B5, 2011

Last night marked the end of a nice string of sunny weather but offered the promise of a little breeze once again. It was another one of those nights where no one was sure if the course was a North or South one until the 5 minute warning. Big wind shifts and speed changes were very common during the prestart. I am not sure of the physics involved but I can not figure out how 180 degree wind shifts can happen so frequently on the KYC race course. The RC finally posted a course of SDCDXAF and the fleet was off. We managed to pull off a port tack start right up on the line and crossed the fleet while heading for the Delta Grand. We decided to stick to the shore at all costs but made little gain this time in doing so. A few boats a little further out found a small patch of breeze and started to work their way up. Most boats experimented with their kites on the first leg trying to trap whatever breeze as is shifted further aft. Approaching D mark it was quite a busy rounding and a quick beat back to C. Round C to port and a gybe set for most back to D. The wind started to build as the fleet once again rounded D and made for the most exhilarating part of the evening as we all power reached for the longest leg to A mark. Around A the kites went up and a quick drag race for the finish. Congratulation to Hopscotch who managed to hang in there with the faster rated boats and take first place on this second last race of B series here at the KYC.

Day 2. Canaccord Cup 2011

Day two started with better weather conditions than forecast. We didn't quite have the wind yet but at least the predicted rain seemed to disappear for the valley. There was an initial postponement of about 1 hour while the fleet slowly did the waltz round and round the committee boat. Everyone noticed a Southerly wind line filling in from the bridge and we were off sailing in about 5-8 knot breeze. The RC managed to get 4 races in today much to everyone's surprise. Congratulations to the following winners of their respective fleets.

 Fleet 1 winners BAD DOG

 

 Fleet 2 winners SMART MOVE

 Fleet 3 winners CHAOS

 

525 national champion FLATCHAT 

Overall 2011 Canaccord Cup winners BAD DOG

Day 1, Canaccord Cup 2011

What a frustrating day it was indeed. We had a slightly smaller turnout this year for day one of the regatta. It was nice to welcome several new boats to the start line from various clubs throughout the Okanagan. The RC managed to get off 5 races today despite almost no wind conditions for much of Saturday. The breeze was very hard to figure out even for Kelowna standards. One boat could be floating with zero speed and get passed by another boat not 30 feet away doing 5 knots. If you were luck enough to catch a ride on a zephyr passing through it would quickly evaporate and leave you floating one again. Despite these very challenging conditions a few boats did manage to turn in very respectable performances today. Notably the J29, Ghost Rider, the Rocket 22 and the Antrim 27. As I write this on Sunday morning it looks like a nice breeze is building on the water right now so lets hope for a faster pace for day 2.

2011 Canaccord Cup Regatta

The May long weekend is finally here and with it comes the 2nd annual Cannacord Cup hosted by the KYC. Not a great forecast for the next two days but lets hope with this unsettled weather comes a little breeze. Good luck to all the competitors and stay tuned for updates throughout the weekend.

B4, redemption

We were finally back on track for beautiful Wednesday night sailing conditions. Last night was the perfect warm up for the Canaccord Cup regatta being held this weekend at the KYC. Steady Northerly winds at about 8 knots and a course of SDBXCAF would provide plenty of action for this Wednesday night race. A few newcomers joined us on the start line this week, possibly up for this weekends regatta. We did a port tack approach towards the committee boat and tacked under Ghost Rider a little below the line. We ended up getting bad air during the start and struggled a bit during the first beat to D mark. Rounding D the fleet spread out quite evenly with no threat of shore only breeze conditions similar to last week. The J29 and Ghost Rider appeared to be battling it out and both reached B mark first with the rest of the fleet hot on their heels. It was a fast close reach back to X mark and harden up for a mostly Starboard beat to C. There was a nice lift of Starboard on the beat back to C which saved us one tack for the layline. Rounding C most of the fleet did a gybe set running down to A. Approaching A on starboard it was a quick douse/gybe and harden up for the quick beat up to F. Once again we settled in on starboard and got lifted nicely towards the finish. It looked like the J29 and Ghost Rider first across, Woo Hoo and Litonya followed by Pentameter next up. Standby for the race results to be posted as soon as they are provided to me. See you this weekend for the 2nd annual Cannacord Cup regatta and don't forget to preregister for you chance to win an early bird draw on Friday night of a Longarm boat bottom scrubber.

B3, 2011

I admit it! It's all my fault. I actually had the nerve to think out loud about a possible 3 in a row of perfect Wednesday night conditions. What we had last night was definitely far from perfection. During the prestart we saw very shifty wind conditions with 60 degree swings in 5 seconds very common. The RC tried to give us an upwind start but instead gave us a downwind start with Easterly winds and a course of SDBXCAF. After the usual chaos involved with a downwind start we were off. We started on Starboard near the boat favored end and quickly popped the chute. We managed to wiggle our way ahead of the fleet and rounded the D mark first. This is where it quickly fell apart for us. The fleet split at this rounding with half (including us) sailing near the layline immediately for B mark while the other (smarter) half sailing away from the B mark back towards the KYC to stay in the shore breeze. It quickly became evident who made the right call. Our wind quickly died to zero and left us parked in the middle of the lake for a good hour while the boats on the shoreline cross country route slowly made progress towards B. We were so far behind at this point it was hard to see what was actually going on but it looked like the J29 followed by the Martin 24 rounded B first heading for X. Congratulations to those keen skippers who bravely stuck to rule number 1, always follow the shore, it paid off handsomely.  Shortly after finishing we noticed a very large windline coming down the lake from the bluff. We quickly dropped sails and got slammed by 20 to 30 knot winds. This made for an interesting motor all the way back to Shelter Bay in the near darkness. Ahhh high adventure. See you next week and don't forget the Cannacord cup May long weekend. Preregistration is available on the home page.

B2, Nirvana

I am really starting to like these Wednesday night races! Last night made two weeks in a row of near perfect sailing conditions. Warm temperatures, steady South winds of 10-12 knots and sunshine were the ingredients for a perfect night of sailing. The course was SADXCAF and were perfect angles for our asymmetric spinnaker. The majority of the race saw some very competitive sailing between Ghost Rider, Decision, J 29 Boat and the Martin 244.   We managed to sneak ahead of the pack on the first windward mark rounding and sailed in mostly clear air for the much of the race. Litonya managed to cross the finish well ahead of the crowd but still managed to be beaten on corrected time by Pentameter. Woo Hoo also continued in her winning ways with a close 3rd. Be sure to check out the movie of the week on oksailing.com, it should be a good one!