C4, 2011

We experienced a 15 to 25 knot Westerly that offered very few opportunities for spinnaker work. The course posted was SADBAXCF and a heavy favored pin end on the start line. There were frequent puffs over the entire course with no favored sides. Only a few boats dared to try flying a kite and usually ended on on their ear in short order. We managed to work our way to the head of the fleet and hold off several boats that did their best to waterline us on the reach back and forth. We did try to fly the kite on the last leg from A to C, but found the angle too high to effectively carry the spinnaker and quickly doused. This was surely the right night for the larger heavier boats as demonstrated by the good showing from Aussie Rules, well done guys!

C3, 2011

It was a wonderful night for a yacht race, if you like broaching and torn kites. Well that might be a little bit of an exaggeration but you get the point. We had a solid 10 to 15 kts of Southerly breeze and some pretty good waves for our little race area. The course as posted was SADCDF and promised lots of running and beating. The pin was the heavily favored end and the boats stacked up as expected trying to get the jump on the fleet. It got so hairy and congested that a general recall was declared and our fleet 1 start moved to the back of the sequence. The second start had the boats much more evenly spaced out and we were able to get off a clean start. We tacked over to port after suffering in bad air almost immediately and started to regain some lost ground. After hoisting the kite with a bear away set we threw in a quick jibe and almost immediately broached. It was my first broach on this boat and was quite uneventful. It was living on the edge for the entire reach to D mark trying to sail to the layline without spinning out of control. We spotted a huge puff behind us and made the correct decision to douse early and jib reach the last minute or so to D mark. Once we hit D mark it was an uneventful course to CD and F. We did lots of fast beating with the boat fully powered up and were very happy with our boat speed both upwind and downwind. It was the kind of night that teamwork either made it or broke it. Congratulations to GHOST RIDER for another first place win, managing to stay a minute or so out ahead of us on the final leg.

WIRW

OK SAILING is heading for Whitbey Island Race Week next month to help represent the KYC at this favorite West coast regatta. We will be taking the J80 down to the coast and are still looking for 1 or 2 additional crew members to join us. If you are interested email me at skip@oksailing.com for more info.

Marc

Hockey Fever, C2 2011

A terrible but understandable rash of hockey fever must have torn through the fleet last night with only about 14 boats showing up for Wednesday night racing action. As it turned out I am sure most Vancouver fans wish they had sailed instead of watched the game. Those boats that did show up had cloudy skies and about 5 knots out of the South for breeze. The RC posted SADAF and we were off with the entire fleet starting on Starboard and working our way upwind to A mark. The were a few glassy, as well as breezy patches to be found. Some very astute skippers were able to position themselves in the most pressure and quickly found themselves on the starboard tack lay line out ahead for the rounding. It was a rather fast downwind leg with even pressure holding across the course and no obvious favored sides. The RC shortened the course to SAD and parked the committee boat next to D mark for an early finish line. We managed to get into very close quarters with two other boats right on the finish line with lots of lively discussions involving mark room and right of way. CIAO glided along smartly and managed a very respectable 2nd place finish showing lots of potential on that little sport boat.

Threatening Skies

With the forecast of thunderstorms in the area the fleet headed out prepared for the unexpected. We had nice winds during the prestart with about 7 knots out of the South.  The RC selected a shorter course due to the weather and posted SADF for tonight. The fleets were off with most favoring a starboard tack start and a quick tack to port.  The winds lifted the port tack boats right up to the layline for the quick beat up to A mark. Rounding A mark is where things started to get interesting. There was a big weather cell over town that started to kick out some good Easterly winds. Many boats elected to fly only their jib on this leg and power reach all the way to D. Some boats closer to shore with their kites up looked like they were not having fun. We saw lot's of spinnakers being washed in the water tonight. Might be an expensive evening for some. We hoisted the kite around A mark and were able to hold a pretty tight angle on the run down to D. We knew that we would have to douse somewhere down the line and climb a little higher up to the layline, but the 10.5 knot run was just to much fun to hurry it. We managed to get the kite down in a very slow fashion, due to a knotted spin halyard. We rounded D mark with the lead 525 boats and worked our way back up to the finish. A wild and wooly adventure for all.

B6, 2011

Another beautiful night for sailing in the Okanagan. The winds near the start were fantastic. A solid 8 knots out of the South. The course was SADCDF. It was a good start for most of us with not too many boats stuck in the back row. We got a solid midline start with good speed and did pretty good holding our own on the first beat to A mark. We rounded A mark and tried to stick close to shore on the long run down to D. We kept a solid 6 to 7 knots of speed but could not drive a deep as I would have wanted due to a quickly fading breeze. We rounded D mark to port dousing the chute and hardening up for the short beat to C. There was a wild wind shift near the starboard tack layline for C mark. We had to sail way high just to avoid having to 2 or 3 tack the mark rounding. The next two legs were very pleasant indeed, but the best we could do was keep our distance clear ahead of our nearest 2 competitors,  WOO HOO and PENTAMETER. We were too far back to see how the finish worked but it looked like J29 and Ghost Rider well ahead of the pack. Standby for results as soon as I receive them.

Rock and Roll

I just got footage of the bad wind and wave storm that rolled through on Monday afternoon. Check out this video taken at SB.

New Moorage

We just moved our little race boat over to it's new home at the KYC. My hats off to the Shoreline guys for a job well done. It look's beautiful. Also welcome to the startline tonight to Michel T. He will be at the helm of his new sled. It's a BluSail 24 named CAIO.