Oregon Offshore

J/105 #519 Free Bowl of Soup, out of Portland, Oregon, was fifth to finish, placing first in PHRF B and seventh overall in the Oregon Offshore. This was the 37th annual running of the Oregon Offshore 193 mile race from Astoria, Oregon to Victoria, BC as a feeder to the International Swiftsure. This year was true to form with variable conditions consisting of no wind to the upper 20s for some boats (though Free Bowl of Soup never saw anything over 18kts). The race started at 10:05am Thursday in remarkably nice conditions of 10-12kts out of the North. The wind built throughout the afternoon, also clocking a bit West creating some steep seas, before finally dying to almost nothing in the morning. The next day was light and variable until getting around Cape Flattery and past Neah Bay. Inside the Straits of Juan de Fuca, they had a nice midnight broad reach with speeds from 9-11.4 kts for several hours. At daylight, the wind backed and eventually shut down creating a challenging fight against the fading ebbing tide. Free Bowl of Soup was lucky to ride the beginning of the flood tide near Sooke through Race Passage in virtually no wind. Finally, they caught a new 7-8kt Southeasterly that brought them into Victoria at 4:10pm Saturday afternoon. The J/105 is a great versatile boat and handles offshore conditions quite well. Their sail inventory consisted of class jib, main, and spinnaker supplemented by a light air reaching 1A, a light air running AP, a heavy air reaching kite (not used) and a daisy staysail. They sailed with four crew this year, which was nice for space, but another set of hands would have been nice periodically, particularly downwind. They look forward to switching into One-Design for the Seattle NOOD. The main items that will come off consist of the life raft (strapped on in front of the mast), emergency rudder, Man-Overboard-Module (MOM), ditch bag w/EPIRB, jack lines, gimbaled propane burner, and lee cloths.