Kickoff 2014

With another off season almost behind us it's almost time to turn our attention to preparing for this year's racing season here in the Okanagan.  The 2014 KYC racing season has been published with a single tuneup session on March 30th and the start of racing on April 6th.  One very exciting new feature of this years racing season will be the introduction of the Okanagan Race Week.  Much work has been going on behind the scenes all winter on what promises to be the premier racing event in the Okanagan.  The race week will be a joint effort between the SYC and the KYC with a little help from the Okanagan Race Week committee.  It will kick off with a two day regatta at the Summerland Yacht Club on Aug 9th and 10th.  This will be a very unique regatta for the Okanagan in the sense that it not only will be located in an area known for the best winds, but also will feature a truely square windward/leward race course.  Great pains will be made to place the race course marks in the middle of the lake to optimize the winds and also eliminate any potential advantage that local knowledge may have provided for the home team.  After two days of sailing in what should be Canada's best summer weather, the fleet will compete in a distance race from SYC to the Kelowna Yacht Club on Monday Aug 11th.  This is a very challenging distance leg and can offer up a variety of weather conditions ranging from very strong winds rounding famous Squally Point, to glass like calm passing Gelatley Bay.  No matter the weather, it will be a very enjoyable distance race through some of most scenic terrain found anywhere.  Moorage will be provided at no charge to competators at both the SYC and the KYC giving entrants free downtown parking at the height of the Okanagan summer.  All participant are invited to join in the KYC Wednesday night race and use it as a tune up sesion for the Commodores Cup which will run Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th.  We welcome all out of town boats to the race week, and no matter what the rating or skill level, the local sailing community will provide great competition and a very unique sailing venue.  During the laydays there are countless activities to keep your crew and families busy.  Fill your days with touring world class wineries and other countless tourist attraction or just relax by the water.  This truely will be a destination regatta not easy to forget.  There will be a website setup very shortly at www.okanaganraceweek.com which will act as a central point for registration and payment, and will have posted all documentation required to participate.  We hope to see everyone out here this summer for the kickoff to this anual event.

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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.......

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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!

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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.