D3, 2011

Marking the half way point in E series and with only 3 more Wednesday night races we had a beautiful night for a relaxed yacht race.  All the chaos of August long weekend was behind us and it was once again safe to head out on the water.  Winds were out of the North at a steady 5 to 8 knots.  The race course for this evening was SDBXCAF, the same as last weeks.  Everyone managed to get off a clean start on the first attempt and the fleet was off.  Our strategy was rule number one, stick to the shore.  I think it paid off in most instances tonight.  The real challenge for this idea was to resist the temptation to head for the direct route on the leg from D to B and instead stick to the Kelowna side of the shore for most of the way back South before cutting across towards the Bluff.  We were able to stick with most of the symmetrical spinnaker boats who traditionally do better in light downwind conditions.  Everyone was able to continue to carry their kites as they rounded B mark to port and doused in a reasonably uneventful fashion at A mark.  The committee boat sounded the course shortening alert and finished tonight's race at the X mark due to dying breeze.  Out front it looked like the line winner might have been the Olson 30 followed closely by the J29, Woo Hoo and the Martin 244.  We shall see when the results are posted.