D2, 2011

After a wild and crazy week on the West coast I was sure glad to be back to familiar sailing grounds tonight.  This is already D2 and marks only 1 month before we switch back to Sunday afternoon sailing.  The breeze was on during the staring sequence with a nice steady 8-12 knots out of the North.  The course was to be SDBACAF.  Almost everyone was right up on the line during the final few seconds which triggered a general recall.  It appeared that the RC boat also was having some problems staying tied on to the buoy which set us back a few more minutes.  Luckily the breeze held for the first beat up to D mark with almost everyone gybing around the mark and working their way down to B on port.  Almost everyone was able to pass B to Port and harden up under spinnaker for the reach up to A.  Rounding A the fleet split with some heading back to the middle and others staying close to shore.  We tried to stay close to shore and jump on the layline for C mark early trying to keep clear air.  Heading downwind from C the symmetrical spinnakers just aimed for the mark while the A sails had to work a little harder in a dying breeze to keep things hot.  It was another clean rounding at A mark with the same fleet split as before.  It looked like this time it was the middle that payed as opposed to the shore.  The breeze really started to fade on the last beat to the finish.  Just before crossing it kicked up again with a big header just to keep things interesting.  If I had to guess as to the standings I would put my money on J29, Woo Hoo and Pentameter but we shall see.

WIRW

Well we just got back from a fantastic Whidbey Island Race Week.  There was a good turn out by local Okanagan sailors with some impressive showings.  Jumping Black Flash did very well in their division as did Bad Dog and Alan Barnes on S.L.U.T.  We raced Litonya in a OD class 6 and learned many new tricks.  You never know if you are sailing to the boats potential until you stack up against several other identical boats. We raced 12 races of at least 2 hours each with less than 5 minutes between races.  We would normally be on the boat at 9:30 am and return to the docks about 6pm every day.  The racing conditions couldn't have been better.  We had four straight days with exceptional winds ranging from 10 to 25 knots.  It wasn't until day four that we saw things moderate and after a lengthy postponement the days racing was eventually cancelled.  The most exciting part of the entire experience had to have been the prestart time before the first starting sequence each day.  To have 120 boats milling around the start line ready to launch was truly a hair raising experience.  I can't wait to hit the start line this Wednesday night at the KYC and put all of this new found practice to work.  See you there.

C6, 2011

With dark clouds on the horizon and thunderstorms in the area the fleet was off on the final race of C series for 2011.  We once again had very variable conditions with the winds swinging from NW to S and varying between 3 and 15 knots.  The course was to be SADCDF weather permitting.  I think most of the fleet got caught during the start when the wind died off to about 3 knots and found themselves quite far back from the line at the Gun.  We were very fortunate to be up quite high on the line near the pin end and managed to ghost across the start only about 10 seconds late.  It was a good beat to A mark with one big header about half way up.  We elected to tack into it and quickly sailed up to the starboard tack layline.  Rounding the mark we did a set/jibe and held a high angle even for an A sail all the way down to D.  From D to C and back to D were a mix of beating and reaching with no one electing to try the kite on those angles.  The winds pick up quite a bit during the final leg back to the finish and we found ourselves on the edge of being over powered more than once.  Litonya managed to cross first in her fleet right up with the first two 525s.  I can not believe that C series is over already, summer seems to be passing far too quickly as always.  We will be down at WIRW next week with our boat doing our best to represent the KYC.  Dave H and Jumping Black Flash will be down also.  See you on July 27th.

Carnage at Giants Head

It appears due to a very unfortunate incident on Sundays portion of the Giants Head Regatta that major damage was sustained by Ghost Rider. It was reported to be a port starboard incident. I hope they can fix her up very soon and get that rocket back into the water quickly.

Giants Head, 2011

They say they get big winds down in the South end of the valley, but I have yet to see them on any running of the annual Giants Head Regatta hosted by the Summerland Yacht Club.  This year was no different with the healthy 26 boat fleet facing an hour long postponement prior to starting.  The breeze gradually started to fill in to a light 4 knot Northerly.  The starting sequence was fleets CBA and WS in an attempt to help most fleets finish together before the 5:30 cut off time.  It's always a little bit of black magic to determine accurately which shore will be the favored one for the uphill leg to Rattle Snake Island and this year was no different.  Initially it looked like staying close to the Western shore might pay off with the entire fleet thinking the same thing.  Two boats ran aground in the very shallow bays just North of the SYC and managed to free themselves after some very impressive acrobatic displays not seen since highschool gym class.  As the fleet worked North is became much more in doubt as to which shore would give the big lift everyone was waiting for to slingshot us up past Squally Point.  This is always a big turning point of the race because if you are on the wrong shore when the lift happens you have a very long headed sail across the lake to get back to the proper side.  The first of the fleet was approaching Rattle Snake Island and started to run Southbound through the narrow channel.  The downhill leg was much more straight forward with the biggest obstacle being avoiding sailing into one of the many holes of dead air throughout the race course.  It sounded like the West shore was the optimum place to be, that's where Maximus, the Elliott 770, position themselves to put themselves near the head of the fleet.  Also in the mix were TBA, the J29 from KYC and Ghost Rider.  I think there was also an Andrews 26 right up there also but forgive me for not recalling the name.  I will post the overall results as soon as I receive them.  All in all it was an exceptional day on the water offering an always challenging and welcome break from around the cans racing.  Thank you SYC for a well run regatta and hope to see you down there next year.

C5, 2011

This was one of the few race nights this season that I was not able to attend so I will rely on the information of others to summarize tonight's race. The course as posted was SCAXCAF but due to very light winds was shortened to SCAX. The good old Okanagan seemed to be up to it's usual bag of tricks with the wind only starting to fill in as the boats crossed the finish line. It looked like a good showing from Ghost Rider and the J29 with Pog Mo Thoin hot on their heals. I can only imagine what fancy moves Bill C and company managed to pull off to get that far out ahead of the crowd, nice job you guys. Don't forget the Summerland Giants Head Regatta this weekend which is one of the few distance races we get to enjoy during the season. See you on the start line. We will be racing on Michel T's Blue Sail 24 CAIO.