Wanted - Race Reporters, Race Tracks and more.
I will include anyone's track of their race so others can see. The more we have the more information we can collect on what happened on the race course. Please submit in a Garmin file, Goggle Earth, Word or PDF format.
Please keep your track of the race. If you didn't have the best result I would like those tracks also. I will keep your anonymity if you require. All the tracks show us good information. Thanks.


Swiftsure- - May 26-27, 2007
Results

Socks- SYC - May 19-20, 2007
Results

Saturday turned out to be a real gear buster. Winds in the high twenties to low 30's at times. Most if not all where in survival mode to race. Lots of sails ripped and distroyed. Two Holder 20's rolled and had to be towed into shilshole for water removal.
Sunday the wind was very pleasent. Great racing went off on time and a total of 5 races took place on Sunday. I was not at the event because of the damage on my boat from worlds but it sounded like everyone that went had a great time.

Vashon Island/Pt. Robinson - SYC May 12th, 2007
Results
Anyone have a report? I was at Melges 24 worlds and was not around. I heard that it was light wind and from the results it looks like not many finished.

Protection Island/Double Bluff- SYC - April 21, 2007
Results
Track of Synge
By Gary Stuntz
I sailed on Synge which is a Synergy 1000. We did the 80+ mile race around Protection Island. Winds where about 12 knots at the start out of the S-SE. We set the spinnaker right out the gate and jibed. I felt like the center of the sound to the west was going to be favored down to Point no Point. The wind never really shifted to the west strongly like I thought it might but it did not really hurt us either. We kept the spinnaker up all the way to Double bluff at this point we had to drop and close reach up towards Maristone Island. We got back upwind enough to bare away and hoist the spinnaker again to take it down to Port Townsand. We put the #2 up and reached to Protection Island. When we got to the island and where taking the corner we jibed and took the 25 foot line to avoid the kelp beds. We grabbed a good 25-30 knot puff to bump are boat speed to 16.7 knots. Quite a rush! The boat handles great at that speed. We switch to the #3 and held that to Point Wilson. The wind was lightening up so we switched to the #2 and then to the #1. Between the South end of Maristone Island and Point No Point the wind almost disappeared. We never saw under 2 knots of boat speed but it had its moments that it looked like it would totally shut off. The boats in our class that owed us 16-30 seconds bumped up against the nothingness and they had to gamble to head east or west down to shilshole. The west paid off and anyone that stayed on the west made out big. We finished in the daylight which was a first for me on the 80+ mile course. I think we did it in about 11 hours.
Double bluff report-
Report by Peter Nelson on Time Warp.

In a word – FUN! I mean, really fun!! We had 6 – me, Mike Hensel, Laura, Josh, Tyler, and Will. We worked our butts off – esp. Laura – but it was really a ton of fun!

We had 0-20k with puffs to 25k. We started downwind in about 10k. But 2/3s of the way down to Double Bluff we had a front come through that pushed the winds up to the 20-25 range. We rounded up once (which was NOT fun!), but managed to get back on our feet without any damage. (Kudos to Tyler.) I think our best call of the day was to douse before everyone else did. Even though we had our hands full dousing, it wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone else who waited. They really got hit!

We rounded Double Bluff 4th. There was Challenger (106), followed by Madrugador (126) and Magic Button (116). Hooligan (Cal 40; 129) rounded right in front of us but then had a snafu with something at the mark and was out of commission for awhile. So we set our sights on the other 3 boats. I also glanced behind to notice White Squall having issues rounding the mark. Something about those Cal 40s!!

We were on the heavy #1 and were over-powered on the way back to Pt. No Point. We traveled the jib back to blow off the top, and had the main softened. It worked well enough to keep us from changing sails. When we got to Pt. No Point the wind shut down for a short bit and we were glad we didn’t go to the #3. We were able to make up some time on the leaders, then rounded the point on a light #1. We worked the west shore (keeping a watchful eye on the depth sounder!), and passed Madrugador. Button and Challenger were in the middle of the Sound and still slightly ahead. Here and Now came up on us. They started 5 min. behind us, but it didn’t matter – we just wanted our class.

2/3 of the way back, where you are supposed to cross over, the wind shut down completely. We again gained on the leaders, then had to figure out where to be. We continued to work the west shore. But when boats on the east shore and middle (incl. Button and Challenger) hoisted kites and started pulling on a northeasterly, we hoisted ours and reached up to get on their line. The thinking was to cover two boats and let Madrugador (also along the west shore) go. While that strategy made sense, it didn’t work out. A southwesterly filled in along the west shore. Beer boat and Madrugador got it first and romped. Button was next, then us. Challenger fell back.

So now it was down to three – us, Button and Madrugador. We reached into Shilshole Bay, passing Madrugador (again), and inching up on Button. At one point, we passed Button and looked like we might get the gun. But it wasn’t to be. The wind backed to a southeasterly and we were having difficulty laying the line while Button was able to crack off and reach. We might’ve made it close but a commercial boat forced us to tack away and lose another minute.

In the end we finished 2nd behind Button on elapsed. Results haven’t been posted, but we should do OK on corrected – 1st, I think

P.S.S.R- CYC - April 14-15, 2007 - Results North Results South
Saturday on the South Course we where fortunate to get in 3 races to the one race on the North Course. Winds where very fluky and not very consistent. Racing on Sunday was not much better. We got in two races on both courses. The wind was under 10 knots almost all of the weekend.
Sunday after awards 3 people unfortunately broke through the railing at the entrance by the club and fell 15 feet to a dock below or into the water. Lost creative writing after all of this on PSSR. One is seriously injured and the others are banged up but doing ok.

Blakely Rocks Benefit- Sloop Tavern- April 7, 2007 - Results
Race was a drifter..... Boats that stuck it out finished close to the time limit.

Pulley Point - CYC - March 24th, 2007 - Results
Track of Skededel - J-130 Track of Rubicon - S2 9.1
Track of Corvo - J-33
By Gary Stuntz
Winds where predicted to be 20-30 knots. At the start of the race we had 25 knots and throughout the day it seemed to drop down to about 12-18 knots. A lot of boats had there heavier spinnakers up on the way back expecting that the 30 knots was still coming. Reports where on the upwind that boats that tacked onto starboard right away rounding west point made out by staying out of the current. Pretty much a straight forward race day.

Islands Race- GHYC- March 17, 2007 - Results
Track of Sugar Magnolia - S2 7.9
By Gary Stuntz
Winds where predicted to be SW 10-20 and decreasing in the late afternoon. Oh how NOAA nailed this one. I sailed with Scott Awalt on Sugar Magnolia a S2 7.9. We started out with at 10-15 knots SW wind and sailed to about Olalla with this breeze. Then it dropped to 5-10 knots the rest of the way up to Blake Island. We had anywhere from .3 to 1.6 knots of current with us also down Colvos. Tide channels where very important to try to stay in on the way down. We rounded about 5 boats lengths ahead of the next boat in our class that we owed almost 8 minutes. We knew going to weather we where going to need some shifts to go our way and some luck. We worked up Colvos watching for building breeze and trying to sail to it as much as we could. After about half way up Colvos we had timed that we where about 10 minutes ahead. The wind also decided to shut off to a bare 1-2 knots. We drifted our way up the Vashon side of Colvos and worked any little puff that we could see. When we decided to make the cross to the finish we could see the wind was filling in behind us and the boats where getting closer quickly. Many boats that had a great race and hit the shut-off of wind ended up getting corrected over by boats from behind. We just barely made it to the finish before the wind really started filling in and would of made the results a lot closer. Fluky winds, RAIN and current made it a pretty typical Islands Race. Congrats to Scott for winning his class and what should be the Overall Series as well.

Possession Point - CYC - March 10, 2007 - Results
Track of Gaucho - Ross 930
By Gary Stuntz
Winds where predicted to be S - SE 10-20 knots all day. When they ever call for a SE breeze I start to get a little worried about getting to far west away from the east shore. I learned from past mistakes to listen to the NOAA weather before the race and see if they are calling for SE in Admiralty Inlet. If they are then I stay pretty close to the east shore. If they are calling for westerly in Admiralty Inlet then I tend to shy to the west side and keep my eye out for the easterly influence. I sailed on Gaucho owned by John Cahill. John had asked me to come and do tactics and make sure that the new #1 looked correct. We never raised our jib at the start and just hoisted the spinnaker when we thought we could have good speed and not be early. This allowed us to not be jumping all around the boat getting sails down quickly and just sailing fast. We started on the pin end of the line. I wanted to be able to sail up into the easterly if we needed extra strength but did not want to get away from the rumline to far if we could help it. The tide was going out all day and we had anywhere from 1-2 knots of current with us going to Scatchet head buoy. Fortunately for us the fleet started toward the eastside and the wind softened for them for a couple of minutes. Xcentric worked back out towards us but crossed about 100 yards behind. Here and Now and Magic Button had a pushing match going on where it looked like Here and Now wanted to come back out to the rumline more and Magic Button had position to keep them where they where. This was a good thing for us as we needed to try to get half of the corrected time on them before the rounding for a chance of winning the race. We worked the lulls up and sailed down on the puffs to stay as close to the rumline as we could to sail the shortest distance. When we reached the buoy we had 2 minutes on Here and now that rounded 2nd in our class. My original thought was to sail up the middle of the course a mile or so and then head to the east shore. The boats headed out to the east where on a steady lift all the way to the shore. So we flopped and figured at some point the lift would quit and we would go back on port tack for a while so we could hit the beach at edmonds. The lift never went away so we sailed all the way to the beach flopped to port. I started asking if anybody had a ferry schedule then the ferry honked its horn signaling that it was coming out. We did a short tack back into shore to clear the ferry and then just kept working the beach all the way back to the finish. The wind was up and down between 14 to 20 knots on the way home. We never did a sail change which I think was a big part of our success. The wind always seemed to drop down right after it would build up. Boats in our class that switched to there #3's seemed like they did not have enough power in the lulls to keep up. The new #1 looks AWESOME!!!!!!!! Check out the track of Gaucho. Congratulations John and Crew to a 1st in class and 3rd Overall.
Blakely Rocks - CYC - March 4, 2007 - Results
Track of Candy - J-35 Track of Navtae Juvenis - Tripp 47
Track of Rubicon - S2 9.1 Track of Last Tango - J-105
By Gary Stuntz
For most sailors CYC Center Sound Series is the beginning of the sailing season for the year. Wind was predicted at 10-20 knots for the 3 days prior and it looked promising to stay. Starts started on time and the year was off and running. There was a 10-12 knot breeze blowing with some holes here and there up to West Point that you had to watch but for the most part it was "typical" Puget Sound Sailing. I was sailing on a J-35 called Candy. We had a slow start but we made up ground quickly and stayed even with the fleet all the way up and around Blakely Rocks. On the way up the South Easterly showed it presence and it was very tempting for most to tack out into the current and take the extra breeze. Shoot the Moon and Tahlequah took the extra hitch in at West point and made the lay line on the rock. The rest of our fleet played the west side of the course and within a 1/4 to 1/2 a mile of the rock made our moves to take the starboard rounding. At this point our fleet was all within a 2 minute spread of each other and most closer to the middle of that time. On the downwind Declaration of Independence, Finale, Shoot the Moon, Elusive and The Boss stayed on the West Shore down to Point Monroe before they started heating up towards the mark. Candy, Veloce, Bluefin, Karma and Fast Feather II worked the middle of the course. In the last couple of miles to the down wind mark Bluefin, Karma and Fast Feather had worked more to the East. The wind was starting to shut down and the lighter boat Karma made it move and passed several boats. For the most part the middle left seemed to pay off better with hotter boat speed angles. On the upwind the wind was cycling about every 4 minutes with small puffs and the trend that the wind was going away. The port board was favored going back to Shilshole and working to the east on the puffs was the key. The boats that where sailing on Starboard when the wind velocity was up made out big. We where lucky enough to take advantage of this and pass two of the J-35's in our class. By the time we finished the wind was only around for another 30 minutes and then it turned into a complete drift fest for the smaller boats. Some boats actually drifted past the finish and had to beat back against the current in the end to finish the race. A big Congratulations to Time Warp and Rubicon for finishing 1st and 2nd in there class but Overall as Well.

Toliva Shoals- Feb. 17, 2007 -Results
Track of Navtae Juvenis -Tripp 47 Track of Kahuna -Express 37
By Gary Stuntz
From Light to heavy winds a pretty "typical" Toliva Shoals is what everyone is saying from the course. The wind started out with about 5 knots at the start and then died to zero between Boston harbor and Johnson Point. The wind filled in after Johnson Point at 15-24 knots true out of the South and everyone had a great ride to the finish. The race for most was won and lost in Dana Passage and the position you where in when the southerly finally kicked in. Thanks to those that are sending in the tracks of the race.

Duwamish Head - Jan 6, 2007 - Results
Track of Sugar Magnolia - S2 7.9
Duwamish Head, 2007 from a ‘Warped’ Perspective
By: Kurt Cobain, s/v Time Warp
I was all hung over from some speedball cocktails the night before, but made it down to the boat at Des Moines Marina in time. We got out to the starting area and saw everyone coming into the pin start close-hauled. We debated whether we wanted to get into the fray, or just start mid-line with the spinnaker flying.
We finally decided to mix it up at the pin and we were doing really well leading the fleet into the pin. But we hadn't’t allowed enough for leeward slip (as we were fighting a mighty ebb). Before I knew it, we were looking straight at the pin! So rather than hit the thing, we bore off and decided to do a dip start. Hey, improvisation is our best game!
That would’ve been fine except the gun went off with us still straddling the line. With the fleet bearing down on us, it was total mayhem. We weren't sure what our rights were since we hadn’t changed course to return to the line as the rules state. In any case, everyone stayed out of everyone’s way, and after spotting the fleet about a minute and a half, we decided to start racing! It was rather funny, because the committee had noticed what we had done -- and the mayhem we had caused – and they ran up an ‘I’ flag (around the ends) for the next start!! Read More

Winter Vashon - Dec 2, 2006 -Results

Track of Sugar Magnolia - S2 7.9
Report by Gary Stuntz
I was sailing on Scott Awalts S2 7.9 Sugar Magnolia. The race started on time with a vesper of wind blowing. If you where over early you might not be able to make it back against the tide so we had a conservative start. We drifted out towards the south end of Vashon Island where the wind was filling in Colvos Passage. When we got to the wind it had filled to about 10 knots. We short tacked the middle of Colvos up to Pt Richmond. From there we tried to limit our tacks and just stayed on the favored land mass side of the course going up Colvos. Looking back at our track we tacked 38 times. The wind stayed fairly consistant with 10-20 degree shifts up the passage. We rounded the top of the island with 8 knots of breeze from the Southeast that quickly picked up to 15 with puffs a little higher. We tried to rumline to Pt Robinson with slight in motions on Dolphin and Beals Point to take advantage of of the puffs. We we got to Point Robinson the wind had gone East/South East. We flopped from headsail to spinnaker several times before finally keeping the spinnaker up to the finish. From Point Robinson to the finish we stayed on the rumline to keep the distance as short as possible. Finished about an hour after dark. Nice Sunny day with Mount Rainer and Baker showing there stuff.