(From Jean, who organized/ran the event):
A big thank you to Instructor Heidi for setting the mark in front of the club and Jason for all his pre-race organizing and postings.
Weather forecast was good: cloudy with warm wind @ 26 degrees; 40% chance of rain; possibly of thunderstorms later in day @ 5 pm.
Wind forecast: SW 7-10 knots, gusts: 12-14 knots.
Participants
Catamarans:
Hobie 18: Tony/Annie, race 1 – 23 minutes (ET)/1.091 = 21.08 minutes (AT)
Hobie 16: Frank/Jean, race 1 – 20 minutes (ET)/1.193 = 16.76 minutes (AT)
Monohulls:
Albacore: Norm/Devon, race 1 – 33 minutes; race 2 – 29 minutes
Albacore: Mary/Kathy/Grace (6 years old) – social sail
Albacore: Dengfeng/guest – social sail
Skipper meeting went well. We discussed route, markers, timing and landing. We also discussed what to do in case of thunder or lighting. Important note: We emphasized – no crash beach landings!!! 😉
The first Albacore Mary/Kathy/Grace (new blue taggers) set sail just before 11 am. We decided to wait until they were close to Aylmer Island before starting our race. Tony/Annie got some good speed on their start but unfortunately sailed too close to the Ontario side hitting possibly the only patch of no wind that day. This helped Frank/Jean judge where to avoid and sailed in good wind across the river on one tack. Eventually, Tony/Annie caught some stronger wind and picked up their speed as they sailed into Lac Deschenes. Norm/Devon took some time to find the wind and once they did, they were able to blaze across and were almost unstoppable. Frank/Jean caught up to Mary/Kathy/Grace just before heading into the beach in time to jump out and help catch the arrival of our boats as they landed. Mary/Kathy/Grace (new blue taggers) had a successful maiden voyage to Aylmer Beach. The climax of their trip was their exciting beach landing – an accidental gybe with the shrill of a six year old in some strong winds. All sailors were fine as the boat came to a stop as it pointed into the wind. The second Albacore landing with Norm/Devon increased the excitement as the boat was coming for a crash beach landing just as a few of us lunge to catch and turn the boat into the wind to bring it to a stop. Originally, Dengfeng and his wife weren’t sure if they were going to join us for the sail and lunch. They were the last to launch from the club but quickly caught up to us at the beach. All boats landed safety and were brought ashore. We had a lovely lunch on the patio with some friendly ribbing between the Cat racers.
On the second stage of our trip, the winds had picked up and the sky was looking interesting… the possibly of rain was increasing. Rain coats were worn for the return trip and some of the Albacores switched up skippers. The Albacores were safely launched off the beach first to give them a head start. Then, the Hobie skippers converged and decided that it would be best to sail around than to race back. We sailed back and forth enjoying the winds and waves before heading to shore. There was a bit of light rain but we were all ready for it, and the winds calmed as the boats returned to our familiar, beautiful shoreline.
A big thanks to all who came out to race and participate on Saturday. The spirit and the comradely of the KSC people are the best.