By Betsy Wareham

Special to the Weekly

This year marked the 27th year of the Round the County Sailboat race. Sponsored by  Friday Harbor Sailing Club and the Orcas Island Yacht Club.

This two-day race around  San Juan County is one of the most popular sailing events of the year. One hundred boats registered for the race.

Starting at Lydia Shoal in Rosario Strait, this year’s race went clockwise around the islands. Light air delayed the start, then it filled in for most of the Strait, and it disappeared again on the south side of Lopez.

While most boats managed to make it to the intermediate point at Iceberg Point, almost no one managed to get all the way to Roche Harbor by the end of the day. It was still a wonderful day to be on the water.

On day two, Sunday, it was a different story. The fleet got away under spinnaker, headed for Stuart Island. The wind moved from southwest to northwest and the fleet continued to Patos, as the  colorful fleet spread out up Boundary Pass.

We hope people got a chance to see the fleet  from the north shore of Orcas; it was a pretty amazing sight.

We continued into Rosario Strait, and everything was golden until we hit the Pea Pods, where the wind started playing tricks on us.

Up with the jib, drop the spinnaker, the wind came from three directions at once, boats 20 feet away would suddenly accelerate while you didn’t move.

If you were able to connect the gusts at the finish, you made tremendous gains on your competition. Very exciting!

When we all ended for the day, the Overall Winner was “Longboard,” a Rip Tide 35  from West Vancouver, sailed by Peter Salusbury and crew.

Locally, “Time Bandit” (Bob and Barb Brunius) and “Plotemy” (Eric Moulton and Ian Wareham), both from Orcas, finished third in their respective divisions.

Other boats participating from San Juan County were: “Tomahawk” (Karl and Jessica Kruger), “Wailana”  (Greg Sutherland), “Sabra” (John Miller), “Madame Pele” (Tom and Ian Andrewes), “Chinook” (Jimmy Roser and Robin Hirsch) and “Spirit” (Pete Helsell).

It was a good turn out for the locals.