B1, Awesome!

Wow, what a night for a sailboat race. This being the first Wednesday night race of the season we were off to a good start. Steady 10-15 knot Southerly breeze was the order of the day for race B1. The course was SACBACF and offered a great mix of beating and running. We started right up on the line near the starboard pin end with the majority of the fleet, and immediately tacked out to the right in search of clean air. Reaching the upwind A mark it was time to bear off and put that big kite to work. What a ride! We had 5 people on board tonight and just a couple knots of breeze short of planing, but we still managed to hit a sustained 10 knots of boat speed downwind. Approaching C mark after what seemed like only a few minutes it was time to douse and beat back up to B. Rounding B a slight bear away and close reaching upwind to A. At A we did a bear away set then jib and run to C. We had great boat speed downwind but got trapped under the J29's wind shadow, quickly losing 4 knots. This cost us greatly on the downwind leg. We rounded C mark 1st just a boat length or two ahead and started back up to the finish. It was a drag race with the J29 all the way upwind sailing in very close formation. We managed to hit the finish line first overall but a quick glance back showed Pentameter and Woo Hoo too close to cover our PHRF rating difference. For us, these were the best condition yet this season and I hope a sign of things to come.

A5

Race A5 finished off the series with yet another very light air day. It was a great day to work on your suntan but did not make for very exciting sailing conditions. we had shifty zero to 4 knot winds out of the North and a course posted of SDAXCAF. The line looked quite square so we tried for a full speed midline start. The fleet worked it's way upwind with the usual gains made by the brave sailors willing to hug the shallow waters of the shore. Rounding the D mark and trying to hoist the kites most everyone was having trouble just trying to get the chute to stay filled in the non existent breeze. It took almost an hour to get from D mark back to A mark with the usual course shortening almost inevitable.  Heading back up to the X mark now to finish was another test of patience with many boats ghosting across the line at fractions of a knot speed. The entire spring sailing season has so far been a very light air marathon. Lets hope with the change over to Wednesday nights this week with the new start time of 6:15pm we will see a little more action. Congratulations to Woo Hoo. They take the A series overall win and a great start to the 2011 sailing season.

A4

I think FUGLY would best describe the conditions on the prestart for race 4 today. Conditions consisted of 20 knot winds out of the North with heavy snow pellets mixed with hail. Boats were screaming around under sail just working to stay under control. This quickly turned into 4 knot winds out of the North at the 5 minute warning and the snowball fights began (nice shot Russel). The course was posted as SDXCAF and the fleet was stacking up on the boat end of the line. We set up near what we thought was the layline for the boat end of the line but as we did the wind lifted about 20 degrees and the leeward boats quickly slammed the door on us forcing us to spin in order to find a hole on the start line. The first leg was sailed quite evenly with boats seemingly reaching D mark in close to their same order as their starting sequence. In what proved to be the biggest disappointment of the day for us the only downwind leg was the reach from D to X with the remainder of the legs sailed in very shifty upwind conditions. Notable mention goes out to Woo Hoo once again easily getting another bullet today.

A3

Race A3 (S D C D X C F) was off to a slow start with one postponement due to light winds.  Okanagan Lake’s flood gates have been opened in Penticton in anticipation of the spring run-off, resulting in lower water levels.  The lower lake levels caught a few sailors by surprise grounding 2 boats near the Tolko plant.   It was a light wind beat  to D mark with 3 or 4 knots of wind.  The spinnakers got a chance to fly to C mark and it was another light wind beat back to D mark.  The race was shortened due to light winds, leaving the final 2 legs unfinished.  A welcome goes out to the J29 who was out for the first time today.

Today we had the pleasure of sailing with Alan Barnes of Interior Marine Services.  Alan is a National Sailing Coach and offers his expertise to anyone looking to sharpen their skills.  Please contact Alan at  alan@northsailsinterior.com for more details.

A2

Today's sailing adventure started off with everyone dreading a repeat of last weeks floatathon. Winds were very light out of the North. The RC posted a course of SCAXCAF and sounded the 5 minute warning. The line looked like a strong pin end favored set, but would anyone be brave enough to try a port tack approach? The Santanas were off first approaching on starboard with John S quickly showing the fleet what a perfect pin end start looks like. Fleet one starts also on Starboard spread out evenly across the line. Working our way upwind the fleet splits with half sticking to shore and the other half driving out further into the middle of the lake. Most boats round the C mark and bear away continuing on Starboard towards the bluff. Winds were quite variable throughout the race ranging from near dead calm to a high of about 8 knots. On today's race course it was noted that Chao's skipper Tom seemed to be  missing all his crew members.  A lesser sailor might have been content racing alone with only the white sails, but not Tom.  Crew or no crew, Tom was sailing in the fleet he signed up for, with his kite.  The race had its challenges for a one man crew.   Spring run off hadn't yet begun, the lake levels were low.  Low enough to ground Chaos near the lighthouse.  But not to worry, that is what spinnaker poles are for, to help push ourselves free.  Having now freed himself and putting the spinnaker pole back in its place, its was time to catch up.  Tom made good time and rounds the C mark, now its time for the one man Spinnaker team to fly.  From afar it looks like a wind line behind Chaos, the spinnaker is flying free, its not looking good.  After a bit of time, Tom has the sails back under control, with a bit of free advise: "always lock the down haul after using your spinnaker pole to free yourself from a sandbar".  What a day!  Kudos Tom - it paid off, you crossed the finish line 4th. It was nice to stretch our legs today with a slightly longer course and the wind gods didn't let us totally down. Once again a job well done for Woo Hoo who got line honors as well as 1st place overall in fleet one. You guys are starting to really make a name for yourselves.