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

S O L D

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

Caesars Freezer 2012

Today marked the end of the 2012 sailing season in the Okanagan with the annual running of the Caesers Freezer regatta. We were very fortunate to have the only day without steady rain in the forecast all week. Mostly cloudy skies and 10 to 15 knots out of the South had the fleet off racing with record speed. We were very happy to have another closely matched boat in regards to speed with Peter W's Opposite Lock joining us for the quick sleigh ride down hill. We played the center of the lake heading North downwind with the majority of the fleet staying close to the West shore. We had great pressure and hit planning speeds into the 12 knot range several times on our way to Lake Okanagan Resort. We rounded the leeward mark 4th just behind J and just ahead of GR. We were quickly overpowered with our 150 Genoa up and did a lot of sailing sideways before settling in with a partially furled headsail. The 150 is great for light air but is a major pita in bigger breeze like we had today. We tried to pick the shore with less pressure to allow us to remain in better balance and made way for the Eastern short on our trip back Southbound. Approaching Bear Creek the winds had backed off considerably and we were able to shake out the reef and hang in just behind J and GR. the bottom on our boat must be in need of some attention as we were a constant half knot below our hull speed. We finished 5th just behind GR and ahead of OL. I have decided to keep Litonya for at least another season and make a few more go fast upgrades to see where that takes us. She still has lots to teach me. Thanks everyone for a very enjoyable 2012 sailing season and once again, see you on the start line in March.

M