Caesers Freezer 2013

Yesterday marked the end of the 2013 sailing season with the annual running of the Caesars Freezer regatta.  12 brave boats turned up with an exciting weather forecast calling for Northerly winds of 15 gusting up to 35 knots.  I did quite a bit of prep for the race which included an overall game plan of where to position the boat on the race course to time perfectly with the next anticipated shift and be able to tack into a lift whenever possible.  Our starting strategy was to hit the boat end of the line and try to tack over to the pump house as soon as possible.  We started just above J and ahead or GR on starboard.  We had to flip fairly soon as J was climbing up on us and throwing some dirt our way.  We had a few ducks behind GR but managed to break ahead about the time we passed Traders Cove.  We tried to keep a loose cover on J and GR and generally stay in the same phase as they were when possible.  The center of the lake seemed to be giving us good returns with steady breeze and we seemed to make gains on those boats closer to shore.  We rounded the turning mark at Lake Okanagan Resort with a comfortable lead but I knew we would be in a dog fight all the way down.  Since we had expected heavy air on the run I decided to rig and hoist the small reaching kite and instead we found ourselves in about 8 knots of breeze.  We tried once to plane and managed to hit speed over 11 knots but the angle was way to hot to make a good vmg.  It was going to be slow and low all the way home.  I was surprised even in this mode with the small kite we could match the angles of J and GR behind us without sacrificing speed.  We crossed the finish at C mark first just as the wind started getting funky.  It was an Easterly wind on the finish line and for the first time I was glad we had a reaching chute instead of a runner.  Ghost Rider and J finished a few minutes behind but the rest of the fleet got caught in that changing breeze that totally died then shifted to a Southerly for a final beat to the finish.  I guess this was just the Okanagan reminding us that she will continue to do whatever she pleases with the winds despite the weather forecast.  Thanks to all the competitors and volunteers that make this fantastic sport possible in the Okanagan.  A big thanks to our race committee who brave the elements every week and give us an organized event every race night.  Thanks to Barb Coughlin for not only compiling and tracking all of the results all year, but for also providing me with them to post up on this website and giving everyone access to timely standings.  My hope for the future of this club is still to be able to find our next one design boat that can be adopted by our sailors and provide exciting close racing at an affordable price.  I love the Melges 24 and will continue to try to promote it's presence in BC and the PNW.  It is a challenging boat to sail at a competative level but does not require a crew of 20 year old gymnasts like it's reputation might suggest.  The hiking rules are changing for 2014 that will see the end of the extreme hiking that has been the sore spot (pun intended) of the crews over the years.  On that note we have lost our

forward crew due to his moving to the coast and will be on the lookout for a new member to join our winning team for next season.  If you are interested look me up.  I will attach a copy of our race tracker from yesterdays race.  Till next year.......

m

HR1, 2013

Finally some breeze.  Our light air losing streak has finally been broken.  The morning brought a strong Westerly wind of about 10-15 knots with puffs to 20 perhaps, and cloudy skies but no rain.  After resetting the marks the course was posted, and it was going to be an interesting one indeed.  The RC posted CAPFAEC.  There was going to be lots of reaching and a lot of high angle sailing with the kite up.  It was a drag race start with the obvious bunching up at the pin.  We decided to concentrate on a clear air start and focus on our time and distance to the line.  We had an awesome lane about midline with nobody to leeward and we were bow out on the Martin 242 to windward.  With clear air and a boat speed advantage we took off and hit the A mark clear ahead of the fleet.  This is where the challenge of sailing an A sail boat gets interesting in the Okanagan.  The boats just are not set up for a gybeset, and the choice of doing a bear away set in these conditions is not an option due to the terrible sailing angle along the course it would involve.  We gybed around the A mark and jib reached up high closer to the Western shore before setting the kite.  To many times we have been caught with the kite up while getting blown closer to the shallow water North of Sutherland Bay and this time we were determined to give ourselves enough room to lay the P mark without risking a high wind/high angle douse.  It worked quite well and we hit the P mark with a considerable lead.  The leg to F mark was the only true beat of the entire race.  We had a hard time keeping the boat balanced with only half of the true one design weight on the rail.  We played a little defense first covering J and then GR on the beat.  We sailed abeam F just ahead of GR.  They had good speed on us for the leg to A but I kept them firmly in our sites and held a leebow position with the intention of pushing them right up to the layline if required.  We held them off and once again rounded A mark just ahead of GR and J but the lead had all but vanished.  Now came the question of whether to jib reach all the way down to F on a ruhm line course or go for speed with the kite and hope to avoid being blown too far downrange.  We decided fast was to our liking and hoisted the kite.  It was an awesome ride living right on the edge of wipeout the whole way down.  We hit speeds of 13.1kts and had an extraordinary broach recovery to our credit.  We made substantial gains but it was now time to consolidate with a kite drop and beat back up to the mark and hope the tactic didn't cost us dearly.  As we rounded E mark it was clear it had worked.  We put a few minutes between us and the fleet and after an uneventful reach back to C crossed well out in front.  J then GR finished both just within 3 minutes of our time with J then us then GR correcting out in the top 3 spots.  What a blast it was sailing fast and it sure beats the hell out of floating backwards for hours.  Next week.....

J70 N/A

Best of luck to Michel T and crew onboard Instant Karma competing in the J70 nationals in Annapolis this week.  They had an excellent day 1 finishing 15th overall out of 89 boats ahead of such big names as Dave Ullman.  Good luck on day two.  He is going to be one very tired guy as he flies from Annapolis direct to San Francisco to compete in next weeks Melges 24 worlds.  Some people!

Farewell Fall Fringe

It was a super frustrating end to the fall fringe season today with yet again another mostly windless Sunday.  Of the 5 races scheduled for this series I don't think we saw more than 5 knots at any time.  We floated for 1 hour today without being able to cross the startline as the current dragged us closer to Vernon by the minute.  We had setup late for the start in a dying breeze but at least we could fetch the pin end when we got seriously fouled by a port tack boat in our fleet also trying to start.  It is not a valid argument to wait till the last second before starting to give way and then claim that you do not have enough speed to avoid a collision, sorry!  It would not have made any difference in the end however as all speed was lost and we floated without being able to fill the sails and make way for the rest of the morning.  I have discovered this boat just will not sail in zero to 2 knots of wind.  The foils are so narrow that they require constant flow to convert sail power into boatspeed and will easily stall in these conditions.  The boats that did manage to get a little distance up the course poked their nose into a building Southerly wind and enjoyed a very short drag race to the finish.  J, followed by Blur, then Ghost, and Blowin in the wind rounded out the top 4 spots.  The Hot Rum series starts next Sunday with a combined start and hopefully a few boats from other clubs getting in on the action.  Have a good week and see you Sunday.

Final Wednesday Night!

Thats it!  I can't believe another summer of Wednesday night races is behind us.  We finished off in fine style tonight with a gentle 5 knot breeze out of the North and a course of CDBDB.  We got off an average start about midline with much better pressure towards the Easter shore and certain death waiting in the duldrums towards the West.  We flipped as soon as we could and headed up to the starboard layline for D mark.  We rounded just behind GR and ahead of Blur.  We gybed as soon as we could and headed back for the better pressure of the Eastern shore.  We played a few shifts and gybed to keep outselves ahead of the pack and quickly found ourselves on starboard gybe on a great layling for the B mark rounding.  My crew pulled off an awesome Mexican douse right at the mark and back up we went.  I wanted to stay right initially but stuck a little closer to the middle with decent pressure all the way up.  We called an early layline in anticipation of a starboard tack lift to the D mark but it never materialized.  Instead we got dying breeze and a header instead.  We lost quite a bit of our lead as we flipped back and forth trying to time the shifts and watched GR and Blur compressing right behind us.  We set the kite and gybed right away and sailed a hot angle back to the Eastern shore in search of better pressure.  It was only one gybe and we were set for a hot angle reach to what was now the finish at B mark.  It will be interesting to see the results but if I predict correctly I think we will take a second about 5 seconds behind Peter on Blur.  It was a great regular season this year however I regret having to split it between two boats.  There is no chance of us getting a podium finish on Eclipse however I do not regret having made the move mid season.  See you all this Sunday!

m

Commodores Cup

It was a great regatta this year. With the exception of a few big windless holes the breeze was steady with enough pressure to keep the fleet moving. See the results page for more details and checkout the Okanagan Sailing Facebook page for further.

Facebook

Just a reminder to all Okanagan sailors. Why not join the Facebook group OkanaganSailing and contribute to the conversation. I will be slowly transferring the blog content over there over the next year.

Marc

D3, 2013

After a whirl wind July it was great to be back in our own backyard for a Wednesday night yacht race. Despite the temperatures well above 30 degrees we didn't see the usual crazy thermal winds but instead enjoyed 5 to 10 knots out of the North with steady pressure and direction. The course was CDADBC and off we went. I really wanted the right side of the course and risked a barging approach to get it. J luffed us up hard below the committee boat and we had to wait for them to sail past before we could put the bow down and squeeze between the M244 and the committee boat but we managed to pull it off. We flipped right away and sailed the short distance before tacking back onto the starboard layline. We rounded 3rd behind J and GR. downwind we could not quite get into the grove with speed and Blur managed to pass us to Port sailing with the other two in slightly better pressure closer to the Eastern shore. We rounded A mark 4th and managed a great beat back to D mark. It was a great drag race on the beat with J just on our right beam for about 10 minutes. I managed to foot for a while till we got the bow out and then work back up just managing to beat them to the D mark with us just behind GR. we hung with GR all the way back down to A must had to settle rounding just on their transom. Beating back to finish at C was a great leg. The boat was pulling strong and we sailed starboard tack all the way till we had to tack to finish close to the pin. GR was off our right so we had to throw in a quick tack and duck before finishing. We finished first 4 seconds ahead of GR but they corrected out a solid 15 seconds ahead and just behind J. An awesome night for some around the can action.

M

July 10th

I am not really sure what race in the series last night was but I do know it was good to be back. We missed 3 Wednesday night races in a row and it really showed. Last night was a real challenge for us in some very difficult sailing conditions. What made matters worse was the fact that we miss read the race course and were flying blind much of the time. The only way we could figure out where the next mark was had to be by looking over our shoulder and trying to figure out where the boats behind were heading. This kept us more or less in the game until the final mark rounding. We got there first but then quickly sailed to the wrong finish line before turning back to cross the correct one. It was painful but a worthwhile exercise. We have the boat all packed up and are heading down to WIRW for our annual pilgrimage. Joining me this year is my good friend Michel T and local sailing legend Aaron L. We are also glad to have Sascha from Penticton rounding out our motley crew in the forward most position. Ghost Rider and crew are also heading down and will be racing in a very tough phrf fleet consisting of several tough rating beating boats such as the Dart and the Sierra 26's. Good luck all Okanagan sailors and standby for further updates.

Back!

I am happy to have the boat back in the water after a three week absence. We will be racing tonight and breaking in two new crew members before hauling the boat back out tomorrow and heading for Widbey Island Race Week. I am looking forward to a solid 5 days of one design racing and hoping for bigger breeze. See you out on the water tonight.

M

B3, 2013

Ouch!  Tonight really did hurt.  We had many challenges tonight, not the least of which included my head not being even close to in the game due to another boat related matter.  It was great winds for the prestart with perfect 10 knots out of the North with steady pressure across the lake and no big shifts.  All that changed about 5 minutes after the gun.  We had a decent midline start and tacked to port with the rest of the fleet heading towards Sutherland bay.  we saw what looked like a big header hit the fleet ahead and decided to do a quick tack back to starboard to take advantage of the lift heading our way.  Unfortunately this is when the wheel fell off of our plan.  We were dead in the water with zero wind as we watched all of those boats who had continued East ride the nicest little breeze all the way to the beach and tack to starboard heading Northbound.  There was nothing we could do except try not to freak out (ok maybe just me) as the fleet crawled away.  We were still sitting in much the same spot as the lead boats sailed into our doldrums after rounding P mark and started to float.  The breeze started to fill back in, in puffs of 15 knots and lulls of 0 which made for some very frustrating racing conditions.  We had one fun leg with the kite up as we sailed a very hot angle from P to D in about 15 knots of breeze.  We would start to plane but as I brought the bow back down to a proper angle it was clear that we were dropping too low on the mark and the kite had to go.  We rounded the B mark in the middle of the entire Santana fleet with a few fleet 1 boats and it was a very vocal and crowded rounding with more than a few boats trading paint.  Finally a solid beat back to finish at D mark with winds steady about 13 knots and very dark skies due to a several looming thunderstorms.  Was it a successful evenings sail for us?  Not even close, but it sure beats a day at work!

m

Santana BBQ

Santana Potluck & BBQ:
Sunday, July 28th, 5pm

Hey there sailor! ,

Got a Santana?, Have you EVER CREWED on a Santana ?
Have you ever WANTED TO CREW on a Santana ?
Have you even SEEN a Santana 525,
or a Santana 20 or a perhaps a 23D?
Does the mere thought of being on a Santana
keep you awake at nights?
Then come on out and join us for
the Santana BBQ and potluck party.
at the home of James Anderson, 1640 Gillard Drive,
on beautiful Redlich Park in Glenmore.

BYOB, and something for the BBQ,
plus a favourite dish to be shared with your friends.
(Local corn and baked potatoes provided.)

We may have lost the famous KYC pot-luck awards banquet,
but we can have just as much fun on our own.
No rsvp's required, just come on out. 5 pm, July 28th.
Tell your friends.....

James and Barbara. tel 250-763-6012, email ja6012@telus.net
1640 Gillard Drive, on beautiful Redlich Park in Glenmore.

B2, 2013

Tonight was the first night that we could really put Eclipse to the test. It was a beautiful evening for a sail with nice 10 to 18 knot breeze out of the SW. I was worried it would veer to a Westerly and prevent any kite work but it held on to the SW direction and allowed us to get one solid downwind run. The course was SAPFGB and unfortunately was mostly reaching and beating legs. A fleet had a general recall and got shoved to the back of the sequence. We went for a midline start but unfortunately got squeezed between Shadowfax and GR and had to tack out to find a lane. We hit the top mark second just behind GR and ahead of J and hung on for an awesome run downhill. We had good angles but found the pressure a little light. We would hit high 12's in the puffs but then soak back into displacement mode after it rolled through. I probably had the rig too tight as I set up for worse case scenario of 19 knots. We managed to sneak ahead of GR approaching pump house and held onto a narrow lead on the beat to F. We hoisted the kite and tried to hold it heading for G but were very quickly getting blown down range. It was a douse and jib reach rounding G with the lead Santana's. we sailed a respectable beat to B mark and spent some time covering GR who were making gains from behind. We crossed first with just enough distance to cover the spread but then noticed J finish out of nowhere very close behind. They had us. We had a blast and were satisfied with our initial heavy air performance on the Melges. Hope everyone had fun tonight and I am still dreaming of that perfect windward leeward 15 knot course. I know we will see it yet.

2013 Vernon Regatta

Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Vernon Charity Regatta.

TOM NAYLOR OF KYC ON LA PAPILLON WINS THE OVERALL TROPHY AT VYC REGATTA 2013
GRANT HARDISTY OF KYC ON GHOSTRIDER WINS A FLEET
AARON LESOSEK ON THUNDERSTRUCK WINS B FLEET
TOM NAYLOR ON LA PAPILLON WINS C FLEET

B1, 2013

Sorry I don't have anything to report from last nights KYC racing action as I was stuck in Toronto working. Looked like a cool rainy night with not much wind. If you were there and care to throw your two cents in feel free to shoot me an email. Don't forget the annual sail past this Sunday.

Facebook

I may be the last person on earth to adopt Facebook but I have decided to create an open Facebook group for our local sailing community. I will put a link up on the OKS main website but for now you can find it by searching Okanagan Sailing on Facebook. Please contribute your thought pictures and ideas.

M

A4, 2013

Rain, rain and more rain.  The last 24 hours had been one of the wettest in recent memory.  A strong low pressure system went through on Tuesday bringing torrential downpours and thunderstorms to our region.  The lingering effects of this system lasted well into Wednesday's racing with steady drizzle and grey skies.  Luckily the breeze had build to about 6 knots out of the South and the fleet was gathered all ready to race.  After repositioning the startline to square things up with the breeze we were off with a posted course of SADBDF.  We pulled off a conservative midline start on starboard and hit the line with good speed.  We started getting dirt from the Martin 242 just to leward and flipped over to port just barely able to port tack the fleet on our way upwind.  We held onto the lead spot for the remainder of the race and spent as much time looking over our shoulder as we did ahead.  It is a much different feeling to be leading the race and trying to keep a loose cover on those behind than our much more familiar position of trying to play catch up.  There were definitely some passing lanes on the course tonight with several areas of better pressure and many lifts/headers to pick from.  The course was shortened to finish at B mark due to the failing breeze and dark skies.  We managed to finish first just a few minutes ahead Blur and Shadowfax.  This was the last race in A series.  I havent seen the overall results yet but I will post them as soon as I recieve them.

m

Eclipse is born

Tonight will mark the first time sailing our Melges 24 with is proper name "Eclipse".  Thanks for all your sugestion over the weekend but we have picked a name that just seems to have the right feel.  If you notice us sailing around during a PHRF race with our outboard motor nowhere in site rest assured it's all legit!  The melges 24 makes no difference rating wise whether the motor if stowed down below of left on the transom.  The motor sits very low on the back and would drag in the water with any amount of speed or heel so it's getting stowed down below for all races.  Have a good night sailing and dress warm.

m

Day 2 and Wrap Up

Unfortunately today was a beautiful hot sunny windlass Okanagan Sunday.  It sounds weird to even say that, but the lack of any breeze forced the RC to abandon all racing by about 1pm.  They had attempted to start a race right on time with a course of SADX in about 1 knot of breeze but after floating in the general direction of A for the maximum time limit of 90 minutes it was clear that we were in for a floater.  In fleet 1 J and the Rocket 22 Wicked managed to sail twice the distance as any other boats and deserve recognition for their efforts despite the race abandonment.  I had heard tales of a current on Okanagan lake but had dispelled them as old wives tales, however after this weekend I can attest to it's existence.  There was a steady current flowing out of the South for the entire weekend at probably close to 1/2 knot.  We could even see its evidence on the marks and moored RC boat.  Several times we were making way very slowly as seen by our ripples in the water but the GPS SOG still showed zero.  This is why J and Wicked smoked the fleet on the last race.  They rounded A mark first just as the breeze totally shut down and rode the current back North while the rest of us fought to avoid going backwards.  It was a beautiful day on the water but due to our lack of beer it was music to my ears when the race was finally called.  We managed to hang on to our first place in fleet 1 due to our strong performance on Saturday and also take home the first place overall for the regatta due to some fancy mathematical formula that is beyond my high school math.  Danny Foster and crew on Shadowfax take fleet 2, Tom Naylor and crew on La Papillon fleet 3, and John Sharples and crew bests the 525 squadron.  I know 3 races does not make a very well rounded regatta however I still think the majority of sailors walked away with a very enjoyable weekend.  It is always good to be able to visit and compete against our fellow sailors from the other corners of our little piece of paradise. I would love to be able to post a few pictures that you may have taken from this weekend.  If you can email me any good ones I would love to put them up on OKSailing. 

Blossom Time Regatta Day 1

Wow what a day out on the water today.  With rain in the forcast and a cloudy sky the fleet headed out with very light winds out of the South.  There were 27 boats competeing in 4 different fleets which allowed the RC to groups boats with much closer phrf ratings than we normally see on a race night.  We got off 3 races today for all fleets and had pretty steady winds of about 5-7 knots out of the South for most of the day.  The usual dangers were lurking with a few holes closer to the middle of the course.  The Eastern shore seemed to pay the most today with only one beat allowing the boats closer to the West to make gains.  We sailed 3 solid races in fleet 1 and were very fortunate to turn in 3 bullets for our efforts.  Shadowfax topped fleet 2, Le Papillon topped fleet 3 and Flatchat Too for the 525.  We are hoping for very similar sailing conditions for tomorrows race.

m

A3, 2013

Well as many of you noticed tonight I have decided to retire the J80 and more ahead with a Melges 24 program.  Michel and I had a wirl wind week with a drive down to Vancouver to take delivery of hull number 275 and take it back home to sunny Kelowna.  We finished rigging it only an hour before the start of tonights race.  We had very fluky winds tonight and the first start ended in a general recall for fleet 1.  We got put to the back of the starting sequence still 15 minutes away.  By the time our starting sequence was underway more of the breeze had dissappeared and we were left floating near the startline.  The course was going to be CPEADC.  We had a poor start and got gassed quickly as we floated towards the start line.  The mark rounding at P was a total sh*t show with a bunch of boats floating inchs from each other within the 3 boat length circle.  The biggest cowboy maneuver of the night came from Shadowfax who approached the P mark with somehow good speed and decided to try to barge their way inside all the the remaining right of way boats.  We also got hit by a port tack boat from another fleet who for some reason or other seemed happy to make no attempt to avoid us despite our hails.  The reaching leg from P to E was another interesting one.  We had the kite up and were quickly overtaking an unnamed boat to windward and as expected they luffed us about 60 degrees off course, no big deal.  When we slipped below them, however, and tried to sail our proper course of a beam reach to the next mark rounding, they refused to remain clear and insisted on only sailing their proper course.  We, as the leward right away boat, had to fend them off to windward to avoid contact.  I will include the actual rules here for your reference..

ON THE SAME TACK; PROPER COURSE
If a boat clear astern becomes overlapped within two of her hull lengths to leeward of a boat on the same tack, she shall not sail above her proper course while they remain on the same tack and overlapped within that distance, unless in doing so she promptly sails astern of the other boat. This rule does not apply if the overlap begins while the windward boat is required by rule 13 to keep clear. 

Proper Course A course a boat would sail to finish as soon as possible in the absence of the other boats referred to in the rule using the term. A boat has no proper course before her starting signal.

 We were having some spinnaker rigging problems also and lost the ability  to trim it in, which unfortunately caused us to have to douse the kite around the E mark to rerig the kite.  Once we finally got the kite re hoisted all of the evening difficulties were quickly forgotten.  Let's just say the boat hauled some serious ass!  We quickly covered the remaining distance to what was now the finish at A mark and finished much closer to the two lead boats then we had anticipated.  It will be a little bit of a learning curve on the M24 as it does have a few unique characteristics but wow what a ride.  See everyone this weekend for the annual Blossom Time Regatta at the KYC.

m

J80 For Sale

I Currently have my 2002 J80 Hull number 481 for sale.  It is in exceptional condition and definitely well above average for it's year.  It has been a fresh water boat for the last 4 years and had seen very little use before that time.  The hull was recently (spring 2013) professionally redone to ensure a slick racing bottom.  Hull was fared to perfection, epoxy barrier coat and VC17 finish.  The boat has never been damaged and still shines like new.  All running rigging continually updated with all new sheets/halyards within the last 2 years.  Brand new (spring 2013) Honda 2.3 outboard motor.  Sail inventory includes 2011 North carbon 3dl main, and jib with matching AirX AP 600 kite all in excellent condition.  Also has older class main and jib with an old practice class sized kite.  North 150 kevlar genoa.  Never used Ullman drifter.  Boat has Harken genoa tracks installed.  Velocitek Prostart GPS/race timer.  Hall QuickVang boomvang.  Raymarine depth finder.  Brand new APS spin launch bag.  Mainsail, jib and tiller Sunbrella covers.  Includes matching Triad tandem factory trailer also in excellent condition and ready to travel.  She is a very stable and quick example by Jboat.  Asking $33,000 CDN.  Boat is located 3 hours East of Vancouver, BC in Kelowna BC.  Call Marc at 250-212-9950 or email woody1199@gmail.com See http://www.oksailing.com/sailboats-for-sale/ for more details.

SF5, 2013

It was a wild and crazy finish to the Spring Fringe series with this Sunday's race.  We had incredibly unstable wind conditions ranging from W to Se and 5 to 15 knots.  The posted course was CBPTCEC.  It was a fairly organized starting sequence for a change.  We arrived at the starting box early, ran the line several times and figured out our starting strategy.  We hit the line just a little late about midline with Bad Dog just to windward and slightly behind.  There was a pile up of boats closer to the committee boat end of the line and as it turned out they were closer to better pressure and quickly took the lead.  Approaching the windward B mark we were still on Starboard while many of the lead boats had tacked onto Port onto what they hoped was the layline.  There was a large lift for the Starboard boats which helped us close the gap quite a bit for the mark rounding.  This is where things really started to get interesting.  We did a bear away set because of the way the kite was rigged and threw in a quick gybe onto Port as soon as we could.  This however put us further downwind than the boats that pulled off a proper gybe set.  The winds continued to turn more Westerley and we quickly found ourselves sailing very high angles with the kite in strong winds, not cool.  That combined with the quickly approaching shallow water by the red can forced us to douse the kite and jib reach the rest of the way to the pump house.  We were doing very well with just the white sails and hot on the heals of J and Pentameter.  We got to witness 3 incredible broaches approaching the pump house.  The first to spin was Blur.  They were well ahead of everyone except Bad Dog on what looked like a Starboard tack when a big puff out of the South spun them around like a cork screw and laid them on their side with sails a flapping.  They laid there for a bit before shaking it off and showing massive speed directly for P mark.  The other wipeout we witnessed up close was a little scarrier.  We for closely following the J and Pentameter duo approaching P mark when J lost control rounding up and coming very close to putting a rather large hole in Pentameter.  Henry had to take some evasive action by also purposefully rounding up to stay clear of J.  We rounded with J and Pentameter and slowly worked our way to being directly to windward of J on the reach to Traders Cove.  In was a physically tiring beat from T back to C with very shiftly breeze and difficult conditions.  Rounding C on our way back to E is what cost us good positioning in the race.  We once again did a Set/Gybe and stayed right with J for the first third on the leg.  They made the right decision to douse and harden up to a layline position for E.  We elected to gamble and try to hold the kite, going for speed, and hoping for the wind to back enough we would fetch the mark under spinnaker, never happened!  We had good speed but got blown further downwind.  After dousing and climbing back up to E mark it was obvious the strategy did not work.  The last beat back to C was a solid one for us.  We sailed hard and made steady gains passing Thunderstruck and closing in on Blur and J.  We crossed the line 4th just seconds behind Peter and seconds ahead of Aaron on TS.  It was an exhilarating day with many lessons learned on the race course.  Congratulations to the crew of Bad Dog on a first place finish for the Spring Fringe 2013 overall.  We will be out of town for this Wednesday so if anyone can volunteer to write the blog for this week please let me know.  Remember racing is now 6:15 pm starting this Wednesday night.

m

SF4, 2013

Not one for the record books would be a kind way of describing this Sundays sailing conditions.  We had almost flat conditions for todays racing with zero to 3 knots the only steady breeze that might be found on the water.  The RC posted a full course in hopes of a building breeze but it was shortened to show just CEC when it was all over.  We had a good clean start in a couple of knots of wind and were holding our own against the genoa boats.  The breeze was a little better on the Eastern shore and boats like Blur and Flatchat made some huge gains playing the right side of the course.  It is very painful to be stuck in a massive glassy area and see someone squeaking by you in a small zephyr.  As the fleet floated Southbound towards the finish at C the wind started filling in from the South and grabbed the four boats closest to the finish allowing them to cross as the rest of us sat hopelessly motionless bunched up North of the line.  Only one more Sunday and that will wrap up the Spring Fringe series.  Expect lots of traffic and waves from all the stink pot powerboats that will be part of the Kelowna boat show next weekend.

m

Charleston Race Week

Good luck to our very own Michel T who will be racing on board one of the 70 J70s this week down at Charleston race week. Looks like over 20 knots of breeze on this day one of their four day regatta. Good luck buddy and hang on tight.

SF3, 2013

Another Sunday, another great day to be out on the water racing sailboats.  Things looked doubtful from the start for good racing conditions today with rain and no wind in the forcast.  The weather Gods must have taken pitty on the sailors and instead delivered a gently 5 knot wind out of the North and no rain.  I think we are all finally getting the hang of this new start area as most of the fleet had arived at the new C mark starting zone at the correct time with the Committee boat ready to get things moving.  It was going to be an interesting course today with a reaching leg on the menu.  The course was CDBGCBC.  We had a little bit of a second rate start getting ourselves to the line about 10 seconds early and getting trapped between J and Danny F right on the line.  The boats stacked up near the boat end of the line had a definite advantage with much better pressure on the right hand side.  We found a lane and tacked into it heading for the right side of the course.  It paid off quickly and we manage to climb many positions and had a solid D mark rounding.  The second leg was the one that set the stage for the rest of the race.  Downhill it was J and Bad Dog on the left side, and us in pretty good pressure in the middle.  We thought we were doing ok untill we saw Peter on Blur rolling down the left side of the course like a freight train.  He managed to blow by us and J and rounded B mark hot on the heals of the much faster rated Antrim 27.  The next leg from B to G was a challenging one.  Not because of shifty winds but because of the very shallow water that exists around the red can at this time of year.  In order to approach the mark on starboard one has to sail to the North of the red can over the shallow water and hope for the best until tacking onto the layline  We did just this and surely narrowly avoided running aground.  The big Benneteau was not so fortunate and spent much of the morning parked in this exact same spot.  I would question the good sense of using this mark at these very low water levels.  Reaching from G back to C our boat came into her own.  We were the first to pop a chute and quickly passed Pentameter and Danny F with our kite us pulling quickly around the course.  It was an easy gybe around C heading back to B.  I dont think things changed much for the rest of the race.  We folled J's transom and did not quite have the horse power to make any gains in these light conditions.  Today was Peter's day and his crew onboard Blur did a fine job, easily taking home first place well done!

m

Shazam Is For Sale

S O L D


The Santana 525 Shazam is for sale, please help us find her a new local owner. See the OKSAILING website sailboats for sale section for more info. Here is what Gill has to say about Shazam....
Fantastic and super fast Santana 525 for sale:
This sail boat is in great condition and lots or equipment upgrades have been made to her. Sails are in very good shape and comes with two full sets. The trailer is very nice, easy to tow and has the ability for the pads to be dropped down so you can work on the bottom. The Mercury, 4 stroke, 4 horse power engine is only two years old. This boat is in prime, ready to race and cruise condition!
Please call Gill at 250-491-981four or email me at ghaywardsmith@shaw.ca for further info. Asking $7800

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Spring Fringe 2, 2013

It was a cold wild wet race course today that really put the crews to the test this early in the year.  We had a cold North wind of about 10-15 knots with lots of big (for the lake) rollers moving down the course.  There still seems to be some confusion on the starting area and time.  We were hanging out where we thought the start was supposed to happen at the right time but still ended up having to sail fast to get to the new start area just as the 5 minute warning was sounded.  Hopefully we can all clear up this confusion soon.  I believe the start is always supposed to be at the new C mark at 10am but we will be keeping a close eye on the committee boat just in case.  The course was CEADAC and multiple fleet starts were now in effect.  We had a great start and held onto 2nd place on the first beat behind Bad Dog.  We had a good mark rounding at E and got pinned under J's wind shadow for much of the way downhill.  We gybed out about half way down the run and tried to put some distance between us and J but only managed to round the leward mark just on their heels.  Our upwind game was flawless and we managed to arrive at the windward D mark about 2 lengths ahead of J.  Unfortunately we shrimped the kite on the hoist and set us way behind.  We did get everything squared away and were once again headed downhill.  We had a good run back to A and rounded a couple of minutes ahead of the M242 and behind J once again.  We finished about 1 minute behind J at C mark and still just ahead of the Martin.  We will see how the results come out but I think today belonged at Aaron and the rest of the M242 crew.  They managed to hang with the faster rated boats and seemed to race a clean race, well done guys.  To the crew of TBA, next week!! :)

m

Easter Surprise

Happy Easter everyone and welcome to the brand new sailing season.  This year has brought  about many new changes to the traditional Kelowna racing scene.  One of the biggest being the redesign of the racing course.  In an effort to make it a much more square windward/leward course the mark locations have been moved.  Yesterday was our first race around the new course and my first imperssions were quite positive.  The only drawback that I saw had to do with the starting setup.  It is my impression that the start can happen at any of the marks, depending on wind direction.  The only problem is that if the comittee boat arrives at the starting mark too late, the sailing fleet can not reach the prestart area soon enough to run the line and get prepared to race.  This happened to us yesterday.  The start was at the new C mark but we have just enough time to sail to the mark and get the course written down and were then immediatly into the starting sequence.  A little too rushed for my liking.  It was a spectacular day out on the water with a steady North wind of about 8 knots, clear blue skies and about 18 degrees, not bad for March.  The course was CDACAC and was definetly much more square than in previous years.  I also liked the fact that we were never racing close to shore with the dangers involved with very low spring water levels.  We had great boat speed and hung onto 2nd place behind Bad Dog down to the leward A mark.  We rounded just ahead of TBD and tried to hold our position directly ahead of them by a few boat lengths.  That boat actually managed to pinch up and sail through our dirt just beating us to the windward C mark.  As we started to hoist the kite the wheels quickly fell off for us.  We blew the shackle on the spin halyard causing us to jib reach all the way back to A mark.  A few expletives were let loose as we saw our hard fought position crumble and all the boats sail on past.  Lesson learned, always tape the spin halyard.  No excuses next time.  We are very happy with our precieved improvement in boat speed with a fancy new bottom job, and look forward to next weeks adventure.

m

2013

Well here it is, the official start to the 2013 racing season here at the Kelowna Yacht Club.  This season promises to be a fantastic one with many changes to the existing fleet, and even a brand new race course to shake things up.  I applaud Peter and the RC who are striving towards making our race course a little less unusual with less based on local knowledge and more based on ones ability to run a true windward/leeward strategy.  On board Litonya we are very happy to have our good friend and fellow sailor Michel T back with us for this season, his contributions last year were greatly missed.  Have a great time out on the water today for Tune Up-1 and we will see you in a couple of weeks time for the start of the Fringe Series.  Check the OKSAILING website for the racing package and the NEW course diagram.

M

Closer and closer

With the 2013 sailing season drawing closer by the day more and more interesting developments continue to happen with our existing sailing fleet. It sounds like we might be seeing the addition of a J27 to our fleet this season, crewed by some very well respected local talent. This would be an interesting addition and should rate very close to the J80, J29 and BS24 all within a few points. As far as I am concerned the closer the ratings the better. It makes for much more interesting sailing with less left up to the weather gods. There are several boats in need of crew for this season. Contact me and I will put you in touch with the respective skippers.

M

Brand New Year 2013

I hope everyone has been staying busy and enjoying our mild Okanagan winters so far.  Despite the weather outdoors it will soon be time to turn our attention back to the racing season as we prepare for what promises to be another exhilarating year.  I have been busy getting Litonya prepared for another action packed season with the usual bottom painting and housekeeping items quickly wrapping up.  We took our boat to see Bill at Margetts Fiberglass in town and he provided us with a no excuses bottom job.  We also replaced our old oversized outboard motor with something a little easier on the back.  I am hoping this combination might inch us a little closer to the front of the pack.  The first tune up race is tentatively scheduled for March 17th and the Spring Fringe opener March 31st.  The start times may have changed so be sure to double check before heading out onto the water.  There is a North Sails racing and tactics course being offered at the KYC on March 9th, check the KYC website for more information.  I predict we are going to see a big shakeup this year for the customary standings in "A" fleet but time will tell.  See all you hearty sailors next month.

m