Vic Maui: The Racers are on the Track

The 2308 nm Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race is hosted by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Lahaina Yacht Club. The fleet of 22 entrants had four staggered starts on July 9, 10, 11, and 12. Here is a report from the race office on July 12…

The Guru Speaks:
I’m gonna lay it all on the line, I think this will be the year! The record will fall. OK, I know, now I’ve jinxed it right? Knocking on wood right now so as to undo the jinx. I’ll back up a bit. For my initial blog on Saturday, the weather models weren’t really showing a pattern conducive to shattering records. For the fast boats it looked like they might have light southerly winds coming out the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the high pressure looked anemic and fairly far east. – Brad Baker

Brad Baker has been navigator on seven of his nine Vic-Maui races, with two first to finish finishes, two first overall finishes and 4 more first in class finishes. Check out the rest of Brad’s analysis at http://swiftsureyachts.com/will-the-record-fall/

Talking to the Fleet:
A number of Twitter followers have pointed out that the YB Tracker onboard Mountain has stopped working. In fact it has not – there is something blocking the GPS signal. The Race Committee has given instructions to Mountain to correct it. But Reed Bernard and Brian Vanderzanden are sailing 2-handed and answering email is not top of their priority list. But they will get the message later today at a minimum.

Which all begs the Question – How do we stay in Contact with the fleet?

The primary contact is through the Daily Roll Call which is done by email. All boats have the capability of sending and receiving email. Some are using a devices such as Iridium Go or in Reach – which are satellite based WiFi devices. Other boats use their Single Side Band radio to transmit data from their computer. Regardless the bandwidth is quite small so messages are short. Every day at 1200 Hawaiian time (3 pm Pacific for the time zone challenged) all boats send the Race Committee and position and weather report and any information they want to send to the RC. The RC then collates the information and sends a summary back to the fleet along with any details the RC wants to communicate to the fleet.

In case of urgent traffic, there is 2 way communications via satellite telephone. But as crews are always busy and boats are noisy, there is not always someone at the end of the line. RC can also use relay communication – this involves RC calling one boat who can then raise another boat via VHF radio. But this is limited to a range of 25 miles or so. So sometimes communication between RC and a boat can take a while.

For real emergencies, boats can use their VHF radio to signal to nearby boats. And all boats carry Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons – EPIRBs. These are satellite devices that alert the Coast Guard of distress and result in the dispatch of Search and Rescue resources. Let’s hope we never have to see these used.

Which brings us back to the YB tracker and Mountain. When the tracker first stopped working early on July 11, the RC was able to have a voice conversation with Mountain via Satphone to confirm all was well. The tracker worked for 7 hrs and stopped again. YB Tracking, the device provider, has analyzed the problem from their offices in England and instructions have been provided to Mountain via email. When they get the message, hopefully the tracker will resume working and everyone can relax and follow Mountain’s progress.

Unleash the Hounds:
The 4th day of Vic Maui saw several stories unfold. At the start line, the large fast greyhounds were unleashed to catch the fleet. Lighter conditions around Cape Flattery saw the new-school Longboard leg out on old-school Atalanta. The second start boats edged back away from the rhumb-line as the wind forecast started looking sketchy, and the first start boats keep running south along the Oregon coast.

While today’s start had very little wind, the big boats make their own and managed to get away surprisingly quickly. And even though they were just ghosting toward the start, Crossfire, then Kinetic shut the door on Valkyrie at the Committee Boat forcing former Olympian Jason Rhodes to gybe around and start 1 minute later in dirty air. Over a 2400 mile race the maneuver will not matter, but it was a stark reminder of the competitive spirit of all competitors. At Roll Call, all were in close quarters approaching Clallam Bay and should clear Cape Flattery by dark.

With her tracker now working, Mountain has been maintaining her position as the furthest south boat and is now off Coos Bay, OR followed closely by Expresso. Both are staying close to the coast to avoid a growing high pressure zone to the west with Expresso well inshore and only 70 miles off the coastline. They hope the extra distance will be justified by maintaining stronger winds. The larger boats behind are now edging back to the coast and away from the growing High. The question is – will they maintain the reasonable westerly 10-15 kt wind that was propelling them forward, or will the High swallow them up?

And boats are starting to report big tuna on the fishing lines when the wind is light enough to fish. Turnagain landed a 33 lb monster and Miles has a nice 15 lb’er that disappeared into the frying pan with blackened spice and chipotle aoile.

Event details – Tracker – Facebook

Source: Vic Maui Race