Round Saltspring Race

Round Saltspring 2020 registration now open! You may register here: https://www.roundsaltspring.ca/registration/

Photos are now available for RSS2019 https://www.flickr.com//72157708794441703/with/47951286946/ or https://www.roundsaltspring.ca/flickr/

The 2019 edition of the Round Salt Spring Race is in the bag. Prizes have been divvied up, stories have been told, the need for coffee (and other stuff) has been satiated, and racers have headed or home (and a less deserved snooze). It was the usual Round Salt Spring, and it was an unusual Round Salt Spring. While the winds were fickle and the currents capricious like everyone expected, both were dealt to the racers at less than usual times. Very light winds at the start did ...Continue reading

Congratulations to all of our participants and a BIG thanks to our Volunteers and Sponsors Results can be found here: https://www.roundsaltspring.ca///rss-19-results-by-div.pdf

Happy Birthday Tracey DeVaney of Miss Runaway!Happy Birthday Tracey DeVaney of Miss Runaway!

7:15 Report First to Finish - sort of: While Westerly, Lawndart and others are battling their way toward Sansum Narrows, Mephisto, Peter Mills’ C&C 29 snuck into Ganges and the Finish at 7:13. Meohisto was Sailing in Island Time Class and was allowed to use her engine which explains the fast rounding. But on a day with little wind, it worked out to be a good idea.... Now the wait is on for the boats in Racing Class. Can the leaders make it before dark or midnight? Can the others make it at all?

5:00 PM Update: The first boats are around Southey Point. Lawndart leads Westerly, baad kitty, Kairos, Wiilo Wisp and others into Stuart Channel. The tide will flip from flood to ebb in the next hour or so,

4:00 PM Update: We are on the deck of friends’ house on North Beach Rd drinking all their beer. We are watching Westerly, Lawndart, Cheekee Monkee, Incisor and possibly Poco plus about 20 others ghosting along. But being lapped by paddleboards.

Small zephyrs in Trincomali Channel are allowing slow progress with the flood tide. The first boats are just getting to Fernwood Dock led by Bill Allan’s Lawndart in the lead followed by Westerly and Incisor. But a number of boats have struggled to get that far and have retired. It is going to be a frustrating afternoon.

1:00 Update The Race Committee is sitting in a nice breeze at Seaside Kitchen at Vesuvius waiting for the fleet to sail by. Unfortunately the racers are only just starting to make their way into a windless Trincomali Channel. Barely visible from Fernwood Dock were only a half dozen white sails on horizon. We might need extra fish and chips while we wait.

The 2019 edition of the Round SaltSpring Race is off. The sun god was smiling on the fleet, but the wind god today is Zephyrus - the wind god of false hopes and broken dreams. Light to very light winds guided the fleet out of Ganges Harbour, with the faster boats chasing the slower boats before finding a parking lot off the Chain Islands. Eight starts were conducted on the Committee Boat Nauti Lady by Race Officer Marc Munro with flawless (well almost flawless) precision.... The direction for this year is Counter Clockwise with the fleet heading for Trincomali Channel before rounding Southey Point (why is the north end of the island called Southey Point?) and starting the teturn. The key tactic to watch is whether boats get to Sansum Narrows before 5:30pm, too early for the ebb tide to sweep them south down Stuart Channel. But with light winds early in the race, that is unlikely, and boats need to prepare to sail all night. https://www.roundsaltspring.ca/round-saltspring-2019-is-off/