Swiftsure

“For years, sailing bound us. We were racers, builders and cruisers. It was our family business, our sport, our drug of choice. Yet eventually, sailing blew us apart, too.”

Jim Lynch – ‘Before the Wind’

Should you have any interest in sailing – or in this particular (pacific northwest) neck of the woods – then I heartily recommend Jim Lynch’s novel – “Before the Wind”. Indeed, if you have not yet encountered Mr Lynch’s oeuvre I encourage you to take a look. I don’t read anywhere near as much fiction as I would like (my fault – too much fascinating non-fiction to cover) but I really admire what he does and how he does it. The characters, the situations… just speak to me somehow.

Anyway – the centre-piece of “Before the wind” is set at the annual Swiftsure International Yacht Race – the seventy-fifth running of which took place here in Victoria a couple of weekends back. The Swiftsure is actually no less than six different races run contemporaneously. The staggered starts are on Saturday mid-morning at Clover Point in Victoria, with the courses then following a variety of different circular tracks westwards through the Strait of Juan de Fuca before returning to Victoria. The biggest and fastest boats complete the course by early evening the same day; this year the slowest yacht finished sometime after 4:00 am on the Monday morning!

The image above gives an idea of the rolling starts. Close inspection should reveal HMCS Nanaimo in the midst of the flurry of yachts, with the tell-tale puff of smoke from the blank round just fired to start one of the sections. (As ever, double-clicking on the image will give you a better idea).

Now – I love the sea (what – you hadn’t noticed?!) and I have greatly enjoyed what sailing I have done – but… I would be the first to admit that this just isn’t a spectator sport. Whereas at the serious end of the Americas Cup only two (massive!) yachts are involved (whilst at Cowes there are other distractions altogether) with a complex ocean race like this is is well nigh impossible to tell at any moment what is going on. For those who really must know the race organisers helpfully provide a splendid race-tracker on their website, but that’s not really spectating – is it? It is impossible not to to be reminded of this splendid spoof Irish commentary from the 2012 Olympics.

Whilst on the subject of sailing – this rather lovely schooner was maneuvering out in our bay on the same weekend as the race:

What a splendid sight!