and waved their tails goodbye and disappeared.

We took one more hitch toward Camano and then decided it would be smart to seek shelter on the Whidbey side. Bashing along we passed Baby Island about 2115 and finally got into the lee of Whidbey where the water smoothed considerably. We were able to crack off and close reach up the shore at 7 to 8 knots and life was good. Good Call Scott!

We were thinking we would be across the finish line about 2230 as we got to Snatelum Point. Surprise! The wind shut off and we came to a halt . We were lucky in that the tide was changing and we were not going back wards. It took us another hour and a half to go 2 miles to the finish doing about 6 sail changes.

We finally crossed at 2329+ and got ready to start the engine and motor in. Guess what? I couldn't get the fuel line connected to the engine (I think it was stepped on during the race), so we had to scull in the last half mile. After 15+ hours of sailing we barely had enough energy to get in. All in all it was a very interesting race and we were quite surprised to hear it was quite a while til the next boat finished.

From Rod Hubbard:
The Party on Friday was great. As the cook it was hard to tell what the crowd enjoyed the most, the 1/3 pound hamburgers, large Costco polish sausage or the Alder smoked marinated chicken breast. It could be that the crews of the 12 boats most enjoyed the beverages supplied by Northwest Marine Productions and Sail Northwest. I do know that after a couple hours of indulging and imbibing the very happy group of sailors started talking of the race to come and races past. The weather was the best you could hope for. Deception Pass is one beautiful place to end a day. I had to come back to Oak Harbor to take the grills home, when I returned at almost 11:00 PM Party Number Two at the picnic table near the end of the dock was well underway.

Saturday morning was flat calm, about 05:00 AM the roar of power boats celebrating the opening of Lingcod season insured that everyone was up on time for the race start. When I took Blidevind (My O-day 27) through the pass you could almost walk across it on the fishing boats. As we gathered for the start it was obvious that riding the outgoing tide across the line would be the start. For me, drifting backwards toward the line, I was saved when a puff of wind enabled me to sail back over it just before the horn blew for the start.

Round Whidbey at 65 nautical miles is the name used to describe the event but in truth there is the race to Partridge Point, the race to Lagoon Point, Skatchet Head, Possession Point, Camanno Head, Holmes Harbor, and Oak Harbor the finish. In the race to Partridge Point I was feeling pretty good, I traded places with just about everyone except Dave French on Grins who sailed away from everyone in his Olson 30. At Partridge Point I sailed into a tide rip that spun the boat for almost 10 minutes in the light air conditions. I got to watch the entire fleet except for Slow Flight go away from me. Finally breaking free from the rip we battled it out for last place with Skip on his Catalina 22 all the way to Possession point.

As we closed in on the fleet stalled at Possession the spinnaker went flat about half mile from the crowd then a north east wind hit them and they left us behind again. It was about 9:30 PM when we saw them take off and about 10:00 PM when we got our turn to go. It was great sailing for the next hour and a half then it all quit at Gedney Island. We rode the incoming tide north and used the time for crew rest. In the darkness I could hear the breath of whales and porpoise and marveled at how many birds sing all night long. Of course with no wind you get to hear all of this. I could watch the mast lights move slowly as wind in short supply would touch the boats ahead. Around 3:00 AM somehow we had overtaken two boats but couldn't tell who they were in the darkness. I finally had to sleep and turned the boat over to the crew. It seemed that I had just dosed off when the noise of winches and the wildly healing boat woke me up to a tacking dual with Night Wind and Cardiac Arrest. The crew that was talking of quitting at 3:00 AM was suddenly smiling at 05:30. It was fun but short lived. The other two boats found good wind on the left side as we stalled in the middle. At 08:00 we called it quits still stalled while they had wind to sail in a mile ahead. Even though we did not finish I enjoyed it all.