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March 27, 2010
By Peggy Johnson
Three Tree Point Race, the third and final race in Corinthian Yacht Club's Center Sound Series, provided 62 boats with a fun if near windless day on the water with friends this March 27. It was sunny and dry, not too cold, and all in all, a fine spring day, indeed.
The 29.5 nm, reverse-start, two-leg race begins in the vicinity of the Shilshole breakwater and procedes south to the turning mark just southeast of Three Tree Point. Leaving the mark to starboard, boats return to the finish line at Shilshole. The race can be shortened at the turning mark for a course distance of 14.4 nm, and the race committee's decision to do so was welcomed by the sailors this year, due to the extremely light breeze of the day. Formerly known as the Pully Point Race, the Washington State Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the point from Pully to its more popular and historical name, Three Tree Point, in 1975, and the Corinthian Yacht Club followed suit.
The race began in a light south-southeasterly, about 5 knots. The ebb would turn to a flood at Seattle at 9:50 am, which would continue until 3:15. It was sunny and 46 degrees. We (Here and Now) crossed over the start line and immediately headed east where there was a bit more wind as well as some ebb relief in the back eddy of Shilshole Bay. As we turned south and approached the Magnolia shore, the push from the locks was in our favor. We sailed nearly to the shoreline, reaching a water depth of 9 to 11 feet, then headed southwest and hugged the contour on our approach to the West Point buoy. I felt I could reach out and touch the buildings on West Point— this was the closest I had ever sailed to this shoreline.
After rounding West Point, we again went east, where, 10 feet below us, shells and rocks on the bottom glistened upwards in the late March sunlight. At one point the winds decreased to a knot or so. We turned south on the rhumb line to Alki Point. The breeze was shifting and picking up just a bit and by the time we reached the latitude of Magnolia Bluff, it had settled in the north-northwest, so we set the spinnaker. Off to the east, hugging the coast, we spotted the committee boat YC5 tracking south, no doubt intending to shorten the course at Three Tree Point.
While we might have been able to make Three Tree Point, this was far from a certitude. Somewhere near the heart of Elliott Bay, we retired and chased Three Ring Circus back to Shilshole. In the end, eight boats took a DNF.
David Lynch, of White Cloud, a Cookson 12 m, had this to say about their P2 start. "We wanted a clear start, and Steve (Johnson) gave us that! Right at the pin, right at the gun. Perfectly timed, on the line with speed and clear air." Tim Cleary, also on White Cloud, added that "Steve attributed the master maneuver to hundreds of J/24 starts."
David continued. "Although the usual strategy has been to head in for the breakwater, it certainly didn't look to be working for boats in the starts in front of us. That, and a right-hand wind shift, forced us to sail close to the rhumb line to West Point. We took a few hitches to stay in clear air— there was a lot of traffic from the fleets that started earlier." After rounding West Point, "the wind backed a bit, making it perfect to fly the asymmetrical kite. As we approached Alki, basically rhumb-lining it, the wind started to rotate to the northwest. We watched the P1 boats Flash, Dark Star, and Neptune's Car sailing farther and farther to the west. We thought, "They're smart guys.... They must know something we don't!" Well, after about 5 minutes, and with our course almost 90 degrees to the rhumb line, we concluded that we were now sailing the 'dumb line'. From that point, our strategy was to play the wind shifts and sail the favored jibe as much as we could. One mistake we made: Madrona was about 100 feet behind us when we jibed to the east. After about 5 minutes the wind shifted back again and we jibed back to a southerly course. Mr. Buchan (wily dog that he is) kept on to the east. When we both jibed back, we found the boat positions were now reversed.... He was about 100 feet ahead of us! And that was how we finished, 100 feet behind Carl and his beautiful boat, Madrona. By the way, the route to the far west taken by Flash, Dark Star, and Neptune's Car really didn't pay off for them. We all came back together about 5 miles from Three Tree Point, essentially neck and neck."
Speaking of Banshee, Tim added "There was a Melges 32 in our class (P2), but they were just plane (not a typo!) gone. We did not feel we were even racing that rocket!"
Jon Cruse, who sailed with Kahuna, a 1D35, described their race this way. "It was a fairly typical light-air race where sometimes separating from the greater fleet pays off and sometimes not. As in any light-air race, we did our best to keep the boat moving, avoid any really dead areas (by watching other boats), and take advantage of the currents where possible." After rounding West Point, "Kahuna went toward the west somewhat, but the move didn't seem to pay off as we ended up down in the standings."
Jon wrapped it up with a sentiment felt by many racers that day. "Retiring was not considered as an option, but the finish with shortened course was welcomed."
Boats eventually motored and sailed back to Shilshole for the post-race activities and awards party at Corinthian's clubhouse. Taking first, second, and third overall in the Series, were Banshee, Madrona, and Flash.
The Corinthian Yacht Club's Center Sound Series is sponsored by SLAM and Fisheries Supply.