The 79th Swiftsure International Yacht race was full of twists and turns this year, including an encounter with a U.S. submarine.
To start with, when the race began off Victoria's Clover Point at 9am Saturday morning the wind was blowing strong, which knocked a few racers out of contention early.
Race director Kirk Palmer told C-FAX 1070 that, because of tide conditions, many racers opted to head directly across to the American side of the Juan de Fuca Strait. Palmer says that was a bit unusual since they often start on the Canadian side. That's when an odd phone call came in from the U.S. Coast Guard, "there was what they referred to as a military asset off New Dungeness [Lighthouse], which is part way between Port Townsend and Port Angeles. They wanted us to somehow contact these [racers] and let them know that this asset was headed directly for them."
Palmer says eventually the U.S. Coast Guard started communicating via the radio channel being monitored by the races. Eventually it became clear the "military asset" was a submarine that planned to dive where the race was passing. "I suggested possibly they could consider diving a little earlier. But apparently... they dive when they want to dive and everybody else gets out of the way."
Everyone managed to stay clear, although Palmer says one boat out of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club did see a periscope pass a few hundred metres away.
In another odd event, the race tracking website went down. Palmer says the Hungary-based company behind the site, Kwindoo, attributed it to "an attack from a foreign country." In the end the system was back up by Sunday morning.
At the end of the race, it was solid showing by locals. "Will O The Wisp" owned by Jeff Eckard and based at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club won the Swiftsure Lightship Classic, the longest of the races.
"They're only the second Royal Victoria Yacht Club boat since 1930 to win the actual Swiftsure race," says Palmer.
Skipper Mark Insley and "Zulu," also out of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, won the shorter Juan de Fuca race.