May was a month of some great racing--three days of buoy racing in NOODs (National Offshore One Design) where Seattle is neither offshore nor did we get a one design for the J-30 fleet. Instead, we did 15 races with the performance 30 fleet on Slingshot where we were by far the slowest rated boat in the fleet. It was a fantastic weekend. Good wind, great crew work, a lot learned, and as always, tons of fun.
Last week I didn't commute to San Francisco, but instead went to Canada. We have been prepping more or less since we began sailing on Marayui back in January for Swiftsure, an international yacht race out of Victoria, Canada. The boat left early Wednesday morning with several of the crew while the remainder of us journeyed up by other means. Late Thursday afternoon, I found myself sitting in a float plane as it took off from Lake Union on a 40 minute cruise to Victoria.
Inner Harbor by air, Victoria, B.C.
Though the weather was cooler and rainier than it has been in the past, we all had a great time. Saturday morning the winds were up and we were cruising our way to Neah Bay in a sweet upwind breeze. With gusting winds, we saw our first de-masted boat within 30 minutes.
In the starting sequence
Just across the starting line
By nightfall, however, the winds died and we hardly made it to the mark, the winds continued to shift and we ended up sailing upwind both ways. At the end of the race, 66 boats had withdrawn. We returned to Victoria long enough to offload gear and half the crew, grab some dinner to go and begin the return journey home. With a stop off in Port Townsend for customs and breakfast, we were rewarded with sunshine and some nice wind for a relaxing arrival mid afternoon Monday.
Lisa taking in the sunny delivery trip home
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