Vic - Maui Yacht Race Preview

ONE DAY TO GO!

The countdown to the start of the Vic-Maui Yacht Race 2000 has begun, as competing yachts and spectator boats fill the inner harbour in Victoria, BC. Crews are making last-minute checks before embarking on the classic, 2308 nautical mile blue-water race to Hawaii. Some are seasoned veterans; others are sailing across the North Pacific for the first time. For everyone, the tension and excitement is building, and will continue until the gun sounds tomorrow on the starting vessel, M.V. "Sea Q".

This race offers all kinds of challenges and rewards. The first challenge is faced when boats cross the starting line, and head out into Juan de Fuca Strait. If you look West from the western entrance of Juan de Fuca, you look towards Japan, with not much in between. Well-known to local sailors, this strait funnels winds and currents between Canada and the USA, and they can be very strong. Rocks line both shorelines, and there are many small bays with back-eddies for canny navigators to utilize.

This year, the distance from the start-line to Race Rocks (marking the main run through the Strait) is longer, and there will be a flood tide, so wind conditions and boat speed are going to be important for boats trying to clear the Rocks and the adverse current there. From then on, it will be a tactical course through the Strait, with hard choices being made about when and where to cross from the Canadian to the US shore.

The "race within a race" will end as yachts turn into the open ocean, and the North Pacific will present its own unique challenges. Weather patterns and temperatures will change as the yachts move south, and fine calls will have to be made by navigators circumventing the notorious Pacific High. Crews can expect offshore sea and wind conditions like squalls, and creatures they do not normally encounter, like whales.

Later, the race will provide days of planing reaches and high-speed downwind sailing with huge rooster tails astern, warm water, good company, and great food if the crew have picked the right boat. And of course there ought to be the usual euphoric, fast conclusion as the boats approach Maui, where places can change as quickly as they did at the start. So while this will undeniably be another navigator's race, it will provide an incredibly rich experience for all the skilled sailors who are going to drive and maintain the boats on the long trip down. No wonder the celebrations in Lahaina are so special when it all ends.

The Race starts Tuesday, June 27 at 1200 PST. Its Website address is www.vicmaui.org. Daily Race Reports can be found in its News Center/Daily Reports Section, and there is a Discussion Group in the News Centre/Discussion Group. Local television coverage will be on CHEKtv in Victoria and VTV in Vancouver during their evening news programs.