A1

The opening day of the regular race season didn't exactly open with a bang, it was more like a whisper. 10 boats showed up on this cold snowy, windless morning to face off on race 1 of what is sure to be a fantastic sailing season. Seldom have I seen very glassy conditions over the entire lake like we had today. The RC posted a course of SACAF and we were off under peak wind speeds of about 1.5 knots. We had a great start, right up on the line, near the pin favored end and crossed right at the gun. We worked our way upwind on starboard tack, neck and neck with Pentameter and Predator to the A mark. Not long after rounding the windward mark we started to get passed by all the symmetric spinnakers. It became painfully obvious that there just was not enough wind to fill our big kite. About halfway down from mark A to C the RC shortened the course to end at C mark. Congratulations to Woo Hoo, they not only managed to place first in fleet 1, but actually crossed ahead of the 525 fleet, well done!

KYC Tune-Up 3

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon for sailing in the Okanagan today. The racing started at noon with VERY light winds out of the North. Nine boats showed up for this last Tune Up race of 2011. The first race had the fleet on a SAF course. We were right on the start line with good positioning and held our spot with the lead group for the first upwind leg. We made a tactical error by sticking too close to the shoreline and over sailing the port tack layline to the A mark. We rounded the mark and started downwind towards the finish. The winds were extremely light and variable and had many boats swapping between spinnakers and headsails all the way back down. The second race was a carbon copy of the first with only the position of individual boats changing. Finally, the third race looked good with winds filling in out of the North at about 7 knots. The course was SCF. We did a starboard tack start at the boat end and worked our way quickly upwind. The fleet was grouped very tight with lots of close maneuvering upwind. We rounded the C mark near the head of the fleet and quickly put the kite to work. It was a drag race downwind between Litonya and Jumping Black Flash with a photo finish right at the line. All in all a great day for a sailboat race.

Tune-Up 2

We had a good day out on the water for Tune-Up 2 today. Things started off with very light winds out of the North and a course of SCAF to complete. Upwind, Woo Hoo managed to find the bottom around the red marker just North of the start line. A good reminder that spring water levers are always a little lower than we recall. About 7 boats showed up and battled it out in very shifty conditions the whole first race. The downwind leg from C to A quickly turned into another upwind leg with boats doing circles just trying to keep the sails filled on the right sides. The last leg from A to F was slightly better with the Northerly winds filling in quite nicely to about 10 kts just in time to Finish. At this point I am not sure how the ratings will mix things up but line honors went to Hopscotch. The second race was sailed in very different conditions. A steady 10kts of Northerly breeze held up for the quick sprint from SCF. The fleet really seemed to get into the groove for this fast race with line honors going to Litonya. It was great to get out there again after a long winter.

Back Where We Belong

We finally got Litonya back in the water where she belongs. We are looking forward to getting the crew back together and trying out the new sails this weekend. The forecast is calling for showers and cool weather so be sure to bundle up. Don't forget the time change on Saturday night. See you there.

It's On

A gentle 5 knot NW breeze and +3 degree temperature greeted the first of the 2011 sailing fleet on the start line today. It looks like some work was done practicing multiple starts and then sailing a short course around the Kelowna water front. Hat's off to all those hardy sailors who went out today.

Ice Free

After a long cold winter the travel lift at Shelter Bay is finally ice free and up and running. If your boat is still on the hard, wait no longer. Sailing season has begun.