Let’s Do Another Lap!

‘Round Whidbey has come and gone, complete with an ugly orange hat Cap’n Ron bought for me. I owe you 12 bucks, Cap’n. Plus or minus.

For the full-bore, blow-by-blow, actual sailing-related entry, tack on over to the SailBlog and read the version fit for public consumption. For the rest of us, here is the profanity-laced, honest, and somewhat less accurate version.

Summary:

Leave Everett: Noon on Friday.
Arrive Cornet Bay: 5:00 p.m. Friday.
Drink Beer @ Cornet Bay: 5:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. Friday.
Race Around a Big Ass Island: 9:00 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Saturday
Leave Oak Harbor: Midnight Saturday.
Arrive Everett: 4:00 a.m. Sunday.
Pass Out on the ‘Hood: 5:00 a.m. Sunday.



As you may recall, Skipper Krumm pulled the Lion out from under us after realizing that the ice box onboard couldn’t possibly handle enough grog for the whole crew for three days of “racing”. Since Cap’n Ron and I had already used ‘Round Whidbey as an excuse for potentially missing Mother’s Day festivities, we HAD to race. And while there were no doubt many Milltown boats we could have hooked up with (Heart of Gold, Mistral, and some grotesque Beneteau recreational vehicle were there from the club), I wanted a piece of the action on Blade Runner, the boat I drool over every time I motor past her leaving my slip…Turns out the good Cap’n and I were the last two pieces Skipper Rod needed to commit to the race. We were on.

The race goes like this:

1. Deliver the boat to Cornet Bay on the inside of Deception Pass on Friday. Drink yourself silly Friday evening with the other crews at Cornet Bay, much to the distaste of the Park Ranger, who spends his time writing tickets for parked cars and boats.

(“Let’s see, I have 14 dollars, it’s 50 cents a foot…I guess that makes my boat 28 feet long. – Skipper Rod Merry)

2. Saturday morning, ride the ebb tide out of Deception Pass for a drifting start just off of West Point. From there you have roughly 36 hours to get around Whidbey Island (65 nautical miles in total if you sail a perfect straight line course) all the while knowing that the wind will die at Possession Point and again after dark. If you’re lucky there will be enough breeze to keep moving through the night until the wind comes up in the morning.

3. Sunday, limp home with sunburned faces and exhausted limbs. Sleep for 20 hours.

So let’s start with the boat. Blade Runner is a Jeanneau Sun Fast 37. By all accounts a hot boat with great design. Everything is where it should be, and everything works. She is clean, fast, well-rigged, and, as modern boats go, pretty sexy. And comfortable? Yup. You bet. After a few minutes of the delivery cruise north to Cornet Bay from Everett, Cap’n Ron looks at me and says, “Wow. This cockpit is pretty damn comfortable.” Sure is. And there were six of us splayed out in the sun with plenty of room for our egos and beer left over.



The mighty crew of Blade Runner muscled that piece of shit around the island in 14 hours and 42 minutes. Fast. A couple of spinnaker runs in Admiralty Inlet had us pegging 10 knots, and after dark we were close-reaching in 18 knots of apparent wind, doing 7.5 knots toward the finish. Only one crash-tack over a rock reef 20 yards from the finish line could have stopped us. Rockin’.

Bottom line? Kick ass race. I’m still tired. And sunburned.