What a great day for sailing, clear skies, lots of boats and finally wind as the boaters rounded Johnson Point, a wonderful way to pay off all the volunteers who spent hours helping to make this years Toliva Shoal Race a successful event. I can not thank the volunteers and members of the SSSS and OYC enough; you might have slaved over a hot kitchen stove, helped at registration, manned the beer spigots Friday night, sat for hours tabulating numbers and checking for errors so preliminary race results could be released Saturday night, maybe you came for dinner or purchased a T-shirt, what ever you did, your support and time was greatly appreciated by the committee members and me.
Friday night’s party was a barn burner. Jan Visser and her crew fed all the sailors and guests who attended the fund raising dinner. The food was great and I heard that Jan sent some of her crew out to gather more provisions as they served 181 dinners. The dinner proceeds will support the OYC Jr. Sailing program. The bar hosts also were kept busy as the sailors whetted their whistles. Our decision to split the group seemed to work well. The party hearty folks, about 30 of you, headed off to Tug Boat Annie’s to hear the band, while many of the other sailors lingered around the tables talking race strategies and sharing stories. Next year we will post the local taxi company’s phone number. My family and I left about 2200 and people were still lingering around the tables.
The first place I headed Saturday Morning after I woke up at 0500 was to the computer to check the weather report ... wind in the afternoon, little wind in the morning. Maybe I should stick an extra quarter in the wind machine can. As I stopped to get the sandwiches to feed the crews on all the boats we were using to coordinate the race, I could not see a single bough bending on the trees. Maybe that was because it was about 0600 and the skies were dark, but the flags were also hanging limp. So I really think there was just not much wind. We sold all the shirts Saturday morning before the race started and with the lack of a brisk wind I was afraid that would be the only souvenir the sailors would have. No memories of a great sail, just a shirt to wear home. Saturday morning Jan did her magic again with eggs, ham, cinnamon rolls and lots of hot coffee; maybe a full belly would make the lack of wind sit easier on the racers mind.
Eric Bishop did an outstanding job on the race committee boat. He and his troops left a little early so they could be anchored before the Cruising Class start. Gary Larson, on his new boat Day Break, was our Committee boat captain. I met Gary last year as I served on the committee boat and you could not find a nicer person to spend a day with. I really appreciated his help this year and realize he is quickly becoming a permanent part of the Toliva Shoal Race, maybe he was a sailor in another life. Mort James and Tom Abbot headed off in the in the mark boat Journey II, little did they know what an important part they would have to play later in the race. The chase boats, headed by George Smith and Gayland Wilmovsky, filled in the rest of the boating fleet. Eric coordinated all the boats and managed to let all of us know what was happening. After the skippers meeting, my first, I gazed at the floppy flags hoping there was just a little more wind somewhere, hopefully in Budd Inlet and through Dana Passage. Another quarter dropped into the magic wind machine. I shuddered as I watched the fog begin to roll in. Fog, no wind, what was to happen to our race?
Instead of cleaning tables or sweeping floors after everyone headed out to start the race, I was standing around with a cell phone glued to my ear. I was trying to get my lost sister-in-law to the OYC. She had turned the wrong way and was lost among the tall pine trees, heading towards Mt. Rainier. Oops, I couldn’t leave the OYC until she showed up. Then the Olympian called, my sister-in-law again, then Eric, my sister-in-law, a chase boat, then my sister-in-law. The phone was ringing off the hook. When Laurie finally arrived, with my mother, we raced off to Boston Harbor to watch the boats float by. Sean Trew was out taking pictures, along with a photographer from the Olympian, several professional photographers from Seattle and one teacher from Olympia who will send us pictures to post on the web site. A few brave souls hoisted their spinnakers, but the majority of the fleet sailed by in a grand procession. The crews were trimming their sails to catch every bit of the limited breeze. I was sorry to be standing on the shore, no worry about heeling too much; I wondered how late they would be, would the race continue until after midnight like last year?
After Boston Harbor we rushed off to Johnson Point to stand on the beach and cheer the boaters on as they caught their first rush of real wind. You could see the smiles on the faces as captains urged their crews to tack and catch every bit of the new rising winds. The wind god had finally decided to come out and play and the sailors were ready to get going. There were great winds all the way to Toliva Shoal where Eric had decided to shorten the race. The Mark boat suddenly was writing down all the times and shooting off the black powder blanks. Hopefully you were able to get one of those shots. The first sailors who arrived at the OYC said they couldn’t understand why Eric had shortened the race at Toliva. But once they turned to corner around Anderson Island into Balch Passage, where there was no wind, they decided Eric definitely knew what he was doing. Again, thank you Eric for a great job. The Cruising Class finished and was able to return home before their decks turned into a sheet of ice from the water and the icy cold weather.
Almost everyone finished the race this year. A couple of boats did not start, but we had 89 boats registered to sail. Dan Decker has been telling everyone he knows in all the different series that “Toliva Shoal is The Race to attend. We throw a good party and run a great race.” Thanks Dan, I think you helped make a difference in our attendance.
Susan McRae did a great job with scoring and there were smiles and frowns by the sailors as they read their preliminary results. The nice part is that we were able to get the results to the Olympian so they could give us front page coverage on Sunday morning.
The Sunday crew met to clean up while I finally got to see my family who had flown in to participate in the race. I want to thank Susan Bishop for filling in for me on Sunday morning. The OYC was outstanding as always. Every time we asked for help they were there providing boats for the race, meals for the racers, moorage for the vessels and a great place to launch the race. Thank you very much.
I could not have accomplished all that was done without the help of the Toliva Shoal Race Committee. They reminded me of what I needed to accomplish; they guided me through forms and pointed out pitfalls before they happened. I owe a very special thanks to Steve Worcester who was able to answer every question I had, no matter how complicated or simple it was. He would remind me of what was due, including this article, and when. Steve is truly a SSSS Treasure and I appreciated all his help.
Lastly to my husband who hauled boxes, ordered black powder blanks, fixed computers, got printers printing and generally offered me encouragement and a hug when it seemed like there was just too much to get done. Thank you Honey!
Suzie Shaffer, Boru