Terremoto wins VanIsle 360° International Yacht Race

Congratulations to Terremoto for winning the 2015 VanIsle 360° International Yacht Race, a two-week long sail race held out of Nanaimo, British Columbia, which circumnavigates Vancouver Island. It is a 370-mile race that has 9 stops over a 14 day span, and provides very challenging inshore and offshore navigation opportunities like no other race in North America. Terremoto just made the switch to using Garmin electronics this season, and it seems to be paying off. We spoke with Terremoto owner Bill Weinstein to ask him which features of his electronics helped him and his crew win the race by such a huge margin.

“Having a fast, well-built boat, a Bieker Riptide 35, was definitely a key part in winning the race. Our Garmin electronics were a key component in contributing to our win. There were two main features that helped us win the race. First, being able to tap the screen and look at the navigational buoys that were run by the Canadian government from our (Pair of GPSMAP 7608) chartplotters was a huge advantage for us,” said Weinstein. “From the chartplotter, we were able to look up the course ahead of time and understand what the conditions were, so both from a tactical and strategic standpoint, it gave us an idea of the best way to go in  the race. It was great to be able to touch the screen where there was a buoy and see data gathered from our GXM 52 SiriusXM Marine receiver, such as the wave conditions, what the current was doing, and what the wind was blowing at that point in time. That information let us figure out whether in an inside channel, which is very narrow with a lot of current, or if we were out on the ocean, you  could determine the best navigational course to take. The course and route finding was extremely critical to our success.”

“The second thing, especially when we were exiting or entering harbors, or entering narrow channels, was having the ability to know the exact position of the boat,” explained Weinstein. “We would navigate into very shallow areas where there were a lot of reefs or shoals, but our Garmin electronics helped keep us safe. There were a number of situations where there were literally boats five boat-lengths away from us that ran aground on a rock, but we would go between the rocks.  The accuracy of the Garmin GPS and BlueChart g2 Vision mapping gave us the crucial information we needed. The mapping was great because we were able to see the depth exactly where we were, which was important to us for a lot of the race. There was actually one situation where we had boats that ran aground on both our port and starboard side, but we were able to go between the shoals successfully thanks to our Garmin electronics.”

“Towards the end of each race day, there were quite a few times that we finished late at night,” Weinstein added. “Being able to go to into harbor with no moon and being able to thread your way through a narrow channel with only a very few navigational beacons, you have to trust that your electronics will get you into harbor safely. It was great to be able to put the boat to bed at night knowing that we could basically navigate blindly.”

Bill also used the Garmin Helm mobile app to control the chartplotters when he wasn’t driving. This gave him the ability to sit next to the driver and plan the best navigational course to take.

While Terremoto still has several local races to compete in this season, they are looking to defend titles at both the VanIsle 360˚ and Swiftsure-Cape Flattery yacht races next year.

Check out the entire line of 2015 Garmin sailing products: marine2015.garmin.com/sailing.

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