Sunny skies and light winds: those were the conditions at the start of this year乌鸦传媒檚 Swiftsure yacht races 乌鸦传媒� trials that, for 80 years, have pitted sailors against each other in long-distance, often gruelling tests of skill, endurance and grit. 

Toting telephoto cameras, binoculars and foldable chairs, hundreds gathered along Dallas Road in Victoria on Saturday, May 24 to watch the participating yachts set sail. Each of the 98 boats, which range in size and style, from catamarans to monohulls, are taking part one of three races: the Lightship Classic (138 nautical miles), the Cape Flattery Race (100 nautical miles) and the Juan de Fuca Race (75 nautical miles).    

While the latter two competitions take between 10 and 15 hours to complete, the Lightship Classic can span anywhere from 24 to 36 hours. 

Named after the Swiftsure Bank at the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait, the races began in 1930 to test the skills of sailors in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria. Today, they have grown into international attractions, drawing racers from around the world. 

Many of this year's the participants gathered in the Inner Harbour the night before the race, where they took the chance to rest, undertake last-minute preparations and chat with fellow contestants. 

Monica Nehls was one of them, who, sat atop the Mata Hari, a monohull registered in the Lightship Classic, detailed her excitement about the hours of sailing ahead. 

乌鸦传媒淭his will be my first overnight race, first offshore race, first race with a crew that I'm not very familiar with,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淚'm really excited to see what it's like and test my mettle.乌鸦传媒� 

Nehls also made predictions about Saturday乌鸦传媒檚 weather, explaining the Salish Sea might not offer sailors much wind. 

乌鸦传媒淚t'll be a bummer if there isn乌鸦传媒檛 actually enough wind to see us through quickly 乌鸦传媒� it can get a little bit boring,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淏ut sometimes that's better than it being too spicy.乌鸦传媒� 

Victoria sailor Brent Jacobi, who sailed on last year乌鸦传媒檚 winning monohull in the Lightship Classic, strolled around the Inner Harbour, admiring the dozens of boats on display. He explained the lack of wind in the forecast might advantage some sailors. 

乌鸦传媒淟ight winds help the smaller crowd because when there's lots of pressure, the big boats just rip around the course and they're done,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淚t'll even the playing field a bit.乌鸦传媒� 

For those racing in the longer event, much of the completion happens when spectators can乌鸦传媒檛 see them. 

乌鸦传媒淪ome nights you have surprisingly good visibility if there乌鸦传媒檚 not too much cloud cover and there's a moon out,乌鸦传媒� Kirk Palmer, the event乌鸦传媒檚 chair, told Black Press earlier this month. 乌鸦传媒淚f it's cloudy and it's kind of dark and the visibility is poor, you're blasting along and you basically can't see anything.乌鸦传媒�  

Jacobi expressed a similar sentiment. 

乌鸦传媒淣avigating and steering a boat by the wind at night 乌鸦传媒� your eyes get blurry,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淵ou can only do that so long, so your shifts have to be short. You can really lose track of where the boat's at and what's happening because if you can't see land or anything, it's tricky.乌鸦传媒�   

The shorter races end in the Inner Harbour as early as 7 p.m. on Saturday, while the Lightship Classic yachts are slated to sail in on Sunday morning. Race officials in Esquimalt will keep track of boats crossing the invisible finish line between McLoughlin Point and the Ogden Point Breakwater.    

As for which boats will get there first, the competition is wide open, according to Jacobi. 

乌鸦传媒淚t's a mixed bag of boats this year,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淭here are no real hotshots.乌鸦传媒� 

But one thing乌鸦传媒檚 for sure: the winning sailors will have a lot of celebrating to do.  

乌鸦传媒淲e were exhausted,乌鸦传媒� said Jacobi, recounting his 2024 win. 乌鸦传媒淚t was a 30-plus hour race and pretty light winds at the end, so it was a struggle to get back after getting shit handed to us pretty hard at the beginning.乌鸦传媒�  

乌鸦传媒淲e had a bowl of chili down here on the dock and a lot of rum. I think I came home a little bit lit,乌鸦传媒� he added. 乌鸦传媒淎 lot of people on the dock are our friends, so that was that was even better.乌鸦传媒�