2006 Round Whidbey

So our first race on Shenanigans was Round Whidbey in 06'. This race is a non-stop rounding of Whidbey Island, which is the second longest island in the lower 48 I believe. The route is 72 miles, starting just west of Decpetion Pass and ending in the entrance to Oak Harbor. The race was initially run by the Oak Harbor Yacht club, but after their sail fleet broke apart, Whidbey Island Naval Sailing Association (WINSA) was formed and they have been running this event ever since.

The race starts at 9 am sat morning and has a time limit of 27 hours. It can be a fun fast ride, or a gruling grind. Typically, there are multiple re-starts along the way due to wind and current and makes the race very difficult to plan for. Mostly, we just rely on getting lucky and that seems to work well for us.

Shenanigans was sailed with the gear that she came with this year, nothing too fancy, but everything worked great. We brought along our long time friend Doug, who is no stranger to the sailing scence in Oak Harbor since Vic was carrying around our unborn daugther and wasn't feeling that adventurous.

We managed to hold everyone off the entire race and capitilized on great wind and great current, finishing the race at 11 pm sat night. It was a great ride and we never had to gybe! We won first in class and first over all, a great start. The remaining boats did not finish until the next morning.