Spring Fringe 4, 2014

Today marked the final race for the spring fringe series. It also looked like the most challenging sailing conditions to date. Challenging in the sense of many windless holes we would have to be careful to not get ourself stuck in out on the course. There was about 4 knots out of the North however the forecast called for breeze to fill in from the South as the day wore on. The posted course was CEAGDC. We looked towards E mark and saw a large glassy patch just waiting to swallow us whole and elected to stick closer to the right side of the course and hope for more breeze and the usual lift found with a Northerly. The pressure held for a while but eventually faded leaving us with just enough enough breeze to make way. We watched as Ghost Rider tried their best to sail around us nearer to the East shore and kept a close eye on Blur who had us beat for much of the course on corrected time and was the only thing standing between us and a series sweep. The boats on the left side of the beat got an early Christmas present as a rain shower passed through building pressure on the West side. We were just able to stick our nose into it and sail with good pace for E mark. We rounded with the 525s and did a reasonable gybe set setting course for A mark. It was a very high angle for the kites and many boats decided to jib reach Southbound but we were able to fly our A2 and stretch out a little further. Allan put us in the perfect position to tie into the new Southern breeze and finish without requiring an expensive tack. I think Blur had us on corrected time right up to the last 5 minutes but they got caught up in all kinds of dirt thanks to our 525 friends while we were on a higher lane and enjoyed clear air right to the finish. This first series was a great start to what is going to be an epic sailing year. Enthusiasm continues to build surrounding a growing Melges 24 fleet and we are currently working on trying to introduce hull number 3. All we need is a 5 boat fleet and all of a sudden the sailing scene in the Okanagan stands to explode. We will be able to attract several of the 50 plus M24's to our local regattas and show the rest of the the PNW what a fantastic sailing venue we enjoy. Imagine hosting and racing against some of the top sailors in the NW right in our own back yard. Epic! I will be out of town for this Wednesdays race but will be leaving Eclipse in the very capable hands of my good buddy Michel to skipper. Smooth sailing to everyone and see you the following week.

SF2, 2014

I was pleasantly surprised by the weather conditions on today's race course. Under bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine we had a solid 7 knots of breeze straight out of the North. There was some kind of fire burning just North of town that had laid down a thick blanket of smoke but once that blew through there was no stopping the beautiful day. It was great to see the normal committee boat back out today and with it came a much better chance of a square start line. The course was CPTEAC. Due to a whole pack of over early boats down at the boat end the first race for A fleet was a general recall. I am still trying to find what 7 horn blasts mean in the rule book but I will keep digging ;) We got shoved to the back of the sequence and when it was our turn we got away clean closest to the pin end. We had Bad Dog just off out right hip but we were able to work up to a good lee bow position and send them tacking away. We stayed quite close to the Eastern shore on the beat to the pump house and got into an awesome lift that laddered us up right to the layline. It was a power reach to T. We tried a tricky simultaneous hoist gybe at the mark with little success but will keep working on that maneuver as we go. We had a not bad angle and pressure under spinnaker as we played the Bear Creek shore with BD hot on our heels. As we gybed to reach past E mark we rolled out onto a great angle and sailed back towards the city front under lifting winds. We gybed as BD tried to cover our wind from behind but they were just a little slow and we managed to be bow ahead and rolled under a couple of 525's as we approached A mark. We were a little confused trying to find the mark as B seemed to be missing. We later spotted it washed up on the beach by the zip line waterski place on the NW side of the bridge. It was a quick beat heading North with Vitas working up from underneath us into a leebow position causing us to take a short hitch for clear air. Once back on Starboard with a clear lane we enjoyed a nice lift that took us to finish at the committee boat. We had hoped to see the other Melges out today but as we sailed in we spotted them at the boat launch still trying to figure out where all the pieces go. It is a pretty easy boat to rig but the first time can sure be a little mystifying. Another solid performance by the very fast Blur followed closely by BD and J. We will miss next week due to copious consumption of turkey and beer but look forward to our next outing. A very happy birthday with big Al Barnes today and best of luck to him and Thor who will be competing in the Southern Straits regatta aboard Jam next weekend.

Race Results

Thanks to the hard work of Barb Coughlin and the willingness of the KYC to share their data, the race results will once again be available right away on www.oksailing.com.  They are usually posted within the hour on our website and available shortly after on the newly redesigned KYC site.  For those who have to know!

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Spring Fringe 1

Today marked the start of another fantastic sailing season here in the Okanagan. It was great to see all the boats back out on the water after a long winters rest. We sure are fortunate to live where we do because after extensive coast to coast travel recently I don't know if there are any other fresh water lakes that are good for much more than ice skating yet this spring. We had fresh 15 knot winds during the preset and we took the opportunity to hoist the kite and do a little planing around C mark and ran the crew through the prestart drill. It was a Northerly breeze but with the forecast calling for a Southerly later in the day I feared we would be sailing during the transition zone at some time today. The course was CTAPA. The big challenge was going to be trying to set a square start line. The usual RC boat was still broken so another sail boat filled in as a committee boat, the problem being that it was dragging the mark it was tied onto down to the South very quickly. They started the motor and once again tried to square up the line but by the time the gun went off there was about a 45 degree angle that made it very difficult to start on starboard. Most boats had to flip back onto port to cross the line and headed for the East shore. We had good success playing a little more middle of the lake as we beat towards Traders Cove. We rounded first and threw in a quick hoist gybe, as there was not much room due to the log boom just South of the mark. It was a great angle for us for the run down to A mark and we did our best to concentrate on maintaining boat speed at all times. We had to keep in mind the tendency of the wind to back as we made our way to A mark and sailed a fairly hot angle into our rounding. Heading back up to Pumphouse it was obvious the East shore was the way to go. We short tacked our way the whole way up, walking the fine line between shore breeze and getting stuck in the mud. We rounded PH thinking that they might call the race due to quickly fading breeze but with the lack of any notification of a shorter course we pressed on. We again short gybed our way along the Eastern shore and kept the boat moving well despite the slight pressure. Again approaching A mark we had worked up a bit in hight and were well placed for that backing breeze and close reached with the kite up to finish at A mark. Major thumbs up should go to Blur who not only managed to pass the unstoppable J29 but also finished just ahead of the crazy cowboys from down South on Bad Dog. Our crew continues to make major step forward with every outing and I can't wait to see what next week brings.

Tune Up Time

Lots has been going on here in the sailing world already this year and it is shaping up to be a fantastic year for sailing in the Okanagan. Sunday marked the one and only day for boats to shake out the sails, dust off the rule books and get their boats sailing fast. It was a beautiful day for a shake down sail with about 5 to 10 knots from the South/Southwest. Thanks to Henry H for jumping into action and acting as RC when the usual boat couldn't get their engine started. They set up for a couple of practice starts to get the fleet back into the grove. Our only mistake was assuming the multiple horn blasts after the practice start meant another general recall and to prepare for another start. It didn't. The race was underway and we found ourselves the better part of 5 minutes behind the bulk of the fleet. The challenge was set and we now had a lot of catching up to do. We played the West shore going towards A mark and had good pressure quickly reeling in the fleet and rounding about mid fleet. It was decided to try the East shore down to D mark as there appeared to be solid pressure all the way down. We ended up getting a bad lift while running that forced us to sail an ever deepening course and slowed our progress. I can't remember specifics but I think we rounded near the head of the pack and again made for the East shore on up to A mark. Most boats that went West made huge gains and we were passed by a few by the time we got back up to A mark. Blur got the inside overlap on us for the rounding and we again continued East while they went West. The run was pretty much another carbon copy of the first towards D mark. We got to bust out the fancy spinnaker work for the douse at D mark as we successfully pulled off the first Mexican of 2014. We rounded D just behind big bad J and they managed to hold us off on the no tack Beat to finish at C. The marks must have been moved somewhat as the distance between C and D seems very short. Today for us was really about getting used to a new crew dynamic. We are very fortunate to have Alan Barnes and Thor joining us for the regular season this year along with returning rock star Michel Tremblay. Tracy will be trimming the jib and is happy to learn that she gets to sit behind 4 big guys downwind when the spray starts coming over the bow. There is all kinds of high level competition taking place out West this year for the Melges 24 including the Canadian nationals being held in Victoria in June. We hope to be there. Don't forget to put Okanagan Race week on the calendar this summer. See www.okanaganraceweek.ca for more details. I can't believe that even after all these years I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning looking forward to next Sundays sailing. See you there.

M