79 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

I get bad gateway error.

Ok that was on my phone that I got the bad gateway error. My laptop works fine.

[Sparky]

Ok but the laptop isn’t detailed at all. The Kwindoo Liveview App doesn’t do a thing. It’s broken.

[Sparky]

CHEK did a pretty good job this morning with their one hour live stream.

 

There were video journalists on land and on the water. Some drone action and some onboard video. Nice work CHEK.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=2ldAxlgFFrQ

[Victoria Watcher]

Yup.

[todd]

Yup.

[max.bravo]

Windy day! I assume that makes for good racing. Have the winners come in?

[Sparky]

^ https://www.swiftsure.org/results/

[Victoria Watcher]

Conditions on Saturday morning proved to be more than a match for some participating in the Swiftsure International Yacht Race, with at least two skippers calling it quits about an hour in.

 

Glory, a Transpac 52 racing yacht from Seattle skippered by John Buchan, was sighted returning to the harbour around 11. Buchan was the first to finish Swfitsure’s 118-nautical-mile Hein Bank course in 2016.

 

Strum skipper Randy Vogel was also back into the Inner Harbour around the same time.

 

Race organizers said it appeared that sailing conditions may have caused broken gear for several boats.

 

Swiftsure race commentator Dale Gann said while 25-knot winds may have caused a challenging start, they could help some sailors break records this year.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...e-races-8833911

[Victoria Watcher]

A total of 126 boats sailed in the 2024 Swiftsure International Yacht Race, up from 117 last year.

 

Palmer estimated that 30 to 40 per cent of participants turn around early every year— either due to conditions, broken gear, or the need to get back to shore in time for work on Monday morning.

 

American participants tend to fully see out the course, he said. “They have Monday as a holiday, so they probably hang in there moreso than a lot of the Canadian competitors.”

 

With the average age of crews now close to 60, Swiftsure race weekends are no longer as rowdy as they have been in the past, Palmer said. “The crew members, they need their sleep. So it gets pretty quiet around here about 10 p.m. on Friday night. Probably the only noise violation you’re going to hear is the sound of snoring at 10:30 p.m. down on the docks.”

 

 

https://www.timescol...bmarine-8848366

[lanforod]

That sounds like its not a sustainable event. Young folks not sailing much anymore?

[Matt R.]

Vr sailing maybe. Can you vape on a sailboat?

[Victoria Watcher]

98 yachts ready to set sail at Victoria's 80th annual Swiftsure Race

 

The event's three races begin on May 24 just off Clover Point

https://www.vicnews....re-race-7999364

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016:

 

Swiftsure entrants expected to top 200

 

https://www.timescol...top-200-4636115

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.swiftsur...-public-events/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the earlier years of Swiftsure, Eaton’s major display window at the corner of Douglas & View, in downtown Victoria was set up as “Swiftsure headquarters”. A large map of the race course was installed, and the progress of the race was shown by moving miniature boats across the map. As the numbers of boats increased, this became a daunting task. The event, and this way of graphically displaying a race boats’ progress, was very much appreciated by Victorians. “People used to line the sidewalks, sit on the curbs. There was a feeling of excitement right there, in the middle of town”.

“Since the first radio broadcast from “Dose crazy yotsmen” competed with the fisherman’s band to the outside world during the 1952 race, and L’Apache (later Diamond Head) broke her backstay during the effort, Humphrey Golby was “on the air”. Coverage expanded when Harold Elworthy’s Island Tug and Barge Company generously provided tugboats for the press. Radio station CKDA pioneered with the limited ship-to-shore equipment of the day and ‘The voice’ was born.”

For more details, refer to the 1980 publication of Swiftsure: The First Fifty Years, by Humphrey Golby and Shirley Hewitt.

 

https://www.swiftsur...g/race-history/

 

 

 

 

 

 

1983:

 

Start of the "race week" concept - inshore races on Wednesday and Thursday.  First attempt of a Harbour Fest, combining Victoria Days and Swiftsure.  With a canned music rock concert too, a crowd of 30,000 to 40,000 downtown on the Friday night - 48 arrested. Even Saturday night, while the races were underway, a further 16 arrests as a result of a drunken brawl.

 

1985:

 

A carnival atmosphere prevailed most of the evening before the races; some problems from a rock concert.

 

1986:

 

A crackdown on rowdiness and a greater police presence led to 128 arrests among spectators on the eve of the races.

 

1991:

 

Two men in a 21-foot boat drown mysteriously overnight after watching Swiftsure start.

 

1995:

 

Humphrey Golby, the “Voice of Swiftsure,” dies; 1995 races dedicated to his memory.  Swiftsure goes on the Internet.

 

1996:

 

All quiet downtown; Swiftsure returns to being a community event. Two weeks before Swiftsure, “Good Morning America” sees the arrival of the fleet in the Oregon Offshore feeder race

 

2015:

 

Good winds and smooth waters challenged the largest complement of racers in years (of the 199 that registered, 190 completed their race)

 

https://www.swiftsur...016-History.pdf

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 May 2025 - 12:56 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

He's been in more than 40 Swiftsure races and will add one more this weekend

 

Kirk Palmer’s sailboat Light Scout is one of 98 entries, largely from Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Washington state, with racing action beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday

https://www.timescol...eekend-10697269

[Barrister]

Forget the racing action, it is the pancake action were all the real fun starts.

[Victoria Watcher]

Other than breaks during the Second World War and the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been held most years since and has grown to include five races. It’s now considered one of the prime sailboat-racing events in the Pacific Northwest.

For monohull boats, there is the Swiftsure race at 138.2 nautical miles, the Cape Flattery race at 101.9 nautical miles and the Juan de Fuca race at 78.7 nautical miles, while multihulls have separate divisions for the Cape Flattery and Juan de Fuca routes.

This year’s field has 98 entries, largely from Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Washington state, with racing action beginning at 9 a.m.


https://www.timescol...eekend-10697269




Nobody seems to have addressed why the entries are so low this year.

It looks like there were about 112 last year. But it’s been over 200 in the past.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 May 2025 - 04:24 AM.

[mbjj]

He's been in more than 40 Swiftsure races and will add one more this weekend

 

Kirk Palmer’s sailboat Light Scout is one of 98 entries, largely from Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Washington state, with racing action beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday

https://www.timescol...eekend-10697269

 

I went to school with Kirk and his sister. Even in the 1960s they were a very sporty family. They were skiing at Forbidden Plateau before it was really a thing, lol. 

[Bambam]

98 yachts ready to set sail at Victoria's 80th annual Swiftsure Race

 

The event's three races begin on May 24 just off Clover Point

https://www.vicnews....re-race-7999364

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016:

 

Swiftsure entrants expected to top 200

 

https://www.timescol...top-200-4636115

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.swiftsur...-public-events/

 

ScreenShot Tool -20250512044042.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the earlier years of Swiftsure, Eaton’s major display window at the corner of Douglas & View, in downtown Victoria was set up as “Swiftsure headquarters”. A large map of the race course was installed, and the progress of the race was shown by moving miniature boats across the map. As the numbers of boats increased, this became a daunting task. The event, and this way of graphically displaying a race boats’ progress, was very much appreciated by Victorians. “People used to line the sidewalks, sit on the curbs. There was a feeling of excitement right there, in the middle of town”.

“Since the first radio broadcast from “Dose crazy yotsmen” competed with the fisherman’s band to the outside world during the 1952 race, and L’Apache (later Diamond Head) broke her backstay during the effort, Humphrey Golby was “on the air”. Coverage expanded when Harold Elworthy’s Island Tug and Barge Company generously provided tugboats for the press. Radio station CKDA pioneered with the limited ship-to-shore equipment of the day and ‘The voice’ was born.”

For more details, refer to the 1980 publication of Swiftsure: The First Fifty Years, by Humphrey Golby and Shirley Hewitt.

 

https://www.swiftsur...g/race-history/

 

 

 

 

 

 

1983:

 

Start of the "race week" concept - inshore races on Wednesday and Thursday.  First attempt of a Harbour Fest, combining Victoria Days and Swiftsure.  With a canned music rock concert too, a crowd of 30,000 to 40,000 downtown on the Friday night - 48 arrested. Even Saturday night, while the races were underway, a further 16 arrests as a result of a drunken brawl.

 

1985:

 

A carnival atmosphere prevailed most of the evening before the races; some problems from a rock concert.

 

1986:

 

A crackdown on rowdiness and a greater police presence led to 128 arrests among spectators on the eve of the races.

 

1991:

 

Two men in a 21-foot boat drown mysteriously overnight after watching Swiftsure start.

 

1995:

 

Humphrey Golby, the “Voice of Swiftsure,” dies; 1995 races dedicated to his memory.  Swiftsure goes on the Internet.

 

1996:

 

All quiet downtown; Swiftsure returns to being a community event. Two weeks before Swiftsure, “Good Morning America” sees the arrival of the fleet in the Oregon Offshore feeder race

 

2015:

 

Good winds and smooth waters challenged the largest complement of racers in years (of the 199 that registered, 190 completed their race)

 

https://www.swiftsur...016-History.pdf

 

As a UVic student I worked PT at the Empress from 1982-5 and well recall those particular Swiftsure years. The hotel hosted the annual race dinner in the main banquet room which was configured for over 500 people in those days. Unsurprisingly given the, um, 'festive' mood prevailing over the entire harbour area, pure alcohol-fueled pandemonimum resulted especially in 1983 and 1984. 

 

I vividly remember groups of gloriously popped Aussies partciularly, and some American sailors, roaming both the building and the Empress grounds, hotel security having to be beefed up as a result. VicPD even loaning the event several of their volunteer/reserve constables both years to assist the hotel security guys.

 

One particularly memorable shenanigan attempted by a large group of not remotely sober Aussie sailors involved tying together several of the white cloth tabletop linens into a makehift "rope" which they proceeded to use in a futile attempt to scale those very large and tall Empress banquet room doors.

 

They managed to toss it over the top of one door, then somehow securing it; several of them naturally proceeded to 'climb' up, a la an attempt on Mt Everest. Needless to say the 'rope' failed under the weight of way too many bodies resulting in all sorts of fun, minor injuries and some really outstanding Aussie curse words. They were even less happy when booze service was cut off.....

 

I think in 2025 the event is considerably more sedate lol.....

Edited by Bambam, 24 May 2025 - 10:03 PM.

[Mike K.]

If that were my hotel, they’d have had a lot more happen to them than alcohol cutoff.

What a bunch of yokels.

[aastra]

Actually being Australian was gradually phased out during the 2010s with 2020 being the hard cut-off date.

[dasmo]

Sounds like it was fun.