Northern Century 2013

Monkeybones entered the Northern Century 100 in the double handed class with Shawn and Jason as crew.  The Northern Century is a 100 mile race around the San Juans held the last weekend in August.  It starts outside Cap Sante in Anacortes and you race up to the Point Roberts buoy near the Canadian border, then south through the San Juans on a route of your choosing to the Hein Bank buoy, then back to the finish in front of Washington Park near Anacortes.  This was the fifth running of the race and its growing fast in popularity.  For 2013 41 boats registered with 39 doing the 100 mile course (there is also a 50 mile course now).  The fleet is split pretty evenly between fully crewed and double handed divisions, and these were then broken into two classes.  Monkeybones was in the fast class – double handed, which consisted of seven boats.  The race starts on Friday evening at 7:30 and we hoped to finish within 24 hours.

We started the day rushed and underprepared, setting off from the Hook (Shaw Is) at noon, headed to Anacortes for provisioning, the skipper’s meeting, and then the start.  After several glorious months in the PNW several fronts were starting to roll through and we had 10-15 kts of wind from the SSW on our way over.  It was a good opportunity to get the gear up and get everything ready.  Because our plan was to head to Seattle immediately after the race, the boat was loaded with lots of sails, cruising gear, and parts for unfinished projects that needed to make the trip back south.  Add to that gas, food, water, ice and beer and we weren’t the svelte racing boat we hoped to be.

We pulled into Cap Sante at 1530 and barely had enough time to grab a real meal at Anthony’s before running to Safeway and then off to the skipper’s meeting.  Everyone paused for a group photo before loading up on our way out to the start.  Everything was really hurried and we threw up the sails five minutes before the start so we could kill the engine per rules.  The strong SSW wind had faded to barely a ripple on the water and everyone drifted between crab pots while maneuvering for the start.  Uncharacteristically we crossed the line early and had to do some pirouettes before heading out.  Early line crossings on a 100 mile / 24 hour race have little impact and we quickly caught up with the fleet, even making it to the front within the first hour.  The fleet typically rounds the east side of Guemes Is and heads north from there.  The tides were not favorable for this race since we would soon be heading into a big ebb tide and fight it through the night expecting little wind.  Our plan was to get up along Lumi Is and hug the shore, staying out of the big currents.  Unfortunately the wind died early and the fleet was split in two based on who went inside or outside Huckleberry Is.  We went outside and fell back into the second group.  As darkness descended patches of wind would roll through and we made our way up the east side of Guemes.  We caught a good lift and caught up to much of the fleet.  Unfortunately we did not press farther to the east and were sucked into “The Black Hole” – a massive amount of current sweeping pass the north end of Guemes.  This river of current caught half the fleet and further broke it up.  Those boats that stayed further east were not caught by its tractor beam and accelerated to the north, with the rest of us headed back to Anacortes.  We launched the spinnaker to capture the 3-4 kts of wind and could not get out of its pull until we jibed off to the west and decided to pass below Sinclair Is and head to Rosario.  By this time the rain showed up and we settled into a long and sometimes frustrating evening.  We found some wind off the west end of Sinclair and got MB into a nice groove and finally started making progress north while passing some of the fleet.  We were able to work this wind, which was never more than 8 kts, all the way up to Pt Roberts, capturing some of the tide shift which occurred around 3 am.  Between 4 and 6 am we switched off and got a very small amount of sleep. 

Our plan was to get to Pt Roberts and start heading south before the big tide shift, which was to occur around 9 am.  We hoped to ride the morning ebb all the way to Hein Bank and get around that mark in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and catch the flood back to Anacortes.  We rounded Pt Roberts about 7:15 behind Havoc, a C&C SR33 that we were to spend the rest of the day dueling.  We all headed south into Canadian waters and used the tide to pull us around Boiling Reef off the east end of Saturna Is.  The wind stayed around 8-10 kts and we made good time south.  At this point we were at the tail end of the lead pack, probably in 15^th place overall.  The fleet again split as we approached the north end of San Juan, some choosing to go west around Stuarts Is, some went east down towards Friday Harbor, and we planned to go around the east end of Johns Is, our home waters.  We knew there was 15kts of wind coming up the west side of San Juan so we shot past Johns, then drifted for a bit, before catching the heavier air.  We had to downshift from our #1 to the #3 off Henry Is and then got in a great tacking duel with Havoc on our way south.  The wind died off as we approached Hein Bank and we put the #1 back up before rounding the mark at 15:15 in 5 kts of air.  We then launched the kite and headed for home.  The wind filled in behind us and we held with the second pack, a group of six of the faster boats.  As we approached the finish a wind hole caught out several of the leaders from this pack and we made huge gains in the last mile or two.  We crossed the finish at 18:18, finishing in just under 23 hours elapsed time.  After the results were tallied we finished second in our class, and twelfth overall!  For the first time doing this race we felt great about the performance, and learned a lot for future years.  

One of the best features about the race is the tracker.  You can replay the entire race here:

http://tracker.northerncentury.org/

Results are here:

Overall - http://northerncentury.org/assets/RaceResults/2013/Northern-Century/N100-2013-resultsB.htm

Class - http://northerncentury.org/assets/RaceResults/2013/Northern-Century/N100-2013-resultsA.htm 

Here's a shot taken by the family as we sailed in front on Johns Is:

Epilogue:
After 24 hours of double handed sailing, we were wiped out.  We stumbled around Anacortes in search of a hot meal and then crashed out.  The next morning we ate, showered and were off the dock at 8:30 for the cruise home to Seattle.  Winds were light except between Pt Townsend and Double Bluff and the currents were against us so it took us 12 hours, arriving at the dock in the fading light.  For 70 miles we had salmon jumping around the boat and were kicking ourselves that we didn't pack a humpy rod.  The boat is now lying in wait for racing this Fall and we'll soon pull it out for some needed maintenance.  Get ready for Fall Sailing!