A North Shore sporting tradition with a half-century history will be back on course this month after a two-year COVID-19 hiatus.
The West Vancouver Yacht Club will host the 52nd Southern Straits Sailing Race over the Easter weekend, with sailors once again hitting open water to navigate a course criss-crossing the Georgia Strait. The event will also include the return of popular on-shore activities for members of the public, including a pancake breakfast benefiting the Lions Society, live music from the West Vancouver Pops Band, live commentary, and a visit from the Easter Bunny to coincide with the start of the race at West Vancouver’s Dundarave Pier at 25th Street and Bellevue Avenue on Good Friday, April 15.
The event will feature short, medium and long course races ranging in length from 70 to 145 nautical miles, as sailors will test their skill while racing overnight in tricky spring conditions. There will also be an Inshore Course of approximately 20 miles, which will run during daylight hours on Good Friday.
The Royal Canadian Navy will be in attendance at this year’s event, with a Patrol Craft Training Cougar 61 Orca-class vessel on hand to start the race.
Public festivities will begin at 9 a.m., April 15, with the race’s starting sequence commencing at 10:25 a.m.
More info about the race, as well as a live yacht tracking tool, is available on the Southern Straits Sailing Race event webpage.
