Protection Island Race 2021

These are the results reported as of Monday evening. While Shore stations showed variable 5 – 8+ kts of wind from a steady NW direction, the long finish times show the race to have been an exercise in patience and persistence. See race report below.

Race report from Sean Rankins on Cito

It was a beautiful but trying day on the water, with the light winds and tides/currents to be-devil the small feet of vessels trying to get out to Protection Island & back. It was interesting to watch the different strategies from different teams to get through the gate and beyond the potato patch on the other side of Point Wilson and into the straights. Some sailing far to the east, others to try the inside near the beaches off fort warden in the back eddies, and others like ourselves in the middle, trying to get the best wind line & favorable current. It was slow going to get out to the island, and all were heading west in the dying breeze and slacking ebb to make the counterclockwise rounding. We were one of the furthest out still when the wind shut off, and the tide turned, setting us adrift aft and spinning back slowly towards Admiralty inlet. It took us a bit to realize that we were not slowly advancing at .5 knots across the bottom, but getting set back. So we dropped our headsail and bobbed around with slating mains’l and drifted, had some munchies, a beer, & watched the gyrations of the drifting fleet further up the course in the distance. Some were still able to maneuver somewhat and continue to try and set themselves up in a favorable position to the coming westerly that we all were hoping for. We were in such a place approx. 1.7 miles out from the NE corner of the island, and we knew we would never make it up to the area where the fleet were waiting for the breeze with the building flood coming, so we eagerly watched for any breeze coming in along the southern side of the island.

Earlier, before the race, our plan was to go clockwise, and to come out the other side into the stronger current and hopefully westerly breeze to run home. The change to that would be better breeze on the outside of the island. We decided to revert back to our earlier plan, and when we saw a hint of breeze forming on the southern side of the island and further west, we tacked over when it reached us, and off we sailed committed to our new flyer away from the fleet.
The breeze was light but steady, and the currents manageable sailing along close to the leeward shore of Protection island, and we made it to the spit end of Kanem point as the Schooner Martha and others came around from the west. I think we lucked out and once we got around and heading into the straights, we were in good breeze and better favorable current. The spinnaker run back around Point Wilson and into P.T. Bay was such a reward after the efforts to get around the island.

The out of the bay races can sure be a challenge on many levels, but they sure are fun. We hope the sailing association will keep running them! Cheers from the team on Cito!