Mackenzie Financial
RCYC Open Regatta
What a great weekend! Over 260 boats registered for the Regatta, and check out the Saxe pictures waiting for the launch. We also had our first experience with the trapezoid course. And though winds were on the light side and shifty at times, we had some good racing on the water and together with a few sociables afterwards we had a few laughs on the shore!
On Saturday the winds were very light to start and inconsistent in direction. After a few false starts, we finally got going around 1 pm for the one and only race that day. We nearly got the pin end at the start believing it was favoured on a wind suggesting left side. Well it turned out that the boats that went right seem to do better than first thought. We none-the-less were in the hunt near enough behind the leaders, Venture, Raven, and Thisbe. Though at one time during the race the winds of fortune had us nearly last and then we got it back overtaking Norseman and Quest after finding a wind shift on the second beat. Off the wind in the final run for the finish we overtook Thisbe, but unfortunately at the gate mark she just got buoy room with the help of another boat, and went in to finish ahead leaving us in fourth at the finish.
On Sunday, we had two races and a little more wind with some more stability in the direction. We had good near the pin end starts in each race with the last one being the best. In the first race of the day, went to the left and capitalized on the favoured side of the course, this time. We were on the heels of the leaders at the first mark, Venture and Raven with the rest not too far behind us. On the next several legs Venture continued to pull ahead and though we had some close moments with Raven downwind she covered us to finish as we did with Norseman behind us to give us a third for this race. In the second race, we led the Fleet at the start, and covered Raven, Venture, and entire fleet all the way up the first beat to get to the windward mark first. We had established a comfortable lead and held it on the reach and downwind, though the Fleet caught up with some following wind. Held our own upwind again on the next beat and still had the lead going for home. Nearer the end of the leg, the gybing started between ourselves, Venture and Raven each covering the other boats. We did some 6 – 8 gybes as we neared the finish. Each time Venture was gaining and finally overtook Raven and closed in on us but we held on to take the race and third overall for the regatta!
Look forward to trying it again on Saturday at the Hospice and we’ll see you then. In the meantime check out the rest of the Saxe pictures of the Fleet which follow.
Ced.
Most Popular