The Van Isle 360 in case you haven't heard  is a bi-annual event where about 45 invited participants race around Vancover Island in 10 legs.  In addition to being logistically challenging it also involves sailing in a wide variety of conditions ranging from tight inshore passages (ie - Seymour Narrows) to full-on offshore legs.

The race starts and ends in Naniamo, BC and to make things even more complicated the scores for each leg are weighted by the complexity of the leg.  You also get bonus points if you finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd.  The boat that finishes with the most points wins --  we have come in 2nd twice so perhaps this time we will get lucky and maybe do a little better.

For this race we will also be accompanied by our 70' powerboat Swan -- hopefully the weather will be cooperative such that she can come all around the island with us.  We are using Swan as our floating hotel and sail storage locker -- this is enabling us to keep Icon very light with only the gear that we need during the race.

We will file a report each day of the event so stay tuned.  You can also follow along with our progress by accessing our APRS transponder using the following link:

Icon tied up in Naniamo before the 1st Start