Roleur

Well, we took your advice, and.... ordered a 150% genoa. Ha. No matter how we sliced it, our weakness has been upwind in under 10 knots, which we see plenty of around here (every race this year had that condition at some point). I’m hoping that order will conjure more breeze for next year. Would love to spend more time in the #3 wind range. The boat loves those conditions.

Ben, or anyone else, what is the config of the boat coming to Seattle? Raced on the J/99 for the 100+ mile Harvest Moon Regatta in Texas. For better or for worse we had only one condition. About 12-20 upwind and close-reaching. We were the smallest boat in our class, in what turned into a mostly waterline race. Crossed the line second right next to a PHRF optimized J/105 that owed us time in ORC and corrected out to 2nd in class behind a 38 footer. We did cross the line ahead of another 105 and two 109s that owed us time. Was this the first offshore race for a J/99? In the US? At first I was underwhelmed by the performance, while the boat was very nice to sail, easy to sail, and quite stiff. It bothered me that it wasn’t any faster than a 25 year old 105 (in fairness they were rated for and using a genoa). The more i think about it, the more I’m feeling the 99 did well in probably its worst point of sail/wind condition relative to longer boats. Had we had any reaching or running I dont think the 105s would have stayed with the 99. The 99 also seems to have much better speed potential dowwind than the 105 or 109, due to optimized hull shape. In that regard it seems like a cool design. Heavy and stiff enough to go upwind with ability to plane downwind. That is really hard to find, at least in the US. Still interested in seeing more light air results. when I first heard of the 99, I thought the water-ballast would be a cool addition for shorthanded racing. Now I’m not sure it is even needed. In my perfect world, the wb would be great if the keel were a little lighter or the rig a little taller. Both would help light air performance, and the wb making up the difference in breeze. Could be a fun boat to race to Hawaii shorthanded with a pole! Without being a pain box. Would love to see more PHRF results, since that is what we have around here, mostly. Starting to think the ORC rating is actually pretty sweet.

Overall, I think most people stayed in hotels. There were 4 TP52's with 10 to 12 onboard, so clearly they weren't staying on their boats. Also, the majority of the boats have some sort of support crew onshore that transports spares, food, extra clothing, etc. Apparently, being support crew is really enjoyable as some people keep coming back to do that. It is its own adventure, with a lot camaraderie amongst the crews. We slept onboard, but only had onboard during the race legs what was needed for that leg. No extra food, clothing, water, fuel, spares, etc. onboard during the races. Some did camp as well, as a lot of support crews were in RV's. The one exception was the fish farm at Hardwicke Island. No support crew access and no shore access, so everyone slept on their boats. Lots of sleeping bags under boom tents on the deck for that one. It made for a fun change of pace for a lot of the boats.

Posting this for the prospective 2021 Van Isle folks looking to get a feel for the race. Our video recap of all 9 legs, which of course includes some amazing scenery and great sailing. Shearwater - Van Isle 360 2019

All this 30-33 shorthanded talk has me wondering, why wasn't the 20 year old Quest 30/33 successful and what do the J/99, Sunfast 3300, Dehler 30, etc have over the Quest, even today? Seems like the Quest ticked all the boxes. Water ballast, non-overlapping jib, not too light, not too heavy, twin rudders or single rudder, standing headroom. They seem to rate right in the same range as these newer boats. Might even be faster than a J/99. We wanted to buy a Quest twice in the last 10 years and both times we bought a different boat because there were no Quests available, but now I see at least 2 listed. We have 3 fairly nice ones here in the PNW now. Lots of success offshore shorthanded already.

Which options? Water ballast? Seems like a great B1-2 boat. The Quest 30/33 has had a lot of success.

You would like Race to the Straits. 100+ double-handed boats and plenty in your rating range. First week of May. Starts at Shilshole, race to Port Townsend on Saturday. On Sunday, PT to Shilshole. It's one of our favorite races of the year.

Actually, that is what we do. And we have a J/120 FWIW. We did The 100nm Southern Straits Race DH. There were 5 DH boats and 70 fully crewed. It went really well, but just think how it would have been if all of the other boats were DH too. That’s what we plan to do more of next year, but I would hope to have more dedicated DH races or divisions too.

It sounds like the course will be FL to KW and back to FL to better simulate the length of the Olympic event. I don't see any information on the website yet, so if anyone has found it, please post it here. Really like the sound of this one. I need a trailerable offshore boat (again).

You may be right. It may be as simple as promoting DH classes for the races we already have. We've done Southern Straits DH and the Patos Island Race DH. Those are good overnight races at 100nm and 75nm. Swiftsure usually has a few boats that DH. There is also the Vendee Saltspring Race in July that is a two leg DH race similar to Race to the Straits. We considered coming down to Seattle for Tri-Island Series. Would definitely be more inclined if there were a DH division. Flip-flopping on my thoughts at the moment. The trouble with tacking on a DH division to an existing race is that the DH division will be just a small part of the race. When it is explicitly DH (or SH) like Race to the Straits and the RNSA race it is all about DH (or SH) and that brings greater visibility. My wife & I are committed to hitting the "circuit" in 2020 racing DH in every race. That will serve as a test to determine if we try Van Isle 360 double-handed in 2021. One of the challenges we currently have with DH racing in our area is the wide rating span of the boats that currently race DH (Except for RTTS). We need more boats to make the racing more fair and fun, or we all need to get more similar boats. I like the first option better.

Yep. That is a good format. We've done the race the last two years and it is a good challenge. It only draws about 10 DH boats though. Maybe that will change as the news gets out about the 2024 Olympics. Maybe not.

Fun being had while DH (mixed) racing...

How do we get an event similar to the AYC Double-handed Distance race in the Puget Sound / Salish Sea? Ideas? Race to the Straits is a super popular DH race and there are a lot of mixed gender boats. The legs are only 40nm or so, so not really a distance race. Run it in conjunction with Swiftsure? Smith Island? Have a stand alone race where the course is determined by the forecast, like they did at AYC? Could we have one starting in the Seattle area and another starting in the Vancouver area? Southern straits is a good one. We've done it DH, and it was good fun, but it might be a bit early in the year for wider appeal for DH? Personally, we appreciate the better chance of good breeze that time of year. Patos Island Race in the spring would be a bomber race for this, but the start (Sydney) might be a bit far from Seattle and Vancouver to draw as many teams. Any others here that are interested in seeing more DH (particularly mixed) racing in the Salish Sea?

A couple of nice videos from the AYC DH LD race: