FLEET CAPTAINŐS BREAKFAST & MONTAGUE HARBOUR RACE
It is difficult to say which was the better of the two captioned events. Suffice to say that
both were very enjoyable in every possible way. David worked hard to produce his
very fine breakfast fare. It was a pity that more people did not participate. However this
did allow all of us to sit at one large table. We were able to contemplate the still waters of
Ganges Harbour and make dire predictions about the outcome of not declaring a short
course before the start.
The start was 1030, and right on cue a light wind from the southeast came in. Five boats
crossed the line and enjoyed a warm and sunny ride to Captain Passage. At this point the
wind was fickle and spinnakers were hoisted to assist the tide that was gently taking us
through. Shortly after a much better wind came in from the Active Pass direction. This was
all very well but the lead boats of FINAL DASH, ELECTRA and ALACRITY all had
spinnakers on the wrong side and the wind was moving ahead as boat speed picked up.
I think we were all pleased to reach the comparative refuge of the Montague Harbour.
entrance. Needless to say the wind became fickle under the first set of power lines. Soon
after, an impressive looking JEEKERS! riding the front of a better wind, swept alongside
the lead boats and we had a new race starting.
The usually difficult section of the course to Sphinx Island was a series of downwind
spinnaker jibes but no more parking lots. The race order entering Trincomali Channel again
was ELECTRA, ALACRITY and FINAL DASH with no more than 30 or 40 feet between
each boat. ELECTRA quickly showed her legendary close-hauled ability and it was
pretty obvious who was going to get to Captain Passage first. JEEKERS! was not far
behind having done well in Montague with NFS.
The strong flood in Captain Passage had us all looking for the counter current close to the
Salt Spring shore. It was there in spades but you had to be really close to the rocks to
get the benefit. Spinnakers were up again by Welbury but there was no catching
ELECTRA. The increasing wind allowed ALACRITY to go straight downwind with the
pole at right angles and we felt quite good about this until we looked astern and saw
JEEKERS! pounding down the harbour wing on wing not very far astern.
Results, time on time.
BOAT |
SKIPPER |
RTG |
FINISH |
CORRECTED |
POINTS |
JEEKERS! |
SLADEN-DEW |
216 |
14 45 45 |
4 12 20 |
100 |
|
ELECTRA |
KIBBLE |
141 |
14 28 30 |
4 24 01 |
80 |
|
ALACRITY |
JONES |
144 |
14 31 18 |
4 25 34 |
60 |
|
FINAL DASH |
WOOD |
110 |
14 31 38 |
4 40 14 |
40 |
|
L. RANGER |
AMBERS |
208 |
15 16 52 |
4 42 53 |
20 |
Bob Jones,