Orcas team wins Shaw Island Classic Race

By Peg Gerlock

San Juan Island Yacht Club

This year’s story of the 55th Shaw Island Classic sailboat race, hosted by the San Juan Island Yacht Club, begins with a remarkable finish. A standing ovation for Purple Martin, a Martin 242 skippered by Betsy Wareham as the only boat in a fleet of 35 to finish the full course, placing first in the PHRF-C division, first on elapsed time and first on corrected time. The Perseverance Award in honor of Wally Lum, who has sailed in every Shaw Island Classic, goes to the last boat to cross the finish line before the deadline, and Purple Martin swept up that award as well. Crossing the line at 5:52:20 p.m., just minutes before the deadline, Wareham and her crew, Tina Brown and Sean Staley, showed true perseverance.

Saturday, Aug. 9 was a picture-perfect day to be on the water, but promised to be challenging due to light winds and a 9-foot tidal change. This unique race starts and ends in Friday Harbor, rounding Shaw Island in either direction, with a mid-course boat recording times in case no one finishes the full course.

Most of the fleet attempted a counterclockwise course, betting there was enough wind at the start to make it to Turn Rock and catch the flood in Upright Channel. This would allow riding the current through the notoriously narrow and windless Wasp Passage.

“We were going to go counterclockwise, but I kept looking at the wind coming down San Juan Channel and there was no wind ahead to the east. We started going east but I kept looking at that northerly breeze and changed my mind and off we went clockwise,” said Wareham, skipper of Purple Martin. “We set the kite going into Wasp Passage and kept to the Shaw shore until Horton’s Hook, then jibed out past Bell Island reef. We had breeze until just past Broken Point where we ran into converging winds. The easterly won out and we were moving again, but, uh oh, here came the leaders of the counterclockwise boats [across the mid-course line]. So, we figured we had to make it all the way around to win and hope they ran into dead air!”

Dead air indeed! The lack of wind spurred creative strategy and tactical maneuvers. Matt Wallis, skipper of Pulelehua, a Dash 34 and first-place winner of the PHRF-A division on mid-course time going counterclockwise, shared his strategy. “After the start, we took a flyer, sailing back through the harbor and around Brown Island to use a shore breeze and avoid the currents in San Juan Channel. It worked as planned, however once we got to the narrow, rocky exit channel there were light shifty winds and strong currents. We were able to string together a few puffs to get out – barely. I appreciate my crew trusting that we could pull off this unique strategy at the start.”

“Big flood, no wind. Find back eddies. Go to Turn Rock, cross fingers for a little breeze and make it across,” said Boris Luchterhand, skipper of Riff, a J/70 and first-place winner in the PHRF-B division on mid-course time going counterclockwise. “Battling through the [Wasp] passage and coming out we hesitated going to Shaw or cross to San Juan. Shaw was money. We passed the fleet who went to San Juan. BUT THEN we saw the black pearl aka Betsy and gang on Purple Martin miraculously appear as the only clockwise boat. What? How? They beat us all. Kudos Betsy!”

Meanwhile, back on Purple Martin, “Everything was great until Reid Rock where the current was insane pushing us around like a washing machine, and we couldn’t even figure out which way the wind was blowing,” said Wareham. “We took a chance … to hoist the chute without the pole to see what would happen! It tried to fill; we were all yelling instructions at each other and finally put the pole up and the kite filled out. We were thinking, ‘we are going to make it.’ We did and were ecstatic!”

Spirits were high as racers gathered at the lovely SJIYC clubhouse overlooking the harbor for post-race banter and a hearty lasagna dinner served by the first mates. “Challenging, but a great day,” added Wareham. “I am still in disbelief. Kudos to my outstanding crew!”

Thank you to the Washington State Ferry captains who maintained communication with the race committee and, once again, carefully maneuvered through the racing fleet.

Complete results and photos are posted at the Club’s website at http://sjiyc.com/shaw.