Pacific Yachting, a longtime Swiftsure sponsor, granted permission to Swiftsure to share this article from their July 2023 edition written by Alex Fox in his ‘The Favoured Tack’ column.

A story of the little boat that did. From trials and tribulations to triumph read about the Hotfoot 27 Haytor that was destined for destruction until a few members of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, host of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race, decided to recover her broken body and not only restored Haytor to racing trim but improved her to become a winner.

Swiftsure 2023 is in the books but not before two competitors set new records for elapsed time.

Blow ye winds in the morning, blow ye winds Hi Ho.

Boats were well prepared for the predicted winds of the Pacific Northwest. Swiftsure race day dawned dry, and calm with 116 boats raring to go. Race yachts eased away from the docks, mustering off Clover Point. Spectators enjoyed a warm morning with the yachts testing their sails and checking currents. The photographs and videos are breathtaking as Swiftsure’s photography team began to share race day images.

A spectacular array of boats graced the 6 race starts. The longest was 84’ stays’l schooner ‘Martha’, the shortest was 17’ Cape Code Cat ‘Catlin’. Fast race yachts such as 3 TP52s took on Hein Bank race. The true stalwarts, racing the namesake Swiftsure Lightship Classic (SLC), were here for Swiftsure’s legendary challenge – and got it in spades this year.

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At some minutes before 1900, well before tonight’s midnight race cutoff, korina korina crossed the finish line. This makes her the last boat of 2023 to finish the race. Congratulations to her and to every  competitor this year.

Let’s all give a big thanks to the organizing committee for this year’s Swiftsure International Yacht Race. And particularly we extend our gratitude to Randy Diamond, the Race Event Chair – you’ve been a fine leader and have risen to many challenges. To the over 100 volunteers it has taken to put on this race – well done team, you should be proud of your contribution of your time, creativity, and ingenuity.

We hope to see all the competitors back for Swiftsure 2024 for an even better race event.