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by winner Jim Hyslop!
Sunday morning dawned with a wind warning in effect and the threat of heavy rain. After a short delay while the Race Committee evaluated the forecast, the race got underway in a brisk Easterly.
Six M242s charged down the bay in proximity, although Salient and Dirty Dog seemed intent on luffing each other to West Van! With a Northerly aspect to the breeze, the boats skirted Spanish Banks and got to the Bell Buoy in one gybe. It seemed the further out of the bay we got, the windier and wavier it got, and we set up for a tough beat back. M&M was first around followed closely by us on Second Wind; perhaps a little too closely, because we managed to hit the mark! A quick circle allowed Too Wicked, Dirty Dog, Whippet and Salient to go past and now we were at the back of the fleet.
A few tacks on the shifts up the Pt. Grey shore, we were back in the game, hiking hard in a lumpy 15 knot breeze. Setting up to leeward and inside the fleet for the long port tack hitch into the bay, we managed to slowly stretch out to a few boat length lead in spite of the breeze showing hints of a Northerly aspect. Most of the gains were likely due to less ebb current inshore, and we got a great back-eddy boost up the Royal Van breakwater.
As we approached the finish off KYC, the breeze became lighter and shiftier – we threw in a few covering tacks to stay between the competition and the finish and crossed the line with a comfortable lead. Dirty Dog and Too Wicked followed shortly after.
All in all it was a great day – nice breeze; windy, but manageable, not much rain and it was great to get out there with my 2 sons, Jack and Graham, along with their friend Ed.
Thanks go out to Ran Vered and the race committee, along with all the M242s who made it out for one last blast around the bay for 2021.
Final results:
1 2nd Wind - Jim Hyslop - 13:55:00
2 Dirty Dog - Matt Collingwood - 13:55:50
3 Too Wicked- Michael Clements- 13:57:00
4 Sailiant - Anthony Collett - 13:57:30
5 Whippet - Craig Strand - 13:58:00
6 M&M - Peter Grimm - 13:59:00
2021 RVYC Fleet Champs - Report
A mixed bag of conditions had the RC hopping this weekend at the RVYC Fleet Championships regatta (Sept 18 & 19), but we managed to complete 5 and 1/2 races (one race on Sat was abandoned due to a freighter unhelpfully deciding to anchor directly in the middle of our upwind leg.)
A mixed bag of conditions had the RC hopping this weekend at the RVYC Fleet Championships regatta (Sept 18 & 19), but we managed to complete 5 and 1/2 races (one race on Sat was abandoned due to a freighter unhelpfully deciding to anchor directly in the middle of our upwind leg.)
Saturday saw a shifty, puffy southerly. Sunday was an equally shifty, but weaker easterly with a bit of rain scattered in both days. The conditions put a real premium on heads out of the boat sailing - watching where the new breeze would fill in and staying on the lifted tack. The longer courses (compared to the shorted Wed night races) meant boat speed was relatively more important than starts and mark roundings.
The last event of the season for Fleet 1 is coming up this Sunday, KYC Lawrence cup. See you out there!
Full results here:
Thanks for the writeup by Drew Mitchell from North Sails racing on the winning Team Swift:
The Canadians had a good fleet with 16 boats ready to sail at the 2021 Canadians in Cowichan Bay, BC.
Team Swift sailed/towed our 242 over with a Boston Whaler on Thursday. We brought the Whaler over to have a support/coach boat on the water during the event, this enabled us to keep the boat as light as possible as the wind conditions were not favourable, as well as get video to help us improve. Coming over on Thursday gave us the opportunity to be able to spend the entire Friday prepping the boat and getting the new sails tested out. Alex and Yury, the owners of team Swift, leave no stone unturned when preparing a boat (Alex even wiped down the entire mast and dove the boat everyday). Alex, Yury and I spent Friday morning getting the boat and sails ready to go for a test sail. Alex had a laundry list of items we needed to check off before the rest of the team got down to cow bay (Fraser and Aidan had to work). We went for a quick late evening sail as we have all sailed together but never on the 242 and we also had two new sails on board. The wind was dying but it was good for some teamwork especially working on maneuvers.
Saturday morning was very light and the racing started up slightly after it was scheduled. If you do not know the Cow Bay race course, it is a giant single windward leeward with the start/finishing line in the middle of the course. As per norm the beach usually pays but with the light airs pressure was definitely something that over weighed the current in certain situations. We had two races on Saturday in light air with the 2nd one finishing at the leeward mark. The 2nd race the wind completely died and then filled in which caused some controversy, then the rain came.
Day two had the same sort of forecast with overcast and everyone was questioning if a race would happen. After a long postponement, races fired up and we had a 4-8 knots breeze. On Sunday we banged off 3 races and Team Swift was lucky enough to win all three to secure the event. We were similar speed to other boats upwind but once we rounded the windward mark we had real jets. Great tactics, team work and newly designed kite (editor's note: the secret is out!) had us round the leeward first in every race other than the one that we finished at the leeward mark. Two fun days of sailing in a very competitive 242 fleet is always fun. It seemed like a few boats had support boats and had some fun social gatherings after racing. I would like to thank Yury and Alex for preparing the boat to give us a chance to win, also would like to thank Fraser, Dale and Rowan for allowing us to stay at their beautiful home.
Please reach out if you have any further questions about set up, sails or any questions that I may have not answered in this write up. Really fun weekend and hopefully see you at the next big event!
Results Here
Also check out the write up in Canadian Yachting
sailingimaging.com was on the water and got some shots of the action, available for purchase here:
photo-graphics100.pixieset.com/martin242canadians/
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