EVENT SPOTLIGHT: THETIS ISLAND RACE

Focus on Fun and Good Times for Sailors

The Maple Bay Yacht Club's Thetis Island Race was one for the ages and the North Sails Vancouver loft was proud to support the 2022 edition of the race. With the PNW's spring yet to show, rain showers, cold temperatures and low winds were expected. The one positive of the race was that the current, which is always a big factor in this race, was going clockwise around the entire island during the hours we were planning to race. Most teams arrived Friday, some with motherships to stay on and others just the boat they planned to race on. Per usual, there was no shortage of good sailing banter going on around the docks well into the late hours of the night. On Saturday morning, the sun showed up and the wind forecast was looking better. After a quick skippers meeting where Penny, the race organizer, made sure everyone knew the regatta was about having fun and strongly discouraged on-water protests, all 30 boats got out to the start line. As boats headed out there was zero wind but just as the first gun went for the Division 1 boats, the wind filled down the channel. The first leg up the east side of the island was quite condensed, as it was a beat, and the faster boats were slowly catching the slower divisions. As the fleet approached the northern end of the island, it looked like we may have had one of the famous Thetis island "parking lots" but the wind filled as the fleet approached the hole.

Everyone was still sailing hard on the wind until reaching the southern end of Reid Island and the spinnakers started to go up across the fleets. The wind had decreased from earlier in the race but was still present. Teams focused on gybing all the way down to the south end of Thetis in order to stay in positive current lines. Once most of the fleet rounded the southern tip, it was then a fetch to the finishing line. Most boats tried to sail as close to Thetis as possible without being caught in the wind shadow. A few of the last boats got caught in a dying breeze which made their finish time slightly longer than originally hoped. Post racing, the Maple Bay Yacht Club and the Thetis Island Marina ran a regatta dinner buffet that rivaled the morning breakfast. After most sailors finished dinner, awards were held outside as the sun continued to shine. There were some fun awards such as a painting of a sailboat that was donated by the artist herself, PRO Judy Button. Once the awards were finished, the dock party continued and everyone had a great night chatting about the race and summer racing plans. Maple Bay Yacht Club and the Thetis Island Marina did a fabulous job hosting and running a spectacular event. With sun, wind, and positive current the entire race competitors could not have asked for better conditions. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making this race happen. I recommend it to any boat with a PHRF cert looking for a fun race and good time on Thetis Island!

See here for full results. To learn more about getting involved or how to get your inventory ready for racing, connect with our North Sails experts in Vancouver.