Nonplussed

Usually when I go down the Inner Harbour it looks like the photo above. But when I went down late last week to photograph all the boats that had come for a special event what met my eyes was the scene below.

The Special event, of course, was the international yacht race called the Swiftsure. For some reason I had got my dates mixed up and thought the race didn't begin until the following day. All the boats I came down to photograph were out at the race.

The Swiftsure

Spring and summer are busy times in Victoria. Pretty well every weekend sees some kind of special event. Last weekend we hosted the annual Swiftsure Yacht Race and here you can see a few of the competitors. There are actually a number of different races over the weekend but for details I'll refer you to the Swiftsure website or the Wikipedia article on the race.

Swiftsure 2012 International Yacht Race

When it's spring and the Legislative Assembly Buildings are almost obscured behind a forest of masts it's a sure sign that the Annual Swiftsure International Yacht Race is about to begin. Yachts planning to take part in the race arrive during a few days prior to the races on Sunday and tie up in the Inner Harbour. (My apologies for the small photos this morning but blogger is refusing to render larger photos properly right now....)

The races (there are several with varying routes and lengths) start on Sunday morning. In the photo below, the puff of blue smoke from an echoing cannon shot signals the beginning of a race.

Above and below, spectators gather to see the racers at Clover Point where the boats rendezvous after leaving the Inner Harbour moorings.

Swiftsure 2011

The latter part of May is when Victoria starts to wake up from winter. After Victoria Day (May 24) weekend, the following weekend sees Victoria hosting the Swiftsure International Yacht Race. Here we see some of the competitors leaving the Inner Harbour for the start of the race last Saturday morning.

Diva Duet

The variety of entertainment available on the Inner Harbour Causeway constantly amazes me. Amidst all the clamor and party noise of Swiftsure weekend I suddenly tuned into to some lovely classical music rendered by two rich and well-trained voices. The source of this music was these two young women, the Diva Duet, performing a wide range of music without accompaniment. They are seen here performing in front of the forest of masts that currently fill the Inner Harbour. The Causeway Artists website now publishes a weekly schedule of performing artists. If you want to see these young women perform, look for the name K. Humphries in the schedule. (They're on today from 5 to 7 pm at the center of the causeway.)

Swiftsure 2009

This was the scene this morning off Clover Point when entrants for the Swiftsure races were awaiting the starting gun. There are four races altogether, of varying lengths, that out to the Swiftsure Bank the longest and namesake race. That's an overnight race and those yachts will not return until tomorrow. The other three races are for lesser distances.

I neglected to identify the yacht featured in yesterday's photo and it was a better segue than I thought when I posted it. It is the HMCS Oriole, the Canadian Navy's sail training yacht and a participant in today's races. It can be seen again on the far right of the photo below, with the glorious peaks of the Olympic Peninsula in the background. It was splendid warm morning for spectators but the sailors would have preferred more wind.