Terramoto tight behind the big boats as they round the south end of Vashon Island, about 1530. Douglas Peterson photo.
The SYC Tri Island Series continues with the 50th running of the 56 mile (long course) race around Vashon Island. A short course, 40 miles to Pt Robinson and back, and a 20 mile Racer/Cruiser course, around Blakely Rock and the Duwamish Head Light and back are also offered. Most boats finish before dark, but the long course time limit is 19 hours, so it is possible to be racing after midnight.
SYC Vashon Island Registration Page
Media coverage in Sail-World: May 10, 2025 Vashon Island Race
Live Updates
0900: Nothing happening fast right now. (Postponement for no wind)
1000: Still flat calm. 40 boats standing by.
The longer it takes for the breeze to fill in, the better the current gets. Here are the current predictions from Predict Current for 1000, 1100, and 1200.
1035: And they are off!
1200: Glory and Smoke neck and neck by Blake island followed by Mist and then a big pack lead by Tachyon. Don’t have Dark Star on the AIS, so they could be anywhere. This pic just in from AnaLucia Clarkson on Hooligan.
1300: Leaders are almost to Dilworth Point, the next pack just beyond the Vashon ferry dock. A bunch of pictures of the start from West Point here.
1430: Leaders passing the entrance to Quartermaster with Glory just ahead of Smoke. So far the breeze is holding up with the 52s doing over 8 knots. The peleton is just past Pt Robinson. Here are more excellent pictures from onboard Hooligan, thanks very much to AnaLucia Clarkson.
1545: The photos are rolling in now. We have Douglas Peterson on his Bertram out of Gig Harbor with these as everyone rounds the south end of Vashon:
1600: So as the boats go into Colvos Passage it is Glory, Smoke, Mist, Dark Star, Terramoto… and considering the difference in rating, Terramoto may be punching above their weight (again). It looks like the dead spot at the south end of Vashon was not as deadly this year as it can be.
1730: Holy Smokes! I looked away for a few minutes and the big boats have made it all of the way home! I confess, I did not see who got there first, so txt me! (206-909-4800). Madrona, Tachyon and Hooligan are in between Blake Is. and Alki point. The big question is where is Terramoto? (no AIS).
1745: Still not sure who won, but it does look like the breeze is up. No wonder the big boats got back so fast. Here is Sailflow showing West Point at 18 g to 20!
1800: Madrona is in the middle of Elliott Bay, with a pretty good jump on Tachyon, Hooligan, Annapurna and Hydra. They are making 8 knots, so it must not be as windy there as at West Point.
1830: Sounds like Glory won line honors by finishing first, and Smoke was close enough behind to likely win on corrected time. Still no word about Terramoto. Madrona now approaching West Point.
1930: It looks like most of the boats on AIS are now finished. So nothing to do but wait for the results. Thank you SYC for another spectacular Tri Island Series race. Only one more to go: Blake Island on June 1st.
Check back tomorrow for more pictures. I received more pictures than I could post today and I will put them into the gallery tomorrow.
Vashon Island Race Results
ORC Long Course
Terramoto, William Weinstein
Hooligan, Jay Renehan / Chris Lanzinger
One Life, David Miller
Madrona, Carl and Carol Buchan
Smoke, Steve Travis
PHRF Short Course
Madame Pele, Tom Andrews
Jaded, Chris Phoenix
Jolly Green, Ryan Porter
Boomerang, Greg O’Byrne
Moose Unknown, John Atchison
Tri Island Series Standings after 2 of 3 Events
ORC Long Course
Terramoto: 1, 1 = 2
One Life: 5, 3 = 8
Glory: 2, 7 = 9
Smoke: 6, 5 = 11
Dark Star: 4, 13 = 17
PHRF Short Course
Madame Pele: 2, 1 = 3
Jolly Green: 1, 3 = 4
Creative: 3, 7 = 10
Peer Gynt: 4, 6 = 10
Moose Unknown: 6, 5 = 11
Did You Know?
When SYC ran this race in 1925, it started at 5:15 PM on Saturday evening, with the winner finishing at 11:16 Sunday morning.
The course was south down Colvos Passage against the tide (anti - clockwise and anti - current)
4 big boats participated plus Jackie Graham in his Star boat — the Seattle Times reported Graham “took shelter” when the breeze came up
The winner was Commodore Fritz Hellenhall on the Schooner ‘Gwendolyn’ in 18 hours and 1 minute
The fastest time we could find in the records was Steve Travis on his TP 52 ‘Smoke’ in 2017: 7 hours, 5 minutes and 22 seconds. The record was nearly broken by Alan Lubner’s ‘Zvi’ in 2021, but he missed by 48 seconds!
Correction (on May 11, 2025): The fastest time on record is John Buchan’s TP 52 ‘Glory’ in 2023 at 6 hours, 11 minutes and 24 seconds. A pace ‘Glory’ came within 15 minutes of this year.
The race famously has a light wind patch at the south end of Vashon Island. In sailboat racing this is called a ‘hole’ — as in something one can fall into and never escape. A boat that gets through that light patch swiftly often gets away and is never caught by the others.