Gig Harbor Yacht Club to compete in log racing

Alan Leingang

Special to the Gateway

Editor’s note: A coxswain commands the captain’s launch or barge in the navy or commands a racing shell in rowing. “From the Coxswain” will be a monthly feature prepared by Gig Harbor Yacht Club members featuring some aspect of boating or activities on Puget Sound.

Is log racing what lumberjacks do after they’re done log rolling? No. Log racing is something boaters do to compete with other captains as a test of their navigation skills.

And Gig Harbor is sending a small fleet to Bremerton Yacht Club’s 74th Heavy Weather race on Feb. 16.

Jim and Linda Anderson compete aboard Fidalgo, George and Louise Babbitt on General Quarters, Mike and Lynda Burton race Royal Chinook, Dick and Eva Bennison compete aboard Well Done, David and Joni Cover “bring it” on Oasis, Jerry and Shirley Downer race Nor’wester, Don and Carolie Larson are aboard Tewasi, and Alan and Myriam Leingang compete on Camelot.

Bremerton has been hosting the Heavy Weather Navigation Contest since 1932. Gas rationing during World War II squelched the race from 1942-44, but the boaters didn’t let that put an end to festivities as dinners and dancing continued.

In 1945, a short course was put together on Washington’s birthday and the race has occurred every year since. In 1957, 103 boats competed in a blinding snowstorm. In 1970, 159 boats competed, the most ever. In 1995, wind and waves knocked 11 boats out of the race.

Heavy Weather is the largest sanctioned annual predicted log race in North America.

So how does one race, and what do logs have to do with it? The fastest boat does not win. It is not a race for speed but for accuracy.

The skippers have timed their boats by running a measured mile marked along a shoreline (there is one along Ruston Way in Tacoma). They are given the race course and predict their time to run each leg of the race.

Wind and currents wreak havoc with the predictions. The contestants’ “Predicted Log” is handed in before the race, and an observer is assigned to watch the skipper and record race times.

The observer has the only visible clock on the boat — all others are hidden. Global Positioning Systems are turned off. Throttles can only be adjusted 10 percent up or down, when conditions are not as expected.

On a few occasions, cheaters have been caught with hidden clocks. The contestant with the fewest cumulative seconds of error from each leg of the race wins.

This year, the course runs through the Washington Narrows passing under the Wheaton Way and Manette Bridges, then through Rich Passage, around Blake Island into Elliott Bay and back.

Currents are tricky in the Washington Narrows and Rich Passage, and dodging ferry boats adds a little spice to the race.

Afterward, there is dinner, skits, dancing and awards.

The skits can get whacky. This year’s theme is “Country Jamboree.”

Captains hope Heavy Weather doesn’t live up to its name.

Gig Harbor Yacht Club hosts a log race on March 29. If you see a pack of boats charging down the Narrows with yellow numbers in their windows and red race flags flying, you’ll know what they’re doing.

They’re quite a sporting group of people.