PNW Offshore Recap
The 49th running of the Pacific Northwest Offshore race, hosted by the Corinthian Yacht Club of Portland, went off last weekend with 21 boats competing in the 193 nautical mile race from the mouth of the Columbia River to Victoria, BC. The event is a feeder for Oregon boats on their way to compete in the Swiftsure International Yacht Race, and this year attracted three boats from Seattle to sail south to the start and then sail back north to Victoria.
The race features what CYC of Portland calls "virtual" start and finish lines. This year the virtual/unmanned start was postponed for two hours to lessen the tidal effect on the Columbia bar conditions. So the yachts started racing at noon on Thursday the 15th.
Here is a first hand report from Kurt Watkins aboard Kevin Flanagan's Wiley 48 'Haven':
A conservative start at noon on the virtual start line with a 10 knot WSW breeze saw half with spinnakers and the other half with jibs with no big advantage. Faster boats legged out quickly and included several smaller boats like the Hobie 33 TC and the Henderson 30 continuing to challenge the lead for most of the day.
Conditions built steadily all day and the wind backed steadily. As the fleet approached Cape Flattery, a large mature swell from the NW confused the wind driven SW waves making for some breaking 6 to 10 foot waves and winds to 25 knots from the South. Reducing sail and driving was challenging.
Entering the Straits close to Cape Flattery was a winning move for many as daylight appeared Friday in a 20 knot SE breeze which continued to clock into an easterly in the Straits. Conditions moderated all Friday as progress was made to the east and the seas went flat and the winds calm in the late afternoon Friday while approaching Sooke Harbor. This is about when we noticed Absolutely hang a right into Port Angeles and see Free Bowl Of Soup approach Race Rocks and the finish line.
As the breeze and speed approached zero, we powered through the finish line just after midnight; cruising classes were, “allowed, “ 4 hours of motoring and the lack of wind, the building ebb and hotel reservations made that decision easy. Boats that continued to race started finishing around 5am and throughout the day on Sunday.
As mentioned by Kurt, Charlie Macaulay's 'Absolutely' dropped out of the race after leading for a while on the first day. They made it safely to Port Angeles and then back to Seattle. We do not know what broke.
ORC-Overall Winner: Free Bowl of Soup, Club Swan 42, Eric Hopper, Doug Schenk, Matt Davis
Cruising Division Winner: Haven, Wiley 48, Kevin Flanigan Kurt Watkins
Photo Gallery from Kurt Watkins:
