Shearwater – 2015 – A Year in Review

Geez, it’s been almost a year since we’ve posted to this blog, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped sailing Shearwater. Far from it. Shearwater is happy in Bellingham, and we’ve been up to visit as often as practical.

• In March we raced Patos Island, starting in Sidney, BC. We were one of only 2 or 3 double-handed boats. It was great fun as the course is so diverse, heading south then north then east then west then south again with major currents impacting the entire course. We went from the front of the fleet to the middle to the front to the back to the front to the middle as the breeze and currents changed and challenged us.

The start. Shearwater is far right, getting out of dodge in fine fettle.

• In May we raced Race to the Straits. This is a 2-day pursuit race for double-handed and single-handed boats. The course is from Seattle to Port Townsend on Saturday and back to Seattle on Sunday. Over 100 double-handed flying sails boats started. The weather could not have been better. Both days were bright sunshine, mid-70’s, and 10-15 knots of wind out of the north. Because it was a pursuit race we started behind roughly 90 other boats. Upwind all the way to the Port Townsend and against the current, we found ourselves tacking, and tacking, and tacking that big 150% genoa to try and stay out of the adverse current. Shearwater loved it and about halfway up Admiralty Inlet, we had to make the decision of when to cross over to Marrowstone Island to get to the finish line near Port Townsend. We timed the crossing well and found ourselves in a close battle for 3rd overall following Different Drummer and Madrona to the west side. Once past Marrowstone the breeze eased off a little a we found out Shearwater had even better pace than earlier. The highlight was sailing underneath and then climbing to windward to directly in front of Madrona about 0.5 mile before the finish. Madrona is a much faster boat that had already caught and passed us earlier. We crossed the line 3rd overall, 1st in our division, and 1st Jack & Jill. A huge surprise for us. We haven’t race in Puget Sound for over 15 years! Sunday was a little tense as now we would be running with the spinnaker all the way back to Seattle and the pressure was on to hold onto our strong position from Saturday. It didn’t start so well. The 3 Farr 30’s in our division that started just behind us rolled us within a mile. Then the Aerodyne 38, also in our division, got by us. Fortunately, that was the end of the bleeding. We rode the stern wake of the Aerodyne for as long as we could, hit the beach hard around Pt. No Point to stay out of the current and found ourselves moving through the fleet really well. We ended up 9th overall on Sunday, but within 1-2 minutes of the Farr 30’s, keeping our 3rd overall and 1st in division for the weekend. A great weekend we will remember for a long time.

Shearwater and another J/120, Hinzite.

• In June Justin took Shearwater up to Canada for the annual RNSA Singlehanded Race. This is another 2-day race from Vancouver to Nanaimo and back to Vancouver. It was Justin’s first singlehanded race. Again the weather was fantastic, if a bit breezier. After a light air start the close-hauled fetch across Georgia Strait was in 15-20 knots. Shearwater had a tight battle with an Express 37. Sailing slightly lower and faster, we expected to get lifted near as we approached Vancouver Island. The shift was too little, too late, and we had to throw in two short tacks to clear Entrance Island. That made all the difference. Shearwater crossed the line first, but missed out on corrected time by about 30 seconds to the Express 37. Sunday started out and stayed windy all day. It looked like it would be a beam reach back to Vancouver near the limit of what could be held with a spinnaker. Justin spent the morning checking the A2 and A4 spinnakers to make sure both would launch without twisting. At the start the Express 37 immediately hoisted their spinnaker and blasted off, sailing low and below Entrance Island. Justin was not eager to have another close encounter with Entrance Island, particularly with the spinnaker up on a tight reach in 20 knots, so he delayed the hoist for a few minutes until Shearwater was well clear of the island. Then up went the bright orange A4, and Shearwater took off at 10-11 knots heading straight for Vancouver. This time it was clear sailing all the way to the finish. Shearwater was again first to finish and finished far enough ahead to correct out to first overall for the day and the weekend.

Shearwater, bow up, and in a hurry to get to Vancouver.

• And that’s not all. We did some cruising too. A week in the San Juan and Gulf Islands around the 4th of July and then another week in the San Juans in August. Proving to ourselves again what a great multi-purpose boat Shearwater is. Racing or cruising, it’s all good.

Fossil Bay, Sucia Island

Da’ boss

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