May 20th was a lovely sunny spring day, in the tradition of this event. At the skipper’s meeting we decided to do the short course, and not try to go around Jones Island, which turned out to be a good choice. There was barely enough wind to start at noon in Deer Harbor, although my boat managed to block the entire fleet while becalmed on port tack, to my embarrassment.
Then we all struggled to keep our boats moving until we got out of the lee of Crane Island. Then it was sweet reaching out around the west end of Yellow Island and back. Once past the south end of Reef Island in the building flood, it got light again to the finish.
There were eight boats in the race, seven of whom finished in two hours and 10 minutes or less. The elapsed finishes of the last three boats were especially tight, all within 97 seconds of each other.
The race kept its usual unpredictability, as leads changed often when sailing into or out of various calm zones, making it interesting for all.
Finishes in the order of actual elapsed time are in parentheses.
The seven finishers on corrected time were:
Vito Dumas, Campos cutter from Port Townsend (2nd).
Sir Isaac, the fast and fabulous schooner from Port Townsend (1st)
Starfire, the Blanchard 26 from West Sound (3rd)
Challenge, the 6-meter, winner of the Seawanhaka Cup in 1935 (4th)
Boren, the Cheoy Lee Lion (5th)
Aura, the Garden/Blanchard 33 (7th)
Quickstep, the International One Design (6th)
Congratulations to Alex on winning the event for the first time since 2015. In the history of the Yellow Island Race he has never finished worse than 4th, with his average finish at 2.5.
The beautiful yawl Bittersweet graced our racecourse today but was unable to finish. She receives the Steadfast Award, formerly known as the Perseverance or Endurance award, to commemorate her participation. We hope to see her again.
Congratulations and thanks to all who participated in another safe and fun classic sailboat race. And a special thanks to the Port Townsend sailors who regularly cross the Strait to add so much to our events.
The next race hosted by the WBSSJI will be on Tuesday September 5th 2023, the day after Labor Day. We hope to see you!
Ward Fay, Race Organizer, skipper of “Aura”
