The Race to the Straits is Terremoto’s favorite race. Winners for the past two years, Mark Brink and Bill Weinstein were confident as they crossed the start line in a reverse start at 9:46:26 a.m. Saturday morning, May 3, 2014. Within twenty minutes of the start, however, Mark Brink proclaimed presciently that it was a “small boat” race and through binoculars we could already see that the slow boats that had started nearly two hours earlier were already about to pass the half-way point.

As one “Sailing Anarchy” blog stated: “The early boats benefited from a more westerly breeze and were able to rhumb line it to Double Bluff (for the most part).”Bron Miller, a key member of Team Moto, sailed a great race on Cleo Na Mar, owned by John Phillips, and managed to avoid most of the building storm from the south. While Bron and John finished first ahead of the entire fleet (and claimed the CSR free haul-out), the rest of the fleet was swept up in winds that built to 30 knots.

By the time Terremoto reached the Double Bluff half-way mark it was surrounded by at least twenty overpowered boats in trouble. More than a dozen boats had blown up and/or wrapped their spinnakers around their mast or forestays and one boat had a torn main sail as Terremoto approached the Double Bluff bell. “It doesn’t matter,” Mark Brink yelled above the howling wind. “We can destroy this kite.”

A boat collision directly ahead was also a bit of a distraction. A blog on “Sailing Anarchy” described what happened:

“Overtaking a larger boat that started ahead of us, we were on starboard jibe (right of way) and a converging course with their boat on a port-jibe (yielding).

- (Helmswoman Sarah) Tyson, what should I do about this boat?

- (Me) hold our course – they ought to yield.

- (Sarah) Do they see us?

- (Me) I hope so – they ought to.

As we got closer, I made eye contact with the other skipper but saw no action from their vessel. As we got to within about 100 feet I shouted:

- (Me) Starboard!

No reply

- (Me) You are the give-way boat!

- (RM) Common courtesy.

Sarah and I look at each other like WTF?

- (Sarah) We are the starboard boat, right?

- (Me) Yes! (as I point at our boom laying over to port).

- (Me) You are on a collision course, get the fuck out of the way!

Sarah shifts our course more downwind and while remaining on the same jibe, away from our intended point of sail to give them a bit more time/room. At this point their boat with its chute fully loaded and about 40ft from us suddenly jibes alongside us, but is still coming closer.

- (RM) Now I am the starboard boat – you move!

- (Me) You are the windward boat – reduce your speed and let us pass asshole!

They were having some problem with their rig due to the hasty jibe a few moments ago. I was about to let fly our chute sheet in order to let them go past us because they were upwind of us and so close that their chute was sucking air from ours, so we were unable to pass ahead of them. At this point we were too close together to bear up and pass across their stern and we were not set up for a jibe.

As I am yelling at them in rather colorful French (which I feel was justified) all of the sudden, I see the skipper jump to his wheel and their boat spins on a dime, points their bow right at our beam and comes bearing down at full force as if to cut us in half. Sarah pushes the tiller hard over, our boat jibes - the boom, chute and pole go flying, I jump to the rail to fend off and somehow miraculously we avoid a full on t-bone!! However, the pressure of the cushioned impact aft of our mast spins us back on to the starboard jibe with all of the shit flying back over again; all this in a 12-14kt wind! Sarah’s face was sheet white. God help me - if my ...44 was within reach I would have seriously considered whizzing a 340gr slug past his head for that maneuver. As is all I could muster was, “Pretend I’m holding a red flag asshole and I am going to have your ass for that!” To which I got something to the effect of, “You can make your case in the room. I will see you there!”

This commotion failed to deter Mark, who simply yelled: “Just do your job!” While every other boat was trying to reel in its spinnaker and avoid collisions, Terremoto reefed its main sail, spilled its traveler, spilled its mainsail, and drove on towards the green clanking bell. Weinstein struggled to keep the boat up as 30 knot plus puffs forced him to sail down and away from the bell and on to the approaching Whidbey Island shore. Finally, after several near broaches, Brink hauled in the purple grape kite and Terremoto beat past several broached boats.

As the rest of the fleet sailed north under white sails, Terremoto again raised its kite and passed at least 40 boats all sailing at between 10 and 13 knots. The finish line was chaotic as many damaged boats limping under torn sails through very big waves and disturbed water tried to cross the finish line. Terremoto’s finish went unnoticed, so it sailed past the committee boat to confirm that the Committee noted its finish. Although Terremoto finished first in its class (but behind dozens of finished smaller boats). its time was recorded as only a few minutes ahead of the next two other boats in its class. These two boats finished between 16 and 20 minutes behind Terremoto. Although Team Moto was frustrated by the strange ending, it was thrilled that Bron Miller had finished first and that other Moto members Kirk Utter and David Brink had also beaten Terremoto in Kirk Utter’s floating home, a custom Martin 30 named Scimitar.

The next day, Sunday, May 4, 2014, turned out to be equally challenging as Terremoto beat south against a building breeze of up to 26 knots and heavy rain. The conditions were aggravated by a heavy ebb tide that Terremoto had to fight against most of the day. The wind and tide created a number of zones of very disturbed water that forced Terremoto to tack over twenty times going south on the Whidbey Island shore to avoid negative current. Because Terremoto weighs so little, it was forced to shift water ballast continuously. With only two persons in 20 plus knot winds, Terremoto was forced repeatedly to go from 7 plus knots to under 5 knots and tilt itself to 50 plus degrees in order to push the water from rail to rail. Despite good boat handling, the much bigger and heavier boats that did not rely on water ballast were able to catch Terremoto by the half-way bell at Double Bluff.

Terremoto still was able to catch most of the fleet but promptly overtook a marine pile-up at Double Bluff that made the prior day’s “Sail Shredder Sweepstakes” and funky first day finish line finale look dull in perspective. Ahead of Terremoto was Wild Rumpus, sailed by two fine woman sailors. Stephanie Schwenk, Wild Rumpus’ owner, described what happened:

“We had rig failure at Bush Point yesterday, which is a sad day for the Wild Rumpus, but the real story is about the guys who came immediately to assist, and stayed with us until we were secure and towed back to Shilshole. I could tell something was happening to the rig, but couldn’t figure out what. I kept checking all the usual spots… plenty of backstay? yes. put on the babystay? yes. But the rig was still slightly inverted, then bang! – it folded at the spreaders and goes down.

Wayne Foley and Dennis Canty were first on the scene to assist, on Priorities. They got on the radio to let the race committee know what happened, and circled us, trying to help make a plan. They stayed on site as communication boat during the whole event. Wayne is a fellow BZ sailor, and Dennis is a longtime Thunderbird racing friend. Both with smiling faces, ready to help.

Next on the scene was Cleo Na Mar. They were 1st place overall winners on Saturday, and doing well when they dropped out to help us, just a few minutes after the rig came down. John Phillips got on the radio, and dropped off his crew Ron (I need more information on Ron, and I’m only 90% sure that was his name, but he was the hero of the day. I should remember his name for certain, but I had a lot going on at the time…). Ed Note: Can anyone help with his name? Ron stepped aboard and immediately helped us make a plan. He helped survey the damage and check what was holding the rig on the boat. He helped us add extra support to keep the mast base on deck, then helped us realize when it was time to cut the jib halyard. We got the jib down and into the boat. The next step was getting the mast on deck. Ron called for a snatch block to put on the bow. We used it and the babystay to get the mast on the deck. The windex was still on, and functional! We carefully moved the mast butt to the stern pulpit, and the next step was getting the main down. No easy task with the mast bent in the middle. The three of us worked together and got it below as well. Ron helped us secure the rig and get the boom off, and then John came back to pick him up. Cleo Na Mar, Priorities, and Last Tango circled us during the whole procedure.

I can’t say enough in support of Cleo Na Mar, and Ron who came aboard. Absolutely amazing, and very worthy of everyone’s respect. I’m not sure how to explain it! He cracked jokes, smiled, organized us, was patient with us, calmed me down when I’m sure I was in a panic, offered helpful advice, came out of it cut and bleeding all over his hands, covered with bruises I’m sure. It’ just the kind of thing you really don’t see very often. He will get a thank you note and hug and bottle of rum, but I encourage everyone to thank them when you see them.”

“Ron” was Terremoto’s Bron Miller. Although Bron’s competence and courage should be recognized, it comes as no surprise to any of us who sail with him on Terremoto. His role as bowman, kelp “beaver flosser,” and equipment failure specialist extraordinaire are renowned.

Seeing that Wild Rumpus was in good hands with Bron Miller, Terremoto sailed on through a heavy negative current, heavy rain, rugged seas, and a grounding off of Richmond Beach. It finished just a few minutes behind the two overtaking class boats, Frederic Lafitte’s Custom 57’, Kymos, and Madrona, a Custom 40’, sailed by Dalton Bergan and Lindsay Buchan. Overall it finished 5th, but the time separating Kymos and Terremoto was less than the lost time at the finish line on the first day. Terremoto, fretting about a few lost minutes, was unaware of the mayhem that occurred behind it. One Sailing Anarchy blogger observed: “Day one, I estimate about $60k in sail damage to have occurred throughout the fleet. Ironically, the race is sponsored by a local sail-maker;-) On Sunday, by my tabulation, 69 of 135 were DNF / DNS. By default, we are ranked as 94th overall! At least 4 boats ran aground; we saw at least a half dozen knocked flat; at least 3 boats collided; one was dismasted and at least one pair reportedly went for a short swim. All in all, I am happy to still call myself a boat-owner and be typing this now!”

Absorbed by keeping the boat above 7 knots in difficult conditions, Weinstein and Brink also ignored Coast Guard helicopters, a cutter, and several RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats) that zipped past them. As another blogger noted:

“I have some first-hand familiarity with the Seattle Coast Guard operations. A source in the know said that that the rescue choppers cost them about $2500/hour to operate during an emergency (I assume in addition to other costs) and that these only get dispatched in the event that human life is in intimidate danger. If your boat is sinking and you have a life raft, they dispatch a RIB.

The particular incident was reported on CH16 by one of the boats in the race. Most of the time I was only able to hear the CG side of the conversation as the other boat's radio was too weak and we were a ways off at that point. Sailing vessel with white hull (name unknown) capsized on the west coast of Whidbey Island. CG asked about people onboard and I heard a response stating that people were in the water with life jackets on. CG asked if the reporting vessel could render assistance or provide more info and I derive from the one-sided conversation that this was not possible. About 20 minutes later we saw a CG helicopter go overhead at high speed towards the area. Also heard a follow-up call on the radio stating that same vessel had ran aground (I think they said in Useless Bay) and that the crew were aboard. We saw a CG RIB hauling ass in that direction and a few minutes later the same chopper heading the other way towards base.”

Fortunately, no one was hurt, and Bron Miller ended up being the big winner of the race for his human and nautical qualities. Race to the Straits remains Terremoto’s favorite human and nautical race.