Only two boats finish Swiftsure's signature race, just 10 minutes apart
Just two of the seven sailboats in the 138.2-nautical-mile Swiftsure Lightship Classic finished Sunday due to light winds, separated by just 10 minutes as they crossed the finish line.
Sir Isaac, skippered by John Bailey out of the Orcas Island Yacht Club, nipped Ged McLean’s Hana Mari from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club after a neck-and-neck final leg, finishing around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
The 80th Swiftsure event, which also included the Cape Flattery course at 101.9 nautical miles and the 78.7-nautical-mile Juan de Fuca Race, started Saturday morning with a total of 98 entries.
Final results in all races will be determined with a handicapping system that allows boats of different specifications and capabilities to compete against each other.
Event chair Kirk Palmer, who pulled double duty by sailing in the Cape Flattery race, said light winds at the start, combined with a flood tide flowing the opposite way of the racers, had most of the field anchored off Race Rocks and in Race Passage waiting for the tide to change just a few hours after the start.
“They would have arrived at Race Rocks or Race Passage by about noon or 12:30 on Saturday and basically had to anchor until 3 o’clock,” Palmer said.
While the tide issue has happened before, it’s a relatively rare occurrence, he said.
Palmer said winds, while low at the start, eventually rose to about eight to 10 knots from the west, then got as high as about 15 knots all the way to Cape Flattery, at the tip of Washington state.
He said his boat, Light Scout, finished the Cape Flattery course about 10:30 a.m. Sunday — far from record time.
“We’ve finished at 10:30 Saturday night before in the same race.”
Last year was much windier, with winds up to 25 knots at the start as opposed to two or three knots this year, Palmer said.
“It’s different every year, and it’s part of the game,” he said. “Once you get a weather report you’re strategically trying to figure out what’s the best route to get up the strait.”
There were just a few mishaps for the field of boats during the weekend, he said, including a few that hit rocks heading out from Race Rocks as they tried to avoid the current.
Palmer said that three or four boats “bumped off the bottom,” but didn’t sustain serious damage.
He said there will be a “debrief meeting” in about a week for the Swiftsure organizing team.
“We’ll try to make notes of some things that we can improve and talk about what went well,” he said.
After a bit of a break for the summer, organizing efforts for the 81st Swiftsure will begin in September, Palmer said.
Preliminary results from Swiftsure weekend are available at swiftsure.org/results/swiftsure-2025.
jbell@timescolonict.comroperties
Cayard’s sailing career began aboard the El Toro at the age of 8.
Jimmy Spithill during his last SailGP Skipper’s Press Conference.
