They sure weren’t swift.
The boats in this year’s Swiftsure races were mired in windless conditions, but the weekend of sailing competition still had its special flair and large public following.
“It was a very calm weekend and very big tides,” said Gary Davis, spokesman for the 70th edition of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race. The tides, he explained, are a major factor in how the boats fare.
“There were tides in the order of five or six knots in Race Passage,” he said Monday. “And, of course, one or two or even three knots out in the straits, as well.”
Boats had to finish by 6 a.m. Monday to be part of the official tally. The Cape Flattery Unlimited, one of three races to that landmark, had no finishers out of 12 entries.
Overall, dozens of boats did not finish. The first boat across the line in the main Swiftsure race was Neptune’s Car out of Seattle. Only eight of 17 entrants completed the course.
Davis likened a wind-challenged sailing race to surfers waiting in the water for that perfect swell. The difference, though, is that Swiftsure competitors look year-to-year instead of wave-to-wave.
“You go and race a bunch of Swiftsures and some of them are windless races like this one and some of them are average races, but every once in a while you get one where there’s a wind blowing out the strait for the start and a there’s wind blowing in the strait for the end.
“You get a fantastic run both ways — and you’re hooked.”
A total of 192 boats took part in Swiftsure 2013. Swiftsure takes a lot of planning and preparation, Davis said, so the 2014 event will be on the drawing board soon.
Full results are available at swiftsure.org.
