Local sailors compete in Swiftsure International Yacht Race

This weekend hundreds of sailors will be out on Victoria
Harbor in British Columbia for the 82nd annual Swiftsure
International Yacht Race. For the first time this year
some sailors will be racing solo in this already
challenging regatta.

For many sailing aficionados, Swiftsure weekend is the
biggest race of the year in the Pacific Northwest.

“Of course, there’s huge camaraderie in the sailing
community and with 185 boats heading out to sea, that
creates a lot of excitement,” says Cleve Molsberry, of the
Swiftsure racing committee.

The event is the first part of the region’s prestigious
Triple Crown racing series that includes the Patos Island
and the Round Saltspring races.

The weekend will feature dozens of the best boats and most
experienced sailors from around the Seattle area and all
over the world.

Among this year’s group of international competitors are
“Ion” from Nanaimo, Alaska; “Red Sheilla” from Waikiki,
Hawaii; “Marjorie” from San Francisco; “Cool Change” from
Portland, Oregon; “Jaz” from Calgary, Alberta; and “Free
Bowl of Soup” from Tempe, Arizona. Even the HMCS Oriole,
the Royal Canadian Navy’s 101-foot ketch, is competing in
the regatta.

“There’s a 70 foot Santa Cruz from Seattle, which is
called Neptune’s Car, and a 70 foot Santa Cruz from the
Victoria era called the Westerly. They’ll have quite a
duke-out because those are big boats and can move very
quickly,” says Molsberry.

The races start right outside of Victoria Harbor in Canada
and run out through the Strait of Juan de Fuca north of
the San Juan Islands and almost out into the open ocean.

The race can take up to 50 hours to complete and involves
navigating extreme tide currents and enduring gale-force
winds.

“You’re going into waters that can be very calm or they
can be very nasty, so there’s a lot of anticipation,” says
Molsberry.

Last year, the boat “Night Runner” from Anacortes,
Washington won the race in just over 17 hours.

This year, however, a new division of single-handed and
double-handed yachts will enter the fray for the first
time. The new category allows sailors to go it alone or
with one crew member for the entire race.

This is an added challenge for the many experienced
sailors, who will have to stay up for hours on end to
finish the grueling 138 mile race.

“Double-handers and single-handers have to know how to
pace themselves and how to get the best out of their boats
in all conditions,” says Molsberry.

Lennart Edstrom is one of the first to enter in the new
double-handed category. Together with his partner, Paul
Betts, Edstrom will race to the finish in his Swedish
Yacht, Sjora.

“It’s an incredible feeling to harness the power of a boat
by yourself; being empowered by nature,” Edstrom says in a
Swiftsure press release.

It will be a challenge for solo sailors and partnered
sailors alike as the hours fly by.

“I have always had the same excitement at the start, and
then it starts to wane a little bit as you get out to the
strait and you realize uh-oh… I have another eight or
nine hours of going to windward,” says Molsberry.



Watch the Swiftsure International Yacht Race boat tracker
for live updates.