The 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 honour 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 17:52:20, just minutes before the deadline.
Saturday, August 9 was a picture-perfect day to be on the water, or at least at the beach. The challenge? Light winds and a nine-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.
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 mean riding the current through the notoriously narrow and windless Wasp Passage.
“We started going east but I kept looking at that northerly breeze and changed my mind, and off we went clockwise,” said Betsy 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.” The winds weren’t consistent, but enough so to get them beyond Broken Point and into an easterly wind. It was here they found the counterclockwise leaders already passing the mid-course line. “We figured we had to make it all the way around to win and hope they ran into dead air.”
Dead air they found, spurring those counterclockwise boats to invent creative strategies 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. “We took a flyer, sailing back through the harbour 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.”
“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.”
The crew on Purple Martin took home first to finish, first, first in their division, first on corrected time and the Perseverance Award. Photo by Jim Corenman.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 Betsy 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.’”
Racers gathered at the SJIYC clubhouse overlooking the harbour after the race. Banter was shared along with 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!”
Complete results and photos are posted at the Club’s website.