The VanIsle 360 is merely a giant windward / leeward course that takes two weeks to complete.

Winner of Division 0, Jonathan McKee on 'Dark Star', said that of the five times he has done the race, this year had the best conditions. On a normal weather year, the 596 mile round Vancouver Island race can be thought of as one giant windward leeward course with the Nahwitti bar as the weather mark and Cape Scott as the offset mark, and Victoria as the leeward mark and Nanaimo in the middle as the start/finish. Of course there is no guarantee that the wind will blow from the northwest every day and there have been years when it is upwind the entire way. This year was mostly normal in terms of wind direction, but with the volume turned up to 11. The upwind start of Leg 3 in Deepwater bay had over 30 knots on the nose. Big enough that the big boats sailed with jibs only for the entire day.

Division 0, the big boats, was populated by three TP52s, a Santa Cruz 52, and McKee's Riptide 44, ‘Dark Star’. Being eight feet shorter than the others, 'Dark Star' had to work to keep up. Like most Paul Bieker designed boats, 'Dark Star' has water ballast that can be moved from side to side while going upwind, and drained off the boat entirely downwind, so it can be sailed by half as many crew members as the other big boats. It is a cool system, but brings with it a penalty in the handicap ratings, so in addition to everyone doing twice the work, Jonathan and the 'Dark Star' team had to make every second count. In this year's windy conditions, 'Dark Star' was able to stay close to the 52s in the upwind legs, and make the most of their light weight in the downwind legs, and ultimately won Division 0 by 2 points.

Dark Star in a rare light spot. Esther Goodell photo

Ripple at the finish. Kathryn Huse photo

On another Bieker designed and water ballasted boat, the Riptide 35: 'Ripple', Justin and Christina Wolfe took the idea of fewer crew members even further and were the only double handed team of the 46 teams participating in 2025. The Wolfes have deep experience sailing double handed including last year when they won the 606 mile Royal Malta Yacht Club's Rolex Middle Sea Race. This year was the second time the duo double handed the VanIsle 360 having also done so on their J/111 in 2023. Justin pointed out that: "it takes just as much preparation effort and racing time to sail the VanIsle 360 as it does to sail one of the ocean races to Hawaii with one notable exception: on the VanIsle 360 the teams get to stop 8 times to recover and fix things". Team 'Ripple' had to do just that during the third leg when the extreme conditions blew the instruments off the top of their mast.

This year the first five legs followed the usual pattern, were all upwind, and had some sections with over 30 knots of breeze. Not long after the start of leg 3 from Deepwater Bay to Kelsey Bay, 'Ripple' had to return to Campbell River for repairs. Once fixed up, they motored most of the night, arriving in Telegraph Cove at 5 AM, just a few hours before rejoining the race for the 8 AM start of leg 5. 'Ripple's' Division 1 was won by Gord Wylie's team 'Phoenix' on their XP44. ‘Phoenix’ got off to a bit of a slow start with a 4th, 3rd, 5th, and 3rd in the first four legs. Clearly, Gord and his team got inspired in Telegraph Cove, because they won the next three legs and never looked back.

Drying out and fixing things in Ucluelet. Marcus Reichert photo

Another Marcus Reichert photo

Once the boat work is done, go fishing! Joe Bersch photo

In addition to time to recover and fix things during the layovers, the multi leg design of the VanIsle 360 offers the racers a chance to spend time together. Unlike racing to Hawaii where the other teams are just dots on a plot each night, followed by one big awards party. The 9 legs of the VanIsle 360 keep the racing close and the competitors enjoy nine social gatherings at the stopovers. Jonathan McKee explained that the VanIsle 360: "...is a regatta and a race and also something more than that. The places are unique and beautiful and the connection to the local communities and the spirit of cooperation between the teams gives everyone the chance to relax get to know the other competitors."

Start of the long leg from Winter Harbour to Ucluelet. Kathryn Huse photo.

Even with hard fought battles for supremacy in the results, the spirit of competition between the racers was overshadowed by an ethos of community and cooperation as the teams shared spares and helped each other with repairs between legs. When sailing in such remote places and in such extreme conditions, safety comes from preparedness and looking out for each other. If we use cell tower density as a measure of remoteness, consider that there are over 1,500 cell towers in the 150 miles of coastline from Victoria through Nanaimo, Comox, and to Campbell River, but less than 100 cell towers in the remaining 450 miles of the circumnavigation. In fact, once you leave Port Hardy for the trip around the top, you don't get back in cell range until Tofino, 215 miles later. The northwest side of Vancouver Island is remote! So it is best to bring your friends when going sailboat racing there.

Zephyra Crosses Hana Mara in the early stages of the Port Hardy to Winter Harbour leg.

John Murkwoski and his team 'Joy Ride' won Division 2 and won the race overall this year with an amazing string of four Division 2 first place finishes in a row, while also recording a 4th as their worst finish in the field of 13 boats. A performance like that would imply they ran away with it, but in fact they won in a tie breaker. The second place Division 2 boat, 'Setri', also had four firsts. The tie breaking system called for listing each team's scores from best to worst and then comparing at each paring until there was a difference. In the case of 'Joy Ride' v 'Setri' the tie was not broken until the 7th pairing where 'Joy Ride' had one more 2nd place, and 'Setri' had a 3rd place instead. Now that is close!

Setri in control in 30 knots + going upwind to Port Neville in Johnstone Strait. Cara Kuhlman photo.

J Boats say on their website that the "e" on 'Joy Ride's' J/122e is for "elegance". I wonder what they would think if they heard John say: "The west coast of Vancouver Island is always the bring your big boy/girl pants section. This year didn’t disappoint. We saw a max TWS [true wind speed] of 45 knots and a max boat speed of 24 [knots]. I think my favorite part was surfing wing on wing doing 18 knots! Definitely the fastest I’ve ever gone wing on wing!" Hearing that, the boat builders in Newport, RI might redesignate the "e" to "extreme" or John Murkowski's team to extraordinary! This is the third time 'Joy Ride' has raced the VanIsle 360 and their record stands at 1st (2017), 2nd (2023), and 1st (2025), so no wonder John said: "it is definitely a race we match up well with".

From Marcus Reichert on Spyhop

On the windy Pacific Ocean leg

True Wind Speed reading 35.7 knots

This year on the way back downwind on the Pacific Ocean side, it blew over 30 knots at Brooks Peninsula and had double overhead waves, as the surfers call waves over 12 feet. It was a day when the primary goal was boat preservation, and part of that was slowing down and keeping in control. Wipe outs are not fast, people can get hurt, and things can break. So finding the boat's happy place is essential. Go fast enough that the apparent wind is manageable, and not so fast that a bad wave sends you down the mineshaft. Add since the extreme conditions go on for hour after hour it is clear why sailors would want their friends around. Marcus Reichert on 'Spyhop', the J/109 that lead Division 3 for the first several legs of the race, but ended up second to 'The Kodiak Express', said that: "For a J/109, we had some extended surfing sessions that one could almost call being on plane. I could feel the bow digging sometimes putting an end to that notion! I think 16 knots boat speed was max. We hit 18 something on the Winter Harbor to Ucluelet leg. Again, briefly."

There were some anomalies from the simple upwind/downwind pattern this year. Like an upwind part between Ucluelet and Victoria, which should have been downwind. It all worked out in the wash however, because a good stretch of the final leg from Victoria to Nanaimo turned downwind to even things out.

In addition to the big wind and waves, a 250 mile long island in the way of a 15 foot tidal swing makes for some big currents. Seymour Narrows, just north of Campbell River regularly registers 12 knots of current formed into a bit of a waterfall. So current can really help or hinder progress around the island. This year the current seemed to help more than hurt, shrinking up the legs nicely. The combination of good wind speed, good wind direction, mostly favorable currents, and super fast boats conspired in 2025 to enable Steve Travis's TP 52 'Smoke' to set an all time fastest lap elapsed time record of 67 hours and 12 minutes.

Here is a recap of the results: