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.