BEN MOHR ROCK RACE, 21st January 2007
Edmonton
-3, Toronto -5, On Salt Spring our little bit of paradise it was a glorious
+6, light winds, no rain. A perfect day for the Salt Spring Island Sailing
Club's annual Ben Mohr Rock race. 11 boats started the race this morning
but only 10 finished. Poor little Imp had to limp back to port with a
broken goose neck.
The fleet was chomping at the bit for the 10:30 start. Like race horses
and jockeys in the chute they churned around the start line tuning their
rigs. The horn blows at 5 minutes, then 4, 1 and go. With lots of yelling
and shouting the boats are off. Someone yells "Starboard", then
another "Room, I am leeward" - learning the lingo is part of
the fun. Through this chaos the boats buck, lurch and push on.
Raceboats are the thoroughbreds of sail boats. They are sleek speed machines
capable of 6 or 7 knots (12-14kmh). That doesn't sound fast but with the
wind and waves, the size of some of the boats and the fact that mere inches
separates them it's exhilarating.
As the boats leave the harbor, headed out to tricky tidal stream of Captains
Passage, the fleet starts to spread out with the faster boats pulling
away from the slower boats. The good news is this is a handicap sport
like golf so everyone has a chance to win, even if they are not first
across the finish line. So it's an even playing field for JJ Flash with
a full crew to Lily being sailed single-handed and every boat in between.
It was a fast "reach" to Ben Mohr Rock (reach is when the wind
is coming from the side) and back. Coming around toward the finish the,
dazzling to look at but sometimes difficult to control, spinnakers were
hoisted up. Strawberry Express had some unwanted tangles and but for the
skill of our young helmsman, eight year old Keith Simmons, yours truly
would have gone swimming. After untwisting that hour glass in the sail
all hands were drained.
There was one close photo finish between Drew Thorburn's new Questo and
Keith Simpson's Soul Dancer. Even though Soul Dancer was eighth over the
line Questo came out ahead in the results. Nice try Keith.
First across the line was JJ Flash then Caliente but after handicaps were
applied the results were:
|
Club
Rating |
Boat
|
Skipper |
|
Elapsed
Time |
|
Corrected
Time |
Place |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
144 |
ELECTRA |
Kibble |
1 |
43 |
30 |
1 |
41 |
19 |
1 |
|
79 |
JJ
FLASH |
Farson |
1 |
33 |
48 |
1 |
41 |
47 |
2 |
|
78 |
CALIENTE |
Andersen |
1 |
35 |
30 |
1 |
43 |
48 |
3 |
|
102 |
LUNA |
Schlenker |
1 |
43 |
14 |
1 |
47 |
53 |
4 |
|
118 |
FINAL
DASH |
Wood |
1 |
46 |
12 |
1 |
48 |
12 |
5 |
|
148 |
STRAWBERRY
X |
Simmons |
1 |
53 |
41 |
1 |
50 |
37 |
6 |
|
201 |
SAORSA |
McEwen |
2 |
5 |
15 |
1 |
52 |
55 |
7 |
|
137 |
SOUL
DANCER |
Simpson |
1 |
58 |
10 |
1 |
56 |
54 |
8 |
|
129 |
QUESTO |
Thorburn |
1 |
58 |
16 |
1 |
58 |
27 |
9 |
|
264 |
LILY |
Milsom |
2 |
44 |
55 |
2 |
16 |
44 |
10 |
Cheers
Scott Simmons
If you have anything to add or pictures please send it to me.
