The Whidbey Island Race Week in Oak Harbor, Washington was an
incredible experience. Sue and I were able to crew for an Anacortes
sailboat called 'Wired'. 'Wired' is a synonym for 'competitive', and
Captain Ron Elliot was definitely 'Wired'!! The weather was sunny for all
five race days. Winds picked up in the afternoon from 7 to 17 knots.
We would go out to the race site after 10:30am. Races would begin for 10
different classes at noon in 5 minute starting increments. We had nine races all
in all. His Olson 34 cruising boat was an excellent racer, getting up to
7.5 knot boat speed with the help of fine tuning!
|
|
|
|
Captain Ron Elliot drives towards the starting line an hour before the race.
|
|
|
|
A prestart frenzy ensued with 110 boats maneuvering for position when their boat class start time approached.
|
|
|
|
The Committee Boat lists the race courses. They ran a great race week!
|
|
|
|
Tacking against some of the boats in our class.
|
|
|
|
'Wired' was on a port tack (not favored), but we had the relative motion in our favor. We missed by 10 feet!
|
|
|
|
|
|
The downwind spinnaker run was always beautiful!
|
|
|
|
Spinnaker flying can go wrong fast, and requires alot of attentive oversight.
|
|
|
|
Sue was the human 'preventer', keeping the boom out for the best wind when the boat was rocking from waves.
|
|
|
|
Whenever there are two or more sailboats, there is a race!
|
|
|
|
Ron drives from the downhill side of the boat while the 'rail meat' maintains the boat heel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
'Rail meat' gives the proper heel to the boat for maximum boat efficiency depending on the wind speed, etc.
|
|
|
|
These sailboats were some of our competition behind us.
|
|
|
|
Sue and George were human 'preventers' on the boom on the final day of racing.
|
|
|
|
Just before going around the mark back upwind we sneak the jib up behind the main to make a faster sail change.
|
|
|
|
'Wired' on a spinnaker run. Sue is at the boom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
'Skookumchuk' came in first in our class.
|
|
|
|
'Pangaea' was our closest competition.
|
|
|
|
The crew of 'Wired' rested back in port after the last race. Thank you for letting us have this unforgettable experience!!
|
|
|
