It was monster sailing weather at the start of the 2009 Round the County race this Saturday, Nov. 7. The race kicked off in high winds and pouring rain but it was a spinnaker start for the sailors, using downwind sails.

“We got a spinnaker run down to Matia Island, and then we had light spot,” Betsy Wareham, race chairman, commented. “Then we reached Patos Island, roughly the halfway mark for the first day. And one tack to Stewart Island, and then into Roche Harbor, which was luckily uneventful.”

The race, which starts early Saturday and ends Sunday at roughly 6 p.m., is in its 22nd year. The route changes from clockwise to counter-clockwise alternating years and this year the race started counter-clockwise, at Lydia Shoal in Rosario Strait, in a northerly direction.

“After Lydia Shoal, it’s out past Sucia Island, then slightly west past Patos, down Boundary Pass to Turn Point at Stewart Island. And then to Roche Harbor,” Wareham said. “Everyone starts at the same place, but we are staggered. There’s 10 minutes between each start. Slow first (smaller boats, Santa Cruz 27’s, and some of the big cruising boats like the Halberg 42’s) and fast boats last (for example, an Icon custom 65 Neptune’s Car, Santa Cruz 70’s, Braveheart is a Transpac 52)…it’s three staggered starts for each category of boat.”

On the second day the racers all start at Mosquito Pass and go around San Juan Island, then the south end of Lopez, and back up to Rosario strait where the race finishes at Lydia Shoal.

At the start of the race on Sunday morning, winds started low but built over the course of the race and the current was against everyone. The boats short tacked close to shore to keep out of the current.

“It was very rough going across Salmon Bay, but then we had another great spinnaker run all the way from Davidson Rock to the finish at Lydia Shoal,” Wareham said.

On the first day of sailing, Ptolemy was first in their division, Time Bandit was second in their division, and Crazy Ivan was first in their division.

Local boats that did well overall were Time Bandit, owned by Barb and Bob Brunius, first in their Division 0, and in division I, Ptolemy won third place, owned by Eric Moulton.

The boat that finished first overall was Martha, a classic old schooner (a division III boat).

“The Martha used to be the camp boat for Camp Four Winds; there’s a lot of island history in that boat,” Wareham said.

Sixty-nine boats participated this year, primarily from the Northwest, but there were also some participants from Canada as well.

“We were hyped to sail in all that wind. We got to see everyone in the fleet practically because it’s a staggered start…it’s just a great chance to see everyone and catch up,” Wareham said.

For more information about next year’s Round the County event, go to www.OIYC.org.