The 70th running of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race drew 194 registered boats to local waters Saturday — typical numbers but well below those from the height of the event’s popularity in the 1980s.
Participation peaked in 1981 at 440, followed by a steady 10-year decline. Since then, registration has ranged from 220 in 1994 and 152 in 2011 — the lowest since 1968.
While about 200 hundred people watched the race start from Clover Point, thousands more checked in online at swiftsure.org.
“The livestream viewing that we had from Clover Point had 4,000 hits on it and it was running to capacity,” said media liaison Gary Davis. “The website itself had 16,000 hits from countries all over the world from Poland to New Zealand.”
Organizers also tested the waters with a new social media strategy — complete with the Twitter tag #swiftsure.
“I think it’s just something you’ve got to do in this day and age,” Davis said.
Those who caught the race’s beginning saw what commentators Jill Robertson and Mike Nusbaum called one of the best starts in recent history: Only one boat, Kairos, received a time penalty for crossing the starting line ahead of the flag.
“He was one of the big winners last year, so it was [upsetting] for him,” Davis said.
Conditions were favourable at the start. Davis estimated winds of between 10 to 12 knots from the west, though the tide worked against the boats.
Among the most watched boats were Dragonfly, expected to be the first boat home; Icon, a custom carbon-fibre racer based in Anacortes; and perennial favourite Oriole, a 1921 naval training vessel that first raced Swiftsure in 1955.
Some spectators, including Ann McCalman, came for the nostalgia.
“I used to sail a lot in my youth and I’ve always been very interested in Swiftsure so it’s lovely to come watch it again,” she said.
Nick Smith and Max Gallant, both 17, wandered the area trying to raise funds for a trip to Hungary, where they’ll compete in the Laser Sailing Under-21 World Championship in July.
For others, it was a first-time event. Anil Kapoor brought his brother Ajhy, visiting from Delhi, India.
“Sailing’s not big there,” Ajhy said.
And for Bonnie Ceriko, who just moved to Victoria from Vancouver, it was an initiation. She said she was attracted to the race on an esthetic level: “Just the artistry, the boats themselves are so beautiful.”
