Hump day on Whidbey Island Race Week is always unpredictable. And Wednesday’s races were no exception. Regardless, it was another day in paradise, albeit it cloudy one. The third day of the only true five-day “Race Week” regatta in the U.S. began with rain. More of a heavy mist, really. By 10:00 am (1:00 pm ET) the moisture, whatever it was called, had stopped.
A southerly was forecast, meaning racing in Saratoga Passage. But those ever fickle winds shifted to the north/west and racing again was in the beloved Penn Cove playground, much to the delight of the spectators at the Coupeville Dock. A low, low tide at 11:00 am meant that , in Penn Cove anyway, where the water is late to enter and late to exit, and swirls predictably counterclockwise, it was simply another day in paradise.
Like a horse race where the chaos of shoving the steeds into the gates transforms into a choreographed line-up of racers heading to the same finish line, the 115 boats in 11 classes prepped for Wednesday’s races. Slack tide didn’t affect the starts too much, aside from the P3 fleet, which generated a general recall. The Race Committee sent out a whaler to usher back the class, like a sheep dog herding the flock back to the starting line.
Later, the “I did it, I admit it”flag required that over-earlies in some starts choose one end or the other to exonerate their premature starts, costing precious seconds. But as they say in golf,”never over never in,” as the Cohen’s family Idaho-based J/80, Eye Eye, learned –twice.
Ultimately, most classes saw at least two starts and finishes. The P9 class, which got in just one race on Monday, managed three, as did the Melgeese 24. Drama abounds in that class, with more juicy gossip to come later.
Though the day dawned with perennial Northwest dampness (Forks is maybe 40 miles due west as the crow flies) by the time the races started the air was dry, though still grey. The lack of sunshine, however,didn’t deter the campers from the Coupeville Boys and Girls Club from gawking at the racing yachts while fishing for perch off Coupeville’s Red Barn dock. An added treat was enjoying the up-close-and-personal fly-bys of several boats, including Vancouver’s FT10M, Prowler, who threaded the anchored yachts like a weaver. An added bonus was the tray of brownies handed out by the Nordic Tug which was spectating for Race Week but did double duty as RC for the previous weekend’s dinghy regatta.
Like true PROs, the RC managed to shoot off – and finish – two races for most, and three for the P9 and Melges classes, meaning that if the magic number of seven is reached by Friday, a throwout can put the final results into disarray. Top of mind is always quality over quantity, but how many other race “weeks” can deliver up this level of suspense?! And like the extra olive in a martini, the California based Viper, FNG, pulled off a sweet port tack on their start.
The overall award is even more of an unknown with the top finishers after Tuesday among the 11 classes, which include five one-designs (and the Thunderbird Worlds and the Viper Pacific Coast Championships) not necessarily staying there after Wednesday’s racing. Making a run for the cup is the T-Bird, Sunday, as well as several of the San Juan 24s, who are still smoking hot from their recent North Americans (also run through the Oak Harbor Yacht Club). Keep a lookout for Sweet Jesus, who may have extra help from above. Also not to be dismissed is Kermit, Mike Stainsby’s lime green Martin 242 from Portland, Oregon.
At the end of Wednesday’s racing, the sun emerged, natch. But the racers didn’t seem to mind. The band of the day, Gertrude’s Hearse (look them up online) started the rum tent on time, thanks to a ride in from the race course for the band’s lead singer, Ray Hines, from the race course organizer’s Boston Whaler. Hines raced aboard Daniel Randolph’s Farr 30, Nefarious (representing Seattle’s Sloop Tavern Yacht Club) which did better in day’s second race than the first, thanks to some pre-race rig fine- tuning.
The dearth of red flags coming into the marina on Wednesday afternoon after the day’s racing is just another harbinger of the drama to come which is Whidbey Island Race Week.
