A Bit of Bremerton Yacht Club Log Racing History
During the early 1930's, QCYC was holding their own club cruise during the winter months which they
called their "Heavy Weather Cruise". The minutes show that BYC was invited to join with QCYC in this
event, which quickly became a mutually scheduled annual event with the hosting duties alternating
between the two clubs. Also during the 1930's, several yacht clubs on Puget Sound played host to
Inter-Club Cruises, which were weekend events very similarly resembling our current Heavy Weather
Race. Invitations were extended by the host club to area yacht clubs for their members to attend a
Saturday race followed by a dinner dance. Through the years, other events were added to the weekend
agenda, which included skits.
In the early 1930s, BYC had its own schedule of log races in which other yacht clubs were invited to
participate; these included races on Decoration (Memorial) Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. The
minutes show that ads were even placed in the Seattle papers announcing BYC's races and encouraging
participation.. The social side of these
races (dinner and dance) ended up usually being held at rented halls which were located close to small
community docks in this area, e.g., Tracyton, Silverdale, Fletcher Bay, etc. In the spirit of being
good hosts and with a limited budget, the club formed a band in the 1930's under the leadership of
Capt Perl Mauer to provide entertainment for these races and other club functions. As an enticement to
attract musicians into BYC, their membership initiation fee of $10.00 was waived.
How did the BYC Heavy Weather Race come to be? It appears that, with an increase in the number of
yacht clubs forming in the Puget Sound area and with the strong interest in racing at that time, the
participating clubs agreed at some time (probably in the 1930s) that each club would host one major
race each year. Queen City elected to host the January race, appropriately named the First of the
Season Log Race with BYC opting to host the February race and retaining the name Heavy Weather Log Race
(which was already the name of the joint BYC/QCYC cruise in February). Thus, our Heavy Weather Log
Race took roots in February 1932 and has been held annually for 68 consecutive years with the exception
of the World War II years 1942-45. While the race portion of the weekend was suspended during those
war years, the rest of the party continued to be held pretty much in the same way as always.
One race story worth telling occurred during the 1936 Heavy Weather Race when the weather was just
that. This race was run from Fletcher Bay to Suquamish and returned. It snowed so hard that everything
was frozen up. Plenty rough, too. One vessel lost her dinghy, which was lashed topsides. It was just
a little later that BYC Commodore Tucker lost his ship the "Rocking Moon". It seems that the Commodore
had a bad fire aboard and the boat was burned down to the water's edge. Saved his engine by salvage,
however.
The technical side of the race has also changed somewhat over the years. We now have staggered
finishes instead of a common finish time for all contestants; apparently, the arrival en masse of over
100 boats together under the Manette bridge had become a concern. Also, scores are now calculated on a
percentage basis using control points instead of actual seconds of error at the finish line.
Throughout the 68 years that the BYC Heavy Weather Race has been held, the overall winners have come
from a wide cross section of area yacht clubs. While BYC members have garnered many 2nd and 3rd Place
Overall and class trophies, 19 of our members have experienced the thrill of winning First Place
Overall; Capt Jack Hensley is currently (at least through 2003) the only BYC repeat winner.
Another major log race that BYC became involved with was the The Nanaimo Race (also known as the
Capitol to Capitol Race). 1934 was the first year that BYC had an entry and many meetings were devoted
to a thorough study of all phases of this race. In the summer of 1938, BYC sponsored the Nanaimo Race
for the first time. Things really flew around these diggings for awhile. Radio station KVI of Tacoma
broadcast the start of the race and Rear Admiral Fenner acted as official starter aboard a Coast Guard
vessel. All BYC boats moored at the club left their respective berths in order to make room for our
visitors. Also, a complimentary membership card was presented to every Captain entering the race. Two
BYC cruisers entered that race: Jack Kuphal and Dr. Ray Schutt being the skippers. The uniqueness of
this race was that it was non-stop with all boats having to finish in Nanaimo at the same time. For
most skippers, this meant a starting time off the BYC docks in the wee hours of the morning. Over the
years, BYC participation improved to as many as 12 BYC boats entering a race.
Fortunately, Bremerton Yacht Club's founders and early members embraced log racing as an integral part
of club activities in the early days. BYC's participation in the sport has enriched the club's history
and has helped enhance our reputation as a leading club in the Pacific Northwest. To this day, our
Heavy Weather Race ranks as the largest sanctioned log race in North America. This should be
considered a tribute to the hard work of BYC members, the supportive interest in BYC by our fellow log
racers from other clubs and our hard work toward establishing and maintaining good relations with the
other yacht clubs and boating organizations in the Pacific Northwest over the past 75 years.
Submitted by
P/C Mike Henry
Heavy Weather 1951 (?)
Photo: From the Wall of the BYC Lobby