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The Van Isle 360 is a biennial, 580 nautical mile point-to-point race circumnavigating wild and rugged Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Sailed in ten legs, the course provides inshore, offshore and overnight sailing through some of the most stunning and challenging waters on the planet.
Quick recap of the first half: VanIsle 360: Fun or Serious
Live Updates for the first half of the race below, for the second half starting in Port Hardy: VanIsle 360 Second Half
The VanIsle360 is using YB Tracker to make it easy for us to follow the race. On your mobile, download the YB Tracker app, or on your desktop, go to the VanIsle360 website and scroll down on the front page until you see the Load the Tracker button.
May 31
0845: Ballenas reporting W 14 at 0800. The breeze is forecast to build all day. The race today is 35.6 miles to Comox (Deep Bay). Time limit is midnight tonight. Good luck everyone!
0900: It looks like the tracker updates positions every 5 minutes. So a bit hard to tell if the start went off, we will know at the next refresh.
0910: The start has happened. The tracker is going to need some refinement, I suspect they will get that sorted out as the legs progress. Not sure about the 5 min refresh on the boats, could be a shorter interval now that the race has started.
Later: Tracker working great now.
1100: These pictures just in from Kathryn Huse on the RC boat. Thank you Kathryn!
1135: The leading boats are now past Ballenas Islands with ‘Smoke’ leading ‘Mist’ and ‘The Shadow II”. ‘Dark Star’ and ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ not far behind. Ballenas weather station reporting 16 knots WNW.
This picture of ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ just in from Erik Kristen on ‘Dark Star’. Thank you Erik!
1400: Leaders are 3 miles from the finish. The tracker is showing:
YB Tracker screenshot from 1400. To see the tracker go to the main VanIsle360.com page and scroll down.
1430: ‘Smoke’ and ‘The Shadow II’ have finished. Unofficially, Steve Travis and his team on ‘Smoke’ draw first blood on the first day with a line honors win and corrected time win (this is according to the tracker, the organizers will post official results later). ‘Mist’ looks to be next, then ‘Dark Star’ and ‘Free Bowl of Soup’.
June 1, Sunday, waking up in Comox for the start of leg 2
Leg 1 Winners:
Div 0: The Shadow II
Div 1: Golux
Div 2: Joy Ride
Div 3: The Kodiak Express
0800: Thank you Harry Dursch and Erik Kristen for these pictures of the fleet in the harbor at Comox. Looks like it is going to be a great day. The Sentry Shoal buoy is reporting 18 from the northwest right now and it is forecast to hold up all day.
YB Tracker Screenshot from 0850, 10 mins to the start.
…and some people call our sport confusing?!?
0920: Short race today of only 28 miles. The tracker is predicting a finish time of 12:19 for The Shadow II. It could be even faster than that with the current helping anyone arriving before 1500.
In case you were wondering how amazingly beautiful it is sailing in the Straits of Georgia today, these photos just in from Erik Kristen:
1000: ‘Smoke’, ‘Mist’, and ‘The Shadow II’ all neck and neck on the latest tracker refresh.
1115: The 1115 position reports show ‘Mist’ and ‘The Shadow II’ splitting a bit with ‘Mist’ to the west, and ‘Smoke’ even farther to the west than ‘Mist’ but about a mile back. Looks like ‘Golux’ is leading again in Div 1, and ‘Joy Ride’ for Div 2, and ‘One Life’ for Div 3. Predicted finishing times for the big boats now a bit after 1300.
1215: Set your watches, it is shaping up to be a photo finish for line honors between the 52s. Right now ‘Mist’ has a very small lead over yesterday’s leg 1, Div 0 winner ‘The Shadow II’ , and ‘Smoke’ is not far behind. The tracker is predicting a finish at 1305.
1315: Leg 2 boats have started to finish with the TP52s over the finish line in Campbell River. ‘Mist’ first, then ‘The Shadow II’ and ‘Smoke’ so close they were sharing pixels on my screen. We will have to wait for the official results to know the outcome.
Tomorrow everyone gets up very early to get through Seymour Narrows at slack water — because max current often exceeds 10 knots. That is enough to make it look like a waterfall. Then make breakfast or take a nap before the start at 0800 from Deepwater Bay. 30 NM to Kelsey Bay.
June 2: Leg 3, Deepwater Bay to Kelsey Bay, 30.2 NM
Leg 2 Winners
Div 0: Mist (Now three way tie for 1st with all three TP52s having 4 pts each)
Div 1: Golux (2x in a row)
Div 2: Setri
Div 3: Spyhop
0700: The boats are through the narrows and ready for the 0800 start. Now things start to get serious as the boats leave civilization behind and go beyond Seymour Narrows.
Nanaimo Population: 100,000
Comox Population: 15,000
Campbell River Population: 37,000
Kelsey Bay and the Sayward MSA: Under 500. Can’t find a number for Port Neville on the other side of Johnstone Strait, but probably smaller.
Ripple Rock explosion in 1958, Sherwood Lett photo.
If you have never read the story of Ripple Rock, the largest non nuclear blast in the history of history, it is worth a quick look: Wikipedia Ripple Rock Page
The 0600 report from Fanny Island shows 31 WNW, with a forecast of breeze increasing steadily until 1900, so the boats may see the #4 jibs before the day is over. Cell coverage drops off a bit here so the combination of the big breeze and no cell coverage may hamper the picture sending.
YB Tracker screenshot from 0805
0800: And they are off! Adverse current for the next few hours.
0900: Division leaders are: ‘The Shadow II’, ‘Golux’, ‘Joy Ride’, and ‘Spyhop’. The fleet is about half way to the turn into Johnstone Strait at Chatham Point. The current is flooding (adverse) until about 1100 and getting less and less potent as slack approaches. I don’t have any reports from on the water, but have to think that the wind will increase in Johnstone Strait for the simple fact that the channel and the wind direction are aligned there. Fanny Island, the closest wind reporting station is near the finish of today’s race and was reporting 26 at 0800.
1000: The fleet is rounding Chatham Point. Leaders are ‘The Shadow II’, ‘Free Bowl of Soup’, ‘Joy Ride’, and ‘Spyhop’. The most interesting race today may be the battle in Div 1 with ‘Golux’ having won the first two days, and ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ on the charge.
1100: Not sure if there was a breakage, or if it is to avoid a breakage, but ‘Smoke’ and ‘Mist’ are both sailing without mainsails. Could by why ‘The Shadow II’ has jumped out so much. On the 1100 position reports, ‘Mist’ is showing 9 knots of SOG under jib alone, and ‘The Shadow II’ is showing 8 knots, so the no main strategy may be working better as the breeze continues to crank up. I have no picture of ‘The Shadow II’ so they may also have dropped their main by now.
‘Golux’ is looking like she is enjoying the ride maybe more than anyone. ‘Dark Star’ reporting a reef and #4. Awesome pictures in from Erik Kristen. Thank you Erik!
1200: Div 1 is going to be very very close. The tracker is showing ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ behind ‘Golux’ by 12 seconds (corrected) after 25 miles and with 8 miles to go. I’m never quite sure if the tracker is doing the corrections correctly, but it is very close either way. The current has switched and is moving up the finishing times, so it looks like the big boats will finish in about half an hour.
‘Smoke’ is smokin! They have nearly caught up with ‘The Shadow II’, who needs a mainsail anyway! ‘Smoke’ is very hard to see on the tracker in satellite mode, it can help to click the little globe on the top Overlays/Map menu and change to topographic.
1230: ‘Smoke’ across the line first, then ‘The Shadow II’, then ‘Mist’, then ‘Dark Star’ Div 1 boats to finish in about 20 mins.
1315: Looks like ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ got Div 1, ‘Joy Ride’ for Div 2, and ‘Spyhop’ leads Div 3 and is tracking for a finish in about 30 mins.
1430: Just a few boats left to finish. It appears that ‘Ripple’ has retired and their AIS shows them back in Campbell River. We hope everything is OK with them.
Tomorrow it is another 30 miler to Telegraph Cove. Start time: 0900. Still blowing 30 at Fanny Island, forecast for tomorrow is a bit less, might even be in the teens at the start.
1900: Bonus report from the anchorage in Port Neville: Beautiful night with and BBQ being delivered from Blind Bay Resort. Thank you to Erik Kristen, Harry Dursch, Cara Kuhlman, and Esther Goodell for more pictures.
June 3: Leg 4, Port Neville to Telegraph Cove, 29.4 NM. Start time 0900
Awesome pictures in from Linda Vermeulen on her facebook page.
If you want to buy full res versions of Linda’s pictures, just email her: lindaphoto33@gmail.com
If you want to see her pictures of prior years, try this page.
Leg 3 Winners
Div 0: Unfinished Business
Div 1: Golux (3 in a row, leading of course)
Div 2: Joy Ride (1, 2, 1, leading Div 2)
Div 3: Spyhop (5, 1, 1, leading Div 3)
Dropped out: Maelstrom (keel concerns); Ripple (instruments)
The 0600 report from Fanny Is is 19 with gusts to 24, and the model shows it dropping down a bit by the time of the start.
0900:
YB screenshot from 0903
‘Joy Ride’ in red, and ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ in orange got a big jump at the start with the pin end heavily favored. Could not tell if they tacked right at the start or if they port tacked the fleet… will want to ask about that. Flood current (adverse) until about 1300.
1000: The conditions look much more pleasant today than yesterday, could be helped by wind + current in the same direction. Great photo of ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ from Erik Kristen. I do not see ‘The Shadow II’ on the tracker. There was a report of their #4 jib pulling out of the track at the end of the day yesterday and possibly going ahead to Telegraph Cove for replairs. So hopefully we see them again there.
1100 screenshot from YB Tracker showing Smoke leading Mist and Dark Star. Super close between Free Bowl of Soup and Joy Ride, each leading their fleets.
1100: ‘Smoke’ is jumping out big time along the north shore while most of the fleet is playing the south shore. The current is rolling because both ‘Smoke’ and ‘Mist’ are showing SOG of under 5 knots. 1000 report from Fanny Island has the breeze down to 13 knots. After winning the first three legs in Div 1, ‘Golux’ is falling back to 8th. ‘Spyhop’ continuing their winning streak in Div 3.
1215 Screenshot from YB Tracker showing the Div 3 leaders lead by ‘Spyhop’
1215: Really, really close in Div 3. Division leader ‘Spyhop’ on top right now, but this is the group to watch. Well, ‘Dark Star’ is having a pretty good one too — right with ‘Mist’.
1230 Screenshot from YB Tracker showing Div 0 leaders, ‘Smoke’ out front.
1330: Boatspeeds are going way down, so the breeze must be light and the current bad. ‘Smoke’, ‘Mist’, and ‘Dark Star’ all reporting at 2 knots or less. Projected finish times in about an hour.
1400: ‘Unfinished Business’, yesterday’s winner of Div 0, and ‘Hamachi’ from Div 1 have split with the rest of the fleet and could make a big move to the front. Too early to tell, and everyone is going very slowly. Finish times pushing later for sure. ‘Smoke’ just into new breeze or current and making over 4.
1430 Screenshot from YB Tracker. ‘Hamachi’ now leads the entire fleet, ‘Unfinished Business’ has taken the lead in Div 0 from ‘Smoke’.
1430: The fleet has turned inside out in a classic “curse of the first” situation where ‘Smoke’ went one way with the lead and everyone else thought it did not look so great. ‘Hamachi’ and ‘Unfinished Business’ went to the south shore when the leaders went to the north shore and the south boats passed all them north boats. ‘Dark Star’ nearly got swept to Ketchikan by the current in Blackney Passage — but luckily got out of there before it got too bad. Three miles to go, it is anyone’s guess how long that will take.
1500: So it looks like ‘Hamachi’ is going to be first to finish and the Div 1 leader, then ‘Unfinished Business’ as the Div 0 leader, and then ‘Smoke’ and then ‘Joy Ride’ the Div 2 leader. Meanwhile, in Div 3, ‘The Kodiak Express’, ‘Spyhop’, ‘Heron’, and ‘One Life’ show only one minute of corrected elapsed between them after over 6 hours of racing. And they are not on opposite sides of the course, quite the contrary as they tack along the north shore of the strait.
1515: ‘Hamachi’ crossed first, but wow…’Mist’ managed to catch ‘Unfinished Business’ right before the finish. We will have to wait for the results to see how this plays out. Crazy up and down racing for sure.
1520 screenshot from YB Tracker
1530: Meanwhile, five miles from the finish and going 2 knots, the top 5 boats in Div 3 are tied. The ebb will last long enough for them to finish — mercifully. The fun is not over yet!
1610: ‘The Kodiak Express’ is the first to finish with the others close behind. Too close to know the corrected outcome until the results are posted. Another great day of the Van Isle 360. See you all in the morning.
June 4: Leg 5 - Telegraph Cove to Port Hardy - 28.7 NM, 0800 Start
Yesterday we were reminded that 30 miles is plenty long for a day, and time on time changes a lot when the time goes up.
Leg 4 Winners
Div 0: Unfinished Business
Div 1: Freja
Div 2: Joy Ride (1, 2, 1, 1leading Div 2)
Div 3: Reverie
With ‘The Shadow II’ not sailing and the results going up side down, there is a spread of 2 points between the five boats in Div 0. ‘Golux’ still leads Div 1 with 5 points between first and fourth. ‘Joy Ride’ has jumped out a bit in Div 2, and ‘Discernment’ has taken the Div 3 lead from ‘Spyhop’ with super consistent finishes (4, 3, 4, 2).
Herbert Island is reported 8 knots from the WNW at 0600 and the model shows the wind building throughout the day. The current will be on the ebb (helping) at 0800, but will change to adverse less than an hour later.
Let’s have a good race out there today!
Here is a bonus video from Erik Kristen showing a dolphin fly by. Thank you Erik!
0800: ‘The Shadow II’ is back on the racecourse. And they are off, but it is very light. Let’s hope the wind fills in before the current goes against them. Thank you Erik Kristen (again) for these pictures at the start.
0900: The breeze is picking up just in time! More Erik Kristen photos.
1030: Two by two they go up past the fishing, logging, and mining villages of north Vancouver Island. ‘Smoke’ and ‘The Shadow II’ and ‘Dark Star’ and ‘Mist’ are just about to clear the north end of Cormorant Island (Alert Bay), and the current is adverse all of the way to the north end of Malcolm Island, then it turns neutral or maybe even helpful the rest of the way to Port Hardy. Thank you Erik Kristen for another great photo of ‘Mist’. If only I could figure out a way to get someone on ‘Mist’ to take a photo of ‘Dark Star”…
1100: ‘Ripple’ is back on the racecourse after having retired during Leg 3 and missing Leg 4, they were able to make repairs in Campbell River and then caught back up to the fleet last night, and are back in the race.
YB Tracker screenshot of 1100 positions with ‘Smoke’ out front. You can also see ‘Hamachi’ leading the next pack.
And here are the Div 0 boats at the north end of Malcolm Island and ‘Smoke’ and ‘Dark Star’ are splitting to the left and ‘The Shadow II’ and ‘Mist’ are going to the right. There still seems to be some current because boatspeeds are down quite a bit.
1200: The big boats are all lined up and charging with ‘Dark Star’ keeping it very close, it will be interesting to see how this works out on corrected time. ‘Hamachi’ seems to be punching above her weight for the second day in a row with a good jump on the other Div 1 boats. ‘Joy Ride’ is as steady as ever leading Div 2, and ‘Spyhop’ is back in the lead for Div 3, but it is an absolute dog fight with ‘Kodiak Express’ and ‘Heron’. Once again, Div 3 is putting on a great show. Yesterday, after 7 hours of racing, the corrected time delta between first place and 8th place was 18 minutes. That means the winning boat was 4% faster than the 8th place boat.
1245: Breeze is up to about 15 knots. Here is an awesome picture of Mah Na Mah Na taken by Marcus Reichert on ‘Spyhop’. ‘Smoke’ just passing inside the Masterman Islands at the entrance to Port Hardy. Three miles to go for the leader.
1300: Looks like the breeze is holding up all of the way into Port Hardy bay with ‘Smoke’ crossing the line any minute.
YB Tracker screenshot from 1300 time reports
1315: ‘Spyhop’, currently at the front of the Div 3 pack, is crossing tacks with ‘Zulu Tango’ (Div 1), and ‘Mystery’ and ‘Mah Na Mah Na’ (Div 2) and Marcus Reichert sent in these terrific pictures.
1345: From the tracker, it looks like something broke on ‘Hamachi’ about 45 minutes ago. They bore off, went downwind for a while and now are in the lee of a Peel island — possibly making repairs. ‘Free Bowl of Soup’ was just the first to finish in Div 1, ‘Joy Ride’ is set to be first to finish in Div 2 — in about 15 minutes. Div 3 boats have about 6 miles to go. ‘Spyhop’ has at least a mile on ‘The Kodiak Express’ and ‘Heron’, we will see how that shakes out in the corrected times.
1400: ‘Hamachi’ back underway, not sure if sailing or under power. ‘Joy Ride’ finished. Big bunch of boats rounding the head, and streaming to the finish.
1415: More pictures from Marcus Reichert, including ‘Hamachi’ with sails down. Thank you Marcus!
1440: ‘Spyhop’ is in as first to finish in Div 3. Great sailing everyone! Have fun in the big city, tomorrow you will find yourself in Winter Harbor. Population = 6!
June 5, Thursday
CORRECTION: June 5 is a lay day, race to Winter Harbor starts June 6th
We are on our way to the wild side people!
Leg 5 Results
Div 0: Smoke (2, 2, 4, 4, 1 now leading the division by 2 points)
Div 1: Phoenix (3, 3, 5, 3, 1 also leading their division, also by 2 points)
Div 2: Joy Ride (1, 2, 1, 1, 1 clearly leading their division by a lot)
Div 3: Spyhop (5, 1, 1, 11, 1 also leading their division, also also by 2 points)
The team on ‘Spyhop’ also wins the best picture award for yesterday. They really helped everyone see what it was like on the water. Check out the Spyhop boat page to see what I mean. We are slowly building boat pages as we have time. If you want one for your boat, just email me at jaycleon@yachtracing.tv.
June 6, Friday, Port Hardy to Winter Harbor, 69.8 NM, 0930 Start
For the second half of the race, the liveblog continues here.
The VanIsle360 team is doing a terrific job with their facebook group. All kinds of pictures and videos.