Terremoto proved that “less is more” by racing three times in the Center Sound Series, finishing only once, and still winning its class. The credit belongs to the wind, or the absence of wind.

The second race of the series, Scatchet Head on March 9, 2013, assembled the crew of Mark Brink, Ken Monaghan, Steve Brockway, Nhoj Henderson, Nate Critz, and Bill Weinstein. Unlike last year’s screamer of a race, which featured gusts to 35 knots, two broaches, and some nice pictures rounding the mark, this year the race was scratched because of no wind.

The March 23, 2013 Three Tree Point Race, showed some promise. After a dismal, boring second race, Nhoj Henderson, Nate Critz, and the Brink brood sensibly jumped ship. The old guard of Brockway, Monaghan, Brink and Weinstein were surprised that another old Brink stalwart, Mike Goldfarb, joined TeamMoto.

The Committee Boat end of the race line was favored and the fleets bunched up at the Boat for the start. Weinstein and Brink positioned the boat perfectly as the boat with a clear lane closest to the Committee boat, but as the picture below shows, Monaghan, Brockway, and Goldfarb looked on chagrined as the boat crossed the line a second before the start.

Terremoto made a radical circle around the shocked Race Committee and then was off in its traditional position of trailing the rest of the fleet. Terremoto expertly crossed behind the fleet on port. The botched start once again proved beneficial as Terremoto ended up with a clear lane, undisturbed air, and a strong, positive flood tide to sweep it toward West Point.

The rest of the fleet sailed in to lighter air and mixed current in the Salmon Bay entrance. Terremoto was able to sail over the top of the fleet, aided by the Magnolia headlands, which forced the fleet on starboard to eventually tack onto port to avoid running aground. The wind was light and from the south and most of the fleet that had started earlier than Terremoto (slower boats started first in this series) had headed for the middle of Puget Sound seeking stronger wind. However, TeamMoto made the decision to stay close to West Point to acquire localized port tack lifts.

The wind, light and from the south, looked steady in the middle of Puget Sound and erratic near West Point. However, Brink’s local knowledge of West Point’s wind conditions and local currents created by sewage outfall, allowed Terremoto to make the tactical decision to stay on port tack. Terremoto scooted along the long sand bar, lifted and accelerated by the current and localized wind. Brink assured everyone that Terremoto wouldn’t run aground until it almost it.

However, Terremoto was rewarded with big gains. By the time Team T passed the West Point bell it was already beginning to pass boats from earlier starts. Terremoto chased wind puffs and shifts through Elliot Bay as it pointed toward Blakely Rocks. As Terremoto approached Restoration Point the wind lifted strongly and Weinstein made the wrong choice to tack before Blakely Rock. This decision caused an eruption of controversy as it became clear that there was less lift farther from shore and as other boats were able to scoot along the northern side of Restoration Point.

Brink demanded that the boat tack and head for Restoration Point. The rest of the crew reasoned the wind was going left, or east, which should favor the left side of the course away from Restoration Point. The tide was flooding strongly, which again should favor boats more toward the middle of Puget Sound. All of the big boats were tacking out to the center of the Sound. However, Brink reasoned to himself that the lee of Restoration Point would provide a stronger current and that lift from the land would propel Terremoto forward. Urged on by an adamant Brink, Terremoto tacked up the beach and then crossed the bar with less than a foot under its keel.

As Brink predicted, the wind accelerated. Terremoto, the most leeward boat, launched itself ahead of virtually the entire fleet. Weinstein, visibly relieved at not running aground, went below to be administered a medical tranquilizer, McCallan 18. Mike Goldfarb took the helm.

Goldfarb drove strongly and smoothly. As the Terremoto approached Three Tree Point the wind dropped to a half knot, and Goldfarb, frustrated by the lack of movement, went below to be administered a medical stimulant, McCallan 18. Steve Brockway took the helm.

The entire fleet drifted south in a subsiding flood tide. Terremoto, still hugging the western side of Puget Sound, realized that with the absence of wind it might not be able to lay Three Tree Point Several big boats and Brian Duchin’s Voodoo Child were in the middle of the Sound and closer geographically to Three Tree Point. The TeamMoto Brink doubters, silenced at Restoration Point, recovered their voice and became critical of the decision to stay leeward and west of the fleet.

Team T’s dissension was fanned by the wind dropping to zero. The decision was made to “overstay” the mark and “circumnavigate” it from the south. Weinstein, citing Magellan’s global circumnavigation, retook the help from a dazed Brockway and sailed through slack water in a clumsy circle from the west to the south and then to the east to access a slowly building ebb tide. Using a Course Made Good Vector, Terremoto pointed itself to to run aground at the Des Moines Marina. Fortunately, the current pushed Terremoto north away from the breakwater.

The rest of the fleet, becalmed to the north of the mark lying off the Des Moines Marina, realized helplessly that the current was pushing them away from the mark. Neptune’s Car parked itself at the mark for nearly 20 minutes before it rounded. Terremoto became the second boat to round the mark twenty minutes later. The Racing Committee apparently abandoned the fleet before the fleet abandoned the race.

With two of the three races cancelled because of little or no air, the Center Sound Series essentially came down to the March 2, 2013 Blakely Rock Race. Team Moto was composed of Nhoj Henderson, Nate Critz, Ken Monoghan, and Sarah, David and Mark Brink. Steve Brockway and Bill Weinstein were practicing drowning that weekend at a Safety At Sea course in Canada.

The race began with a nice 14 to 18 knot southerly. Terremoto planned to start at the starboard end of the line, tack immediately onto port, and sail on a single board to Bainbridge Island. This simple tactic was rewarded as the wind headed Terremoto 10 to 20 degrees. When Terremoto eventually tacked on to starboard, it had a perfect lay line to Blakely Rock. Terremoto had an easy starboard rounding with a port kite set. TeamMoto watched as Hooligan ran aground on Blakely Rock. Undeterred, it hit a top speed on the run of 17 something under the steady hand of David Brink and the proud, watchful eye of his father. Terremoto finished first in its class. Brad Butler’s Sierra 26, Dos, edged out Terremoto for first overall in the race. As Mark Brink reported to the Team Moto members in Canada that evening, “it was a nice day on the water.”