Blur Racing

Tag: race week

  • Bellingham Race Week – Day Three: Everything Hurts, but We’re Fast

    Bellingham Race Week – Day Three: Everything Hurts, but We’re Fast

    By day three of Bellingham Race Week, the romance of sailboat racing starts to feel a little… well, sore. Every muscle is complaining, my knees sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies every time I climb on or off the boat, and even my fingertips are tender. But here’s the kicker: our sailing today? Absolutely dialed in.

    We raced four times, and in every race we finished third or better. OK fine, we mostly finished third. But it felt fantastic. Our boat handling was clean, our communication was sharp, and our results were consistent. The weather couldn’t have been better either—10 to 15 knots of steady breeze all day long, with just enough shifts to keep it interesting.

    Best of all? My starts were chef’s kiss. After a rough day yesterday, I finally got my timing and positioning right. We hit the line powered up, in phase, and ahead of the fleet in almost every race. Not to brag (okay, maybe just a little), but it felt amazing. Maybe all that flailing yesterday was just practice for the magic today.

    The crew really stepped it up too. We found a new maneuver at the leeward mark that tightened up our rounding and shaved precious seconds off each leg. That kind of on-the-fly improvement is one of the things I love most about a week like this. After five days of intense sailing, everything sharpens. By the time I’m back at Shilshole, I feel like a monster—confident, tuned in, and doing things that felt tricky just a week ago.

    Sure, this week hasn’t been without its challenges. Getting our cars towed and dealing with mounting physical exhaustion wasn’t exactly in the game plan. But we’re rolling with it. The vibe on the boat is good, the learning is real, and our performance is trending up.

    Bring on day four.

  • Bellingham Race Week Day 2: The Tow Truck Tango and Tactical Turbulence

    Bellingham Race Week Day 2: The Tow Truck Tango and Tactical Turbulence

    So, this is the inaugural year for Race Week in Bellingham, and let me say—on paper, it has everything going for it. Quaint college town? Check. Great food? Yep. Beautiful scenery? Absolutely—snowcapped peaks, sparkling water, and just enough boutique charm to make you think, Hey, maybe I could live here.

    But wait, there’s a “but.”

    Turns out Bellingham has a little Tuesday night ritual downtown called street cleaning. Sounds innocent enough, until you learn that it involves tow trucks prowling the streets like apex predators at 2:30 AM, mercilessly dragging away any car foolish enough to be asleep at the curb. That’s right—two of our crew cars, including mine, were spirited off into the night like a bad subplot in a city planning thriller.

    By the time we paid the ransom (err, towing fee) and reclaimed our vehicles from the automotive gulag, Tuesday had already earned a special place in my personal hall of infamy. I was tired, grumpy, and under-caffeinated—basically the ideal mindset for high-stakes racing.

    Still, we made it to the course on time, and Blur was back on the water. That said, Day Two didn’t live up to the fairy tale that was Monday. Our starts were… let’s say “interpretive.” Either we were late, out of position, or just jumped the gun entirely. Not exactly textbook form. The silver lining? Blur is still faster than regret, so we clawed our way around the course pretty well—just not well enough.

    We slid a few places over the course of three races—mostly fourths and fifths—and while the boat was performing, the humans were clearly stuck in second gear. The weather, at least, was playing nice: fog in the morning, followed by sunshine, 8 to 10 knots of breeze, and a start line that looked more like a demolition derby than a sailboat race. If Monday was aggressive, Tuesday was full-contact. The protest room was doing brisk business by the end of the day, which tells you everything you need to know.

    On a tactical note, the racecourse started to shift—slightly less of the standard “bang the left corner” strategy. We found a few gains sneaking to the right on the upwind legs, and by mid-afternoon, the fleet was fanning out like someone had kicked over a box of toothpicks. Not chaos—just a little more nuance.

    We did manage to squeak out a third in the final race, which felt like a moral victory considering the sleep deficit and mild existential crisis from earlier.

    Back at the marina, the post-race theme was Christmas in July—because nothing says “sailing regatta” like fake snow, tacky sweaters, and rum drinks in Santa mugs. Cheers to that.

    After the pavilion festivities, we wandered into town and blew off a little steam.

  • Bellingham Race Week – Day 1 Recap

    Bellingham Race Week – Day 1 Recap

    Sunshine, Speed, and a Little Bit of Chaos

    If I ever had to introduce someone to the sport of sailing, Day 1 of Bellingham Race Week would’ve been the perfect way to do it.

    We trailered the boat up from Shilshole on Sunday, got her rigged, splashed, and tucked into the harbor. The weather? Absolutely stunning—70 degrees, sunshine, snow-capped mountains on the horizon, and of course, Bellingham Bay. Couldn’t have asked for a better welcome.

    The Racing

    We had a guest tactician, Alex Simanis from Ballard Sails, on the boat for the day and it really showed in our performance. He played boat whisperer and helped us up our game across the board. From improving the rig tuning to fine tuning the sail trim, he did an amazing job. 

    Our first race of the day started after a short delay. We’re sailing in the PHRF B division, so we got to watch all the other classes start before us—so we had front row seats. The big ORC boats, the sleek J/105s and J/80s, the nimble J/70s, and the Melges 15s all made for some exciting starts and tight action.

    I’ll admit it: starts are my favorite part of racing. Maybe I’ve got a tiny adrenaline junkie buried in there somewhere, but the chaos, the yelling, the jostling for position—it’s electric. And when you nail it? When you pop out on the line with clean air and good speed? For just a second, you feel like a rockstar.

    That first race, we sailed clean and fast and came in third in our class. Not a bad way to start the week.

    Wind and Tactics

    The breeze in the morning was steady—around 13 to 15 knots—which gradually tapered off as the day went on. The course setup heavily favored the left side of the bay, so most of the fleet bee-lined it toward Fairhaven, hit the weather mark, then gybed their way back down to leeward. Tactically, it was pretty locked in—go left, or get left behind.

    Then in race two, we found our groove, hit our shifts, and brought home our first bullet of the week. Race three, we got another third. By the end of the day, we were sitting in second place overall in Class 7—easily one of our best performances to date. I was over the moon.

    After the Racing

    After a full day on the water, we wrapped things up at the race pavilion with beer, music, and the usual suspects. It was great to reconnect with old friends, swap stories, and soak up the atmosphere. Nothing quite beats tired bodies, sunburned smiles, and a good result on the scoreboard.