August 8 saw fair weather, but a patchy wind. We kept the race in the harbour, by going twice around three marks: the 5 knot boat, the speed buoy, and a round buoy NW of the start line. Near the end of the last run, only 40 minutes into the race, I decided that we should go around 3 times to prolong the fun, as the wind had kept quite steady. That presumption angered the wind gods, and the wind lightened considerably for the last lap. None-the-less, a pleasant sail was capped off with an enjoyable visit and a beer on the breakwater.

Of note was a power boat that started to burn in a very crowded Ganges Harbour during the race. Huge black clouds billowed into the sky as we watched in awe. There was nothing for us to do but watch, and continue racing!

August 15 was warm, with a light SE breeze in the harbour, and no breeze at all past the Sisters. The course was to Ganges Shoal and back, twice around. The wind was very spotty for the second lap.

There were 10 boats out, but DERYN MOR started late so had no official time. IMPOSSIBLE and TANGO DEL ANGEL both decided not to finish. Congratulations to Martin, whose Fireball came in only a few minutes behind the first boat - TIGGER J. In addition, Brian Watson’s Cal 25 put in a good race, and I have given him a very tentative rating of 247 for the time being, since Roger is at RIPS this week.

August 22 saw a 6 boat start in a 5+ knot breeze and clear skies. The wind built somewhat past the sisters, and many boats were fully powered up. Final Dash and Arbitrage showed good boat speed, and were able to capitalize on a significant southerly wind shift near the last Sister to get well clear of Imp. In these higher winds, all three of these boats were able to significantly outpace the slower rated boats by the first mark – U62. On the way home, Arbitrage sucked their spinnaker into their spinnaker uphaul shieve, and had to retire to nurse their wounds. Also on the way home, Impossible either did not know about the second mark – Welbury spar – or simply forgot about it, and had to retire. All the boats had to ghost back to the finish inside the harbour as the wind was dying, as usual.

Martin Herbert and his Fireball “Fleetwind” are regulars now, so I took the liberty of giving them a handicap of 0, which conveniently puts them behind everyone else! (You should know that PHRF specifically will not rate a boat with no ballast, nor a boat shorter than about 18', so I made up a rating just so that we can put his time down today. His actual finishing times show that regarless of handicap, Martin can sail his boat!)

Results for August Wednesday Night Series