Whidbey Island Race Week

I thought I would take a moment to try and get some information on Whidbey Island Race Week down on paper for everyone so they can have a good idea of what they may encounter if they choose to join in on PCC’s this year. I’ve been doing WIRW off and on for about 15 years so I’ve a good idea of the expected conditions, but I have always stayed in a boat or in Tent City so I don’t know much about the rental situation around Oak Harbor. That said, here goes;

Oak Harbor is the main town on Whidbey Island, the largest island in the USA. The best way to get there is to take I-5 North towards Anacortes then drive down the island from the North end via Deception pass. There is a Ferry to the Island from Everett and one from Port Townsend, on the Peninsula, but the cost of taking a truck and trailer on the ferry with their over length charges offsets incredibly the time it takes to drive North. Time wise Oak Harbor is about 2 hours north of Seattle, and for those of you that have not made the drive before it usually takes me about 17 hours to get from Santa Cruz to Seattle, only stopping for Gas.

The Marina is located at the East end of Town, right next to the military base. It is a large marina with a long shallow ramp that is ok to launch a keel boat from and a Mono-lift hoist that has a small cost. I suggest the Mono lift, just remember to leave your mast down until you’ve launched because you’ll be wasting your time if put it up before hand. I have seen Moore’s launched and retrieved on the Ramp though, it is doable.

For Camping there is a free “Tent City” that the race organizer’s set up each year. You can park a Motor home and set up tents, sleep in your car, pass out in front of your tent…, plan on having an air mattress for the week as the ground is hard, may even be pavement. Previously the “Tent City” has been set up about a 15 minute walk from the Marina just at the edge of town. I’m being told that this year they will open up some of the Military base for camping so the “Tent City” may be closer to the Marina. There are Shower’s at the Marina, get up early on the day’s you want to shower as there is usually a line later in the morning. There are also Showers at the state Campground that is about a 20 minute walk from the Marina towards town. I believe many of the Moore racers that came up 4 years ago stayed here, they may have a better idea of what it is like than I do.

The Town has all the amenities you’ll need, Groceries, Bars, Wet T-shirt contests, Restaurants, Small Breakfast places, etc. There is an OK, not good, breakfast served at the yacht club every morning, we end up there a couple of times a year. The J105 fleet has a bbq party at the end of the dock one of the day’s, always good for a free dinner, just ogle at their boats a bit. A near by town you can possibly find rentals in or near is Coopeville, about a 20 to 30 minute drive. Coopeville is on Penn Cove, the area we will be racing in. They have a great pier people can watch the racing from. The town is a small cottage type artsy place, good place to be for those not racing.

Know that for years WIRW has been billed as the “Adult Summer Camp.” After each day of Racing, and Sunday’s registration, they have a large Rum/Beer tent they open up for a couple of hours. Cost is $50 to $60 for the week and then all the Rum and Beer you can drink is free. They will have a band every night to keep us entertained after the nightly awards are given. Our Favorite band play’s on Tuesday, Deadwood Revival! They give out awards every night so it ends up being a good time to get together with the whole group, although I’ve never been able to drive after the rum tent so be prepared. As well, realize the wind comes down right off the Straits of Juan De Fuca, if the conditions are right with the thermals we will sometimes get a very windy cold breeze blowing through right about the middle of Rum time. Weather wise WIRW is usually warm most of the week, half the time we will get one day of Rain but that time of year it’s usually in the 70’s or 80’s during the day, but down into the high 50’s at night.

Now for racing conditions; mostly the wind will come out of the west due to thermals and the proximity to the straits. Many years we have had one day of Southerly wind, usually in the mid 20’s with a possibility of rain, so don’t forget your foulies, often this will turn westerly before the end of the day of racing, so watch for the shift, it will be a quick 90 degree shift. The Prevailing westerly usually starts up at noon time and will blow within the range of your number 1, sometimes it will hit the #2 range, and sometimes later in the day the #3. Penn cove is a toilet bowl for current; it always goes the same way no matter ebb or flood, although it’s a southern hemisphere toilet that will shift across the bay. The Course is a long sail from the Marina, so plan on leaving early or getting a tow if there is no wind, usually there is plenty of wind to make it back in. Motors are not going to be required by the RC, but I believe they are planning on providing us with bow numbers if we get a large amount of boats.