Propelled by wind, favourable seas, Swiftsure race deemed ‘fabulous’

Strong winds at the outset and favourable conditions throughout the various courses saw sailboats cross the finish line by noon Sunday in four out of five Swiftsure Yacht races.

“It’s a little slow out there now but they’re having a fabulous race,” said Swiftsure spokesman Gary Davis.

“They’re all still having fun, way better than last year. We had a record number of entries in the long race, Lightship Classic, and most of those are already back. It was a hot race right to the end for those guys.”

The first sailboats across the line are not necessarily the winners because various factors are calculated before the results are known, said Davis.

In the Swiftsure Lightship Classic, Glory was the first to complete the 138.2 nautical mile course.

Dragonfly was first across the line in the 102-nautical-mile Cape Flattery Multi-Hull Race while Lawn Dart finished first in the Cape Flattery Unlimited Race.

Koru finished first in the Juan de Fuca Race, “and they finished [on Saturday] before dark, and that’s never happened,” said Davis.

“That was a great day of racing yesterday and things are a little calmer today, but that’s racing,” Davis said.

Sailing has so many variables, a large number of the entrants could be first across the finish line.

Swiftsure “really is one of the most challenging races around because of where it goes and the number of boats involved and the duration,” said Davis.

“The weather is clearly a challenge but also tides are a huge challenge. Even the shortest race involves two changes of the tide.”

The shortest of the two routes is to Clallam Bay “and the courses a boat can take to get there is so varied,” said Davis.

“You might get a sleeper come right out of the crowd and win the race.”

There were 187 entrants across all the races. The fleet is split into heavy, light and double-handed classes and each class is grouped into divisions.

Entrants may also enter protests during the race if they feel another crew took unfair advantage.

There were no Swiftsure-related problems reported at noon Sunday by the Victoria police or the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

smcculloch@timescolonist.com