That's a wrap

With the annual running of the Caesers Freezer regatta yesterday so ends the 2011 Okanagan sailing season. We had a very challenging time out on the water yesterday with very shifty winds and variable conditions ranging from zero to 6 knots of breeze. After a less than perfect start, which included two boats over early and us drifting onto the pin, the fleet was off with decent pressure out of the East to South East. We managed to pick off every boat one by one and made our way to the front of the pack. It was us and the Antrum 27 Bad Dog a comfortable distance out ahead of the fleet all the way to Lake Okanagan Resort. We rounded first with Bad Dog hot on our heals and the J29 and Decision some 20 minutes behind. We tried to work the Western shore back home but sailed into a huge area of very light air and parked for an extended period. We kept glancing over our shoulder to the opposite shore where J, Decision and Celerity seemed to be making huge gains. We met up with these smart boats somewhere North of Traders Cove and did our best to cover our competition. We unfortunately did not have enough horse power in the light conditions and quickly saw our hard fought lead vanish. Continuing Southbound along the Eastern shore we played the numerous shifts as best as we could and managed to avoid dropping any further back. First across was J29 then Bad Dog, Decision and Litonya, but wait who was that boat trailing on the not to distant horizon? Like an evil pirate ship emerging from a dark fog bank appears Tom at the helm of Chaos to easily capture first place on corrected time. A great displace of sailing abilities on a C27. Many thanks to the wonderful folks on the RC at the KYC for providing us with a fantastic racing season this year and special thanks to all the wonderful guys and girls in our sailing community that make this sport so enjoyable. Have a warm and enjoyable off season and see you on the start line in March 2012.

Marc
Litonya

HR3, 2011

What a spectacular autumn day for Hot Rum number three.  The crowds are  thinning with the cool weather upon us leaving only the truly dedicated sailors on the water.  We headed out today to beautiful blue skies and very light and patchy breeze out of the North.  The RC signaled course SCXCAF and sounded the 5 minute warning right on time.  Looking up the race course it appeared that considerable skill would be needed to keep us from sailing into the many holes on the first beat.  We had a great midline start on Starboard with clear air and just a nose ahead of the pack.  We followed the boats who were closer to the committee boat and flipped over to port trying to position ourselves in a nice patch of wind just South of the red marker.  It looked like the best strategy would be to hug the Eastern shore and take advantage of any lifts as we headed North.  We managed to stay  ahead of all but one boat and round C just behind Pinstripe.  After a quick set and jibe we sailed our best angle downwind and constantly worked at trying to drive deep in any puffs.  Rounding A mark we weaved our way through Starboard traffic who were still working their way downwind as we slowly started losing ground to that untouchable J29.  The next beat and run went as smooth as any we have ever sailed with the breeze picking up closer to 6-8 knots.  It was a sprint down to A mark rounding just ahead of Predator and Decision, throwing them just enough dirt to prevent being passed on the last beat.  After all was said and done we crossed the line 2nd, still well behind J, but comfortably ahead of many.  Thanks to Henry H for joining us on the water today as his crew has apparently abandoned him to go climb a small hill.  See you next week for the final race of the 2011 Hot Rum.

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New Video

I managed to put together the video from E5 a couple of weeks ago.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://youtu.be/7i4v40fPNSU

HR1

There are few sailing related things more demoralizing than finishing behind a very similarly rated boat in a different time zone, but I am getting way ahead of myself. I was quite skeptical about any wind showing up for today's race after a few days of socked in cloud and drizzle but a gentle 5 knot breeze did eventually make an appearance about 10 minutes after the starting gun today. It was the first general start with all fleets combined for the same sequence. This always makes for some interesting sailing with the opportunity to race against several new boats with the combined fleets. The downside is floating along next to a boat with a much slower rating knowing he is kicking your but on corrected time even though no one is moving, such is the PHRF game we play. Our course for today was SPDXCAF but no one believed we might actually complete it with the 0 to 2 knot winds that were present during the start of the race. We had a good front row full speed start but quickly got rolled and gassed by the J29. We tried to break with the fleet and try for a little more breeze towards the center of the lake even though it might mean sailing on a header back towards P. We managed to makeup quite a bit of time on the first downwind leg and quickly found ourselves as the number 3 boat. The J29 had special guest star Bill C onboard even though it was obvious they didn't need the help. We crossed tacks with Decision and Woo Hoo several times and it was anybody's game. As it turned out we crossed the finish line 3rd just behind Decision and miles behind J who ,although deserving, I must not mention how awesome they did as to avoid any overly inflated egos ;) A great day on the water and the race days left are dwindling fast.