2009 Canadian Optimist Dinghy Championship

Thomas and Keith Simmons raced in this great event. It was held at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and had many dignitaries in attendance the elaborate opening ceremonies welcomed competitors from Bermuda, New Zealand, United States, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia and even little Saltspring Island. There were about 100 racers registered for the regatta, including kids aged 6-15 years old from all over the world. The Opti is considered the pre Olympic boat to hone skills before moving up to the bigger boats. I had no idea that the registration and measurement requirements would be so intense. Our little club boats had no Canadian sail number, stickers in the wrong place, sails that did not comply, dagger boards that where a millimeter too long, and rigging that was not up to code. I was glad we went a day early and had six hours to get them through the measurements! The coach boat Tobasco 11 was great to have on the water and worked without problems.

The event was five days of intense racing with two to four 45 minute races per day. The first race had about 80 Optimists on the line and was a long course out of Cadboro bay with two laps around a mark and back. The competition fierce and Keith and Thomas were outmatched. The boys did their best but came in dead last. During the next race Keith capsized at the far mark but managed to get the boat back upright and bailed all the way back to the finish. I was proud of their determination to continue but knew it was not going to be fun to lose every race.

I went to the race committee and asked permission for the boys to resign from the championship fleet and race in the green fleet, which we now realized was not just for kids who had never sailed.

The green fleet proved to be good competitive racing and the boys finished mid pack on most races. RVYC did a spectacular job in setting up the races and providing a jury boat. Yes they had umpires on the water to check for rule 42 violations. The older kids pump the sails on the back side of waves and get a boost. The top HI racers in the regatta have Qualified to go the 2010 Opti worlds in Malaysia. Overall it was a surreal event that we were not prepared for, but now we know! This is why I have asked the Board of the Salt Spring Island sailing club to let us start the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club junior racing program and I’ll be forwarding a formal proposal to the next board meeting. Our goal is to have a SISC team that can compete against the rest of the world. To do this we plan on racing year round. So if you see a little fleet of Optis out on the water on Fridays in December you will know what we are up to. There is a local circuit of nine races a year that we hope to go in. If anyone is interested in getting involved please contact me.
Cheers
Scott

Swiftsure International Yacht Race 2009

Swiftsure International Yacht Race 2009. Just the name Swiftsure makes a west coast sailor's heart start to pound. This is one of the premier races on the BC/Washington coast. It is not just a yacht race, it is an event, it is a adventure, it is a quest, it is a reunion, it pushes the average sailors beyond what they would normally do. Why would 5 men cram into a small 30 foot sailboat and sail against strong currents, sail all day and night, sail when there is too much wind, try to sail when there is no wind. Why? Who knows why in this day of modern travel when the space shuttle is routine and space tourism is passe. Why are people willing to strain against the wind and tides to make a small sailboat go 6 knots an hour? They get giddy if the boat goes a whopping 10 knots an hour (just over 18km hr). Just try driving your car at 18km an hour and try to feel the thrill.

Sailing is just one of those strange sports that is not a passive sport but a full on challenge that is not just physical but a combination of physical and mental ability. For a sailboat to do well it needs a combination of teamwork, skill, leadership, organizational ability and a pinch of luck. I was very fortunate on this years Swiftsure to ride on a great sailors yacht. The yacht was Electra CAN109 a Aphrodite 101 with a great skipper, friend and mentor on the helm Roger Kibble. We had a top tactician/navigator 1st mate Philippe Erdmer, extremely capable fore deck ape Nicholas Sladen-Dew (Nick you owned the fore deck you deserve the title of "fore deck ape"), sailing junkie Dmitri Bernhardt and yours truly trimmed the sails. All of us have sailed together at various time on various boats. Roger enjoys the prerace strategy and planning and it pays off. Over the last week we had numerous meetings including a snooker game/planning session going over all the multitude of situations we could encounter. A strong tidal current was against us this year. We would be fighting the current for most of the race. The weather was sunny but a high pressure ridge would keep any fronts or low pressure systems away and give us predictable winds from the west.



On Saturday morning we untied from docks in front of the Empress Hotel and joined in the precession going out to the starting area. It was rather amusing on the way out of the harbour to have the police boat beside us and rather rudely yelling at us to proceed in single file. I was wondering if he would be following us out into the strait and badger us all day. Once out at the starting area it was not what you would call ideal conditions. Strong current and light winds are not desirable for a sailing race but sailors play the cards we are given. The Canadian Navy sounded the gun and sent off the divisions at the right time. Just after the start I hit the bunk for a little cat nap. My forte is nights not morning and I knew my time would be the dog watch. A little before race rocks I rolled out of the bunk poured myself a coffee and headed up on deck to watch the show. Roger being the bold skipper had his plan for the strong current at Race Rocks. There had to be 50 - 70 boats battling the current trying to find a way through the passage when Electra sailed up on the Vancouver Island side just off the rocks. When I say "just off the rocks" lets just say you could step off the boat and be on the rocks. Roger likes to sail unbelievably close to the rocks. His diabolical plan worked, half the fleet was stuck in the current and we sailed right through the passage passing most of them like they were standing still. It was magnificent sailing. We had speed and the shelter of the rocks and just plowed through like a hot knife through butter. We even passed a few 50 foot sleds. It was our victory.

We were all cheering like we had just won the race but I think the race gods took a dim view of this cheering and decided to send us a little humble pie. The wind picked up and it was time for a head sail change, not an easy job on Electra, Roger does not believe in ro.... I can not even say the words. Hanked on sails have to be pulled down then the new sail is hanked on to replace it. Not an easy task in 15 knots of wind. This was the race gods first bit of humble pie. They thought we needed more of a test of our seamanship, team work and well you be the judge. We were going along with the little head sail and one reef in the main when all of a sudden the main comes down on the deck. A broken shackle. Electra being a fractional rig had no other halyards going to the top of the main. Race over.... well there was one chance if we sent someone up on the spinnaker halyard they might be able to reach up with a boat hook and snag the line. Well needless to say we did it. One man went up and hooked the main and we were back in the race. The winds picked up that night and we plowed on. Philippe and Dmitri where on the helm for most of the worst of it. With a reefed main and the storm jib up Electra rocked on. Nick was looking green down below and I was really hoping he was going to be fine. Needless to say we bashed on with out any souls on board praying at the head. As night settled in Nick, Dmitri and I drove the boat in the right direction but in extreme light winds. At one point the winds dropped to zero. We where totally adrift with no steerage. Then off our bow was another boat coming right at us. We hailed them and it was Chivita out of Seattle. They had no steerage but were bearing down on us. Wow a collision bow to bow in the middle of the strait. We knew we were drifting the right way and could not figure out how they where drifting so fast the wrong way. Today in the Times Colonist I read where Chivita was the last place boat and the skipper did not mention the bow to bow drifting encounter in the paper. I'm sure they will have a better race next year. It was their first Swiftsure I'm sure they will do better at drifting next year.

Rodger and Philip took over the helm at about 3am and had a building wind. Close to the rounding mark Demetri and I joined them on the deck for what we will always tell Nick was the best part of the race. Nick missed the rounding mark (half way point). The fans at Neah Bay where lining the docks cheering us. The Navy sounded a 21 gun salute, the clouds parted, the sun came up, Nick you will have to see it next year. The rounding set us up for our down wind spinnaker run back to Victoria. Most boats just put up their spinnakers and enjoy the ride home but on Electra Roger likes to change spinnakers depending on the wind angles and strength. I think we only made three changes which kept our sail trim sharp. We did have one bad wrap that was the result of a bad jibe and it was easier to just pull it down and change it. The finish of the race was anti climatic with no bands or hoopla, just the required safety check. The coolest thing happened when we were just about to tie up at the inspection dock. Braveheart was pulling out with its pro crew when the skipper looked over and yelled 101 and gave us the thumbs up. The trophies were given out the night before the race from last year. So even if we did win we will have to come back next year to pick up our hardware. Well Philippe and I jumped ship as fast as we could to hit the 7 pm ferry back to our lives. It all seemed so unreal.

So why did we do it. It was fun and just so cool. Such a great race, great friends, great sportsmanship, great food (Roger is a great chef he has actually had a cook book published) great time. Hope to see all back at the race next year. The Swiftsure 2010 is calling...
photo is from http://www.adventuresontheblue.com with permission.

Cheers Scott Simmons

Dear Philippe and all Electra's crew,

Let me please say that this was one of the most enjoyable of all the Swiftsures that I've sailed to date. It was the most comfortable for me because of everyone's uncompromising friendliness, can do attitude, cooperation, generosity, pre-race interest, practical help and unending enthuiasm. The sunshine helped of course and ELECTRA performed with her legendary phenomenal performance, class and smoothness. I always give a silent thanks to Paul Elvstrom and Jan Kjaeruiff for her sublime design after every sail. I must only ask for her, and your, collective forgiveness at selecting such an inferior inappropriate, poor quality mainsail shackle, the failure of which undoubtedly cost us overall victory. The individual seamanship of you all at all times was truly outstanding. Scott's brave and heroic mast head perseverance at the top of a rolling 44-foot mast waving a ten foot boat hook in one hand for 45 minutes and then succeeding in securing the errant mast head shackle was the stuff for folk lore. Philippe and Nicholas drew all the tough jobs including cold long arduous helm duty in tough upwind 25 knot conditions guiding Electra with efficient ease, never pinching or slamming the waves. They also did most of the grueling sail changing foredeck work and the thankless task of jibing the pole in big winds. Philippe and Dmitri kept us precisely on course at all times with multiple GPS assistance. Nick, Dmitri and Philippe quietly kept Electra moving in the wee hours in the cold dying airs when all boats around were stopped, a thankless but critical task and ended off other boats that impeding our ruthless progress towards Neah Bay. Scott helmed deep downwind with superb accuracy and skill and kept everyone in the best of spirits with his infectious laugh and extraordinary army life tales. Everyone shared all the duties with grace, efficiency and immediate willingness while suffering the whims and fancies of your demanding and wistful skipper. You gave me your confidence, trust, unqualified support, continuous good humour and more rest than any of my previous Swiftsures. Thank you all for a wonderful weekend.
My hat's off to you,

Roger

Round Salt Spring 2009

What a time what a race. 117 boat of all types where registered for the round Salt Spring race. However being totally bias there is one boat type in particular that I'm gong to report on. It is billed out as " The Martin 242 is a 24-foot, high performance, family-oriented day racer and weekender" and let me tell you on this race it lived up to it's billing and it's reputation as A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing. Being a new martin sailer I was really looking forward to doing this rather long and argues race. The round Salt Spring is not a typical round the cans event. The currents of the local waters make it a tricky course not to mention all the hidden rocks. Yes this is more of a marathon than a regular race. The start was at 10 am and the cut off was at 11am Sunday morning.

The Salt Spring Island sailing club and all the volunteers put on a great show and really makes the race an event weekend. On Friday night there was a salmon barbecue, live jazz music and a fashion show. The fashion show features the latest in race gear with the round salt spring logo on it. I could not miss the fashion show and had to miss out on a party at the Campbell's home where most of the martin 242 owners and crews had gone. The reason I could not miss the show was my wife June was in the show. It has taken me 20 years to relies I married a super model.

On Saturday morning the day got off to a rocky start. The Salt Spring Island Roasting Company coffee machines had either run out of water or kicked the breakers and Coffee what is short supply but we soldiered on to the skippers meeting with tea in hand. John Healey the Commodore of the club gave a great speech about the race stating this was the 35 running of the race and it was designed to be a race for all types of boats and sailors. From cruisers to hot racers all are welcome. With the niceties over fleet captain racing Pete McGovern laid out the details of the race at hand. The currents made a clockwise course the route for this year. With light winds forecast he changed the starting sequence of the divisions and set them back to 10 minutes each. The Marting fleet would be off at 10:20 am.

With tea in hand we where down to the docks and on the boats and did the big untie. With 117 boats rafted all over the docks it is a time consuming process. Finally we where out on the water with sails up and stalking the line watching the wind. The big boats where off , div two was off then the 5,4,1 and go horn for our division and we where off on our 42 mile race. The winds were about 5 knots and most of the fleet managed to make it out of the harbour with the exception of two boats that ran aground. Neither where martins and lets just say the humiliated boats where healed over by the Salt Spring coast guard and did their 360 turns and where back in the race.

Not Fred, Wicked, Min on Mine, Maptown.com and our boat Boomer where all within range of each other. Some of the martin fleet stayed on the Salt Spring side of the harbour and elected to tack out at Batt Rock but those of us with local knowledge of the waters sailed out to Wellberry Spar and jumped into the tidal stream of Captains Passage and where pushed out in front of at least one other Martin. Yes it was fun for Boomer to actually be in front of one of the other Martins. This was not due to our faster sailing. I was really impressed with the sails on the other Martins and our older dacron main was looking pretty tiered and baggy when compared to the others. The fleet had a good run until we went off of Fulford where the wind died. Ug. At this point my crew became restless and pulled out their dreaded darn horn. Maybe I should explain we sail as a family and my crew is June, Thomas (8) and Keith (11). So at this point the race became one of a grind and wait for the wind. Two of the Martins wisely creped out and off salt spring and put themselves in a great spot to catch any wind filling in from the South. I think it was Min on Mine and Not Fred. Wicked sailed into a tough hole and was dragged into Fulford harbour by the current. After what seemed like 100 blast of the horn and a hour wait the wind filled in and we where all on a spinnaker run up towards Cow bay.

The spinnakers stayed up all the way through Sampson Narrows, past Maple Bay and right up to Crofton where the wind direction changed and at that point we had a nice 8knot breeze that took us up to Southy Point and the entrance to Trincomali channel where we faced the current, sunset and no wind. Well at this point it seemed like half the boats in the race started their motors and headed home. The VHS was crackling with calls to the race committee and boats pulling out of the race. At this point my eldest son Keith made me proud he stated "Simmons do not quit we are going to finish the race". Then he promptly pulled out his sleeping bag and went to bed until 11 Sunday morning. He may not have quit but he slept through the rest of the race. He must be the smartest one in the family. Shortly after Keith statement Thomas retied to the spacious Martin Cabin and was off dreaming of his beloved trimarans.

Needless to say I had a wonderful night with a super model. Unfortunately June was cold, tired and had a nasty headache which was probably caused by Keith's darn horn. At about midnight she turned in. Drifting in a Martin, looking for the wind, the current, the rocks. The mind started to drift. Darn it all we where dragging kelp. I could see a line of it off the rudder. So I thought it would be easy just to spin the rudder and free it. Darn still there. Ok sheaves up and pull it off. Hanging on half asleep and dying for a coffee. I spent an hour trying to get the darn kelp off the rudder only to realize it was not kelp it was the reflection of the motor off the water.
Well it passed the time. At about 4am Thomas Sprang up from his berth and said I'm going to be sick and promptly threw up in the cock pit. Then being the trooper he is he said; Dad you are sitting on the wrong side of the boat, lets get the weight over, where are my racing gloves. What a sailor. June and Thomas took over the boat as we passed our house at 5am an could hear our Turkey Tom "Bobby" barking out his morning gobble. June and Thomas drove the boat in light airs for an hour or so while I caught a cat nap in the cabin. Once we where past Atkins reef I joined them on deck for one last push through Captains passage and home.

With a flood tide coming on there is only one way to make it through the passage. I have to give the credit for this move to Roger Kibble and like to call it the Kibble maneuver. There where 10 boats stopped against the current when we sailed up and passed them all. Yes another victory for a Wolf in Wolfs clothing. The trick to the Kibble maneuver is you have to sail right up to the rocks on the Salt Spring side of the passage. You have to sail within 10 feet of the rocks and tack sail out 25 feet and tack sail into the rocks an tack. All in all we probably did 12 tacks but stayed out of the current and passed all the boats. As I looked back they all tried to follow but most did not want to come in that close. Note to readers; Warning if you have a tall mast try and not hit the overhanging trees.

The last spinnaker run into the harbour and finish line was glorious. I could smell the RoCo coffee, the sun was shinning, Keith was still sleeping but Thomas maned the horn and we finished a great race.

The day ended with David Wood's wonderful Salt Spring island lamb barbecue and the awards. A big congrats to team Fred in Not Fred for a overall 3rd place finish and Boomer finished 41st.

So all in all the martin 242 lived up to it's billing as a 24-foot, high performance, family-oriented day racer and weekender. Not Fred proved the high performance and Boomer proved the family part. What a weekend if you missed it there will be the 36 running of the race next year.

Here is the GPS unlinked track for the race provided by Maptown.com http://www.maptown.com/roger/rssi-09/

Cheers
Scott Simmons

Round Salt Spring count down

The count down to the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club round salt spring race is stressful. The list of to do's is not getting shorter. Tonight we where to pull of the practice head sail and put on the tape drive. Will do it in the am. On Monday I pulled the boat out of the water using the crane in town. I thought I would work with the tides and showed up at 6am and put it on the hook and went for coffee and by the time I was back Boomer was out of the water. I jumped in my ugly row boat and started to polish the bottom. I was just finishing the rudder and going to start on the keel and a tug boat and barge showed up and said they had the crane booked. So I kindly asked them for 10 minutes and did a half job on the keel. If we do not win the race that is the reason.

Any boat can win this race. There are over 110 of the top boats on the coast in this race but I must say we have just as good of a chance as winning as anyone. With the light winds predicted at this time and with the tide the way they look I think we will have to go clockwise around the island. The fast boat may get stalled in Sampson narrows and have to wait there for a change in the tides. At about 4pm the current will flow north through the narrows and if they do not have enough wind to make it through the smaller and slower boats could catch them and then we will have them. Once the race stalls at any point the big boats are finished. With the winds predicted in the 5 knot range the big boats can not get up to hull speed and it give the little boats like Boomer and Imp a big advantage. The one big unknown at this time is the weather front that looks like it could be moving in Sunday night but that may change and if we get that before 4pm on Saturday it could change the outcome.

The local sailors have a big advantage during this race. The race is won or lost by knowing the currents and wind patterns. This is our sailing area and I'm going to do my best to place high or win the race. I just do not see the point of going out racing if you are not planning on winning. Planning is the key. Even if we do not come in first place we will win because we will execute our plan and our team will work together, work hard, sail hard and have fun. We will use the rules and the lay of the land to our advantage. To me this is going to be fun I will have my wife and two sons on the boat and my goal is to get them to drive the boat to the maximum. Not me driving them to the maximum and there is a big difference. I will try and challenge them to; see the wind, see the gust, look for the current lines. It is fun to see them into the challenge. Tonight we figured out how we are going to fly the spinnaker in the dark if we have to. We have a secret light that will let us keep it to the maximum trim in complete darkness and not wreck our night vision we will need to navigate.

When it all comes down to it fluckoligy will rain supreme. If we give ourself the tools to be successful we might just be successful.
More to follow, back to the charts, maps, sat photos, wind models, tide models, pressure gradient, lists, secret light, tape drive sails, rain gear, gps way points to get max VMG...
Stress heck no this is fun.
Cheers
Scott

Single Handed Round Pender Race March 2009

A tranquil March Saturday morning on Ganges harbour was interrupted with the blast of an air horn that signified 5 minutes until the start of the two day round Pender island single handed race. 11 boats jockeyed for position on the line and waited for the final horn and were off. It was a slow start with light winds off the line.

The wind picked up in captains passage with electra out front followed by imp and boomer with Caliante and Oasis hot in pursuit. Imp was concerned about the winds in Trincomali and put in a reef. With the first day's finish line being off Raser point on Pender the fleet spread out along the course.

New club member Eric van Soeren had PARAMOUR out racing which was nice to see. He had mentioned that the main had not been up in two years. It was quite the time to test it out. He could not blame the crew if something went wrong. Speaking of new members Gyle Keating in EMPEZAR had quite the sail. It is his first year of racing and he has been very bold and determined in his effort to make Empezar thunder along. The benevolent leader of the races Fleet captain Pete McGovern had decided that the fleet should race clockwise around the island and have to go through Captains passage on the way but left all other obstacles up to the racers including the numerous freighters parked in Plumper sound. Gyle must have thought these poor merchant seamen have been parked there for months with no entertainment and decided to see if he could sail under the anchor lines. Like I said he is bold and determined. To the chagrin of the seamen he survived and sailed on. The other noteworthy event on the way over was Greg Slakov on Imp decided to sail through the rocks behind fanning island. His comment was he had been there before on a power boat. Hey it worked.

The fleet managed not to hit any rocks or ships and made it to the harbour and tied up for the night. Being tired we all went to bed at 8pm because we knew it would be a long day on Sunday. (that's the official story) And that is what would have happened but the trouble maker Keith Simpson showed up via BC ferries claiming he left Fulford at the same time we left and started arguing about the ratings of the ferries. This led to a heated discussion that seemed to go on for longer than the race. It was determined that a pool tournament would settle the matter.

I made the fatal mistake of ordering the special and had to wait to eat 5 minutes after everyone had left the table for the pool table. Well it all worked out. This kind lady was organizing the karaoke and left all these nice little cards on the table. So I filled them all out. Pete being our leader was first up with "Girls just want to have fun". Let's just say it was one of the more interesting renditions you could imagine. Tony Meek felt so bad for Pete that he sprang into action and jumped on stage to "help" out. It was like throwing gas on a fire. There was no helping. Once Pete started to swing the mike the lady in charge hit the gong and threw them off stage. To top it off the great singer Patrice Pothier was next up but ran for the parking lot. Three fellow sailors tried in vain to coax him on stage but it was not to be. Other than Eric getting checked out on the orange cannon at 1am not much else happened. Like I said we needed our sleep for the long race the next day and with Keith on the ferry with it's 600 rating he managed to keep us up all night with his antics.

Some of us without heaters were up early and cold. It was hard to sleep in with the sound of those heaters blasting away. The coffee shop was open at 7am and I thought I was first in until she said she had found someone already in the place when she opened up. Whether a unnamed racer slept in the head or not is still unknown at this time. Roger Kibble had opted out of racing because of the 1 meter races at the club on Sunday. He was in first place and we thought he should not let down the other IOM racers. Eric van Soeren had to fly to Holland to go to his aunt's funeral so he was off early and would not finish the race. That left 9 boats for the long leg home. Without a stove I had asked Bob Jones if I could boil some water for tea for the day. Bob was not having a good morning with heater problems. Then the bic lighter would not light the stove, then matches would not work...

With building winds of 10 - 12 knots we were off for the start. Greg had picked a house on a hill as one marker and the red can off Razer point as the other. The thing is there was about 5 houses on the hill and no one really knew which one. But we were off. Some of the fool hardy souls decided to fly their spinnakers. Being one of them I found my self boxed in between Keating's EMPEZAR and Mario Tello's TARA'S WHISPER. Mario had this ear to ear grin on his face as my spinnaker was laying in the water. Do you think he would give me a break? I was thinking I'm going to broach and be a permanent visitor in his cabin so I elected to round up and around him. He seemed like such a nice fellow.

Tony Meek has his chute up flying first and was off. The old girl MINKE was going like a bat out of hell. All the money he spent on the new spinnaker was money well spent. Not to be out done fleet captain racing Pete on DREKI flew his genniker. CALIENTE was out front with Imp hot in his heals. This left Bob on Oasis just behind them. Now a reasonable person would be fine with that but Bob is a task master and he drives his crew even when he has no crew. There is up on the deck of that 41 ft boat trying to get his spinnaker up. Like I said earlier I just knew it was not to be. We hit the gap between the island and south Pender and Bob had to jibe that huge chute. And there it goes under the fore stay and around and around and around. I was right behind him and could not control myself. I had to sail close by and ask "So Bob how do you like that new spinnaker?" As the fleet sailed away I thought I could hear a course of four letter adjectives coming from Bob's boat.

As the fleet rounded the south end of Pender Island we where greeted with sustained winds of 12 knots. I'm glad Greg had gone over martin reefing the night before. I had never reefed the boat and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Caliente bore away at high speeds with Ole grinning from ear to ear. The whole fleet was tacking back and forth under the Pender Bluffs. It seemed as if we would all be back in no time but the wind gods decided to go for coffee and have a little time out. Leaving the fleet spread out. Some had to motor in and some managed to sail in. We all made it back at about the same time. All and all we had a great time.

I would say we had 12 winners and it was great to see the new members out in force. I'm sure next year we will have 16 boats out for this race. The thing about single handed racing is you can not blame the crew or drag them in the water and slow yourself down. The skippers get to prove to themselves that they can drive the boat to the maximum. That is if they are not on a ferry sleeping.

Cheers Scott

PHRF Club Club Rating Finish Corrected Time
Rating Rating As Sailed Boat Skipper Time (Time on time) Place
144 0 144 ELECTRA Kibble 13:34:39 03:15:26 1
168 13 181 BOOMER Simmons 13:53:00 03:22:08 2
105 19 124 OASIS Jones 13:43:40 03:30:37 3
72 -5 91 CALIENTE Andersen 13:34:49 03:32:34 4
158 -28 130 IMP Slakov 13:49:44 03:34:44 5
234 12 246 MINKE Meek 15:43:03 04:38:22 6
228 27 255 EMPEZAR Keating 16:24:00 05:09:29 7
153 51 204 KLAATHEM Pothier 16:08:12 05:17:06 8
151 8 180 PARAMOUR van Soeren 16:01:00 05:21:17 9
218 27 266 TARA'S WHISPER Tello 16:50:10 05:26:48 10
205 27 232 DREKI McGovern 17:00:00 05:50:04 11

Race 2

PHRF Club Club Rating Finish Corrected Time
Rating Rating As Sailed Boat Skipper Time (Time on time) Place
72 -5 91 CALIENTE Andersen 14:06:14 04:21:57 1
168 13 181 BOOMER Simmons 15:07:50 04:45:26 2
105 19 124 OASIS Jones 15:28:22 05:31:26 3
158 -28 130 IMP Slakov 15:35:35 05:35:35 4
218 27 266 TARA'S WHISPER Tello dnf 15:43:49 12
228 27 255 EMPEZAR Keating dnf 15:36:46 12
234 12 246 MINKE Meek dnf 15:30:52 12
205 27 232 DREKI McGovern dnf 15:21:23 12
153 51 204 KLAATHEM Pothier dnf 15:01:20 12
151 8 180 PARAMOUR van Soeren dns 14:42:51 12
144 0 144 ELECTRA Kibble dns 14:12:39 12



NET RESULTS RACE 1 RACE 2 Total POINTS

BOOMER 2 2 4 100
CALIENTE 4 1 5 91
OASIS 3 3 6 82
IMP 5 4 9 73
ELECTRA 1 12 13 64
MINKE 6 12 18 55
EMPEZAR 7 12 19 45
KLAATHEM 8 12 20 36
PARAMOUR 9 12 21 27
TARA'S WHISPER 10 12 22 18
DREKI 11 12 23 9

BOOMER we have a new boat

With the destruction of our beloved Strawberry Express we went on a quest to find a new boat and found Boomer. Boomer is a martin 242. It is a 24 foot long fractional rig that is fun to sail and race.

The martin can be raced in a one design class http://www.m242.bc.ca/ or against other sailboats with the PHRF ratting system. Boomer rates in at 168 with is a higher handicap than Strawberry Express (kirby30) at 135. Technically the lower the handicap the faster the boat but not necessarily. The big up side to Boomer is the down wind spinnaker performance. We have yet to set the chute in high winds but are looking forward to the race in which we can do this. It should really move well but time will tell.

So far June and I are still on the steep learning curve. I hope to have the boat in top form for the up coming winter racing season. On my first sail I went out by myself for the day and raced to Mayne and around Prevost island. Since then we have been out about 5 times and think it is just different that Strawberry. Not better just different. Strawberry was a very powerful boat that would track well and tacked like a dream. Boomer is so much more tender and does not track as well through the tacks. The helmsman needs to be extra sensitive on the tacks.

If you would like to come out on a race drop me a email. The races go ever second week all winter long. I really like the winter races. The chances of sustained 10-15 knot winds is much higher. I find this is the optimum racing wind. Higher winds are not as much fun and winds lower than that range are just boring. So bring on the wind, Boomer is ready to show some big boats it's" stern". When racing sailboats the other boats look so much nicer when they are viewed on mass over the stern.

Cheers
Scott

Roung Salt Spring 2008 The end of Strawberry Express

Yes it was a great last sail but unfortunately Strawberry's last sail. The race was going great. June and I had decided that we would sail the race double handed without the spinnaker. If the conditions where right this would give us a big advantage in the race. Sometimes you end up sailing up hill against the wind all the way around the island. The extra 15 seconds on our PHRF handicap can be an nice side benefit on a long race.

Thing where going well for us we where in the last division to start and had passed a lot of slower boat and where on a nice down wind reach going north in Trincomali channel. The wind looked way stronger on the Galiano side of the channel so with chart in hand I thought we could go in between the Ballingall Islets and Wise island. Well lets just say the reef was not that deep and we clipped it and rode up on it. June was thrown into the bulkhead and received a nasty cut on her lip that was spurting blood. Now this in not a good position to be in. Wife crying and profusely bleeding boat high and dry on a rock (both the tiller and rudder). Luckily there is a nice man who lives on Walace he came over in his power boat and I threw him the spin halyard and we where over and off and back in the race (technically out). June was still bleeding on my beloved boat so I needed to get her a few stitches so we sailed over to the Fernwood dock and she jumped ship. Wendy Vine from the race committee was nice enough to drive over and meet her and take her to the hospital. The strange thing about dropping her off at the dock was no one rendered any assistance to her. There had to be ten people all on the dock and they just stood there and starred at her. They might of thought it was a domestic dispute and I was throwing her off the boat. It was very weird for Salt Spring. June received three stitches and text me she was OK. I had thought I could pick her up on the other side of the island but she was a little to shaken up.

The race must go on. With just a little water coming in I could not resit the chance to single hand the rest of the course. It proved to be a great race. Strawberry gave her all and preformed so well. Coming out of Samson narrows we crawled over to the cow bay side and had a nice 14knot breeze behind up that made the old girl fly. Truly a magnificent sailing boat the Kirby 30. If this was to be her last sail it will be one I remember for ever. The big main was at it's best on the run towards cape Kepple. I walked on so many boats it is a great feeling. 10 minutes on a reef will put you at the back of any race.

I have run two 42km marathons one in Greece, Marathon to Athens and one in Paris. During the Athens race I started at the very front of the pack and it was demoralizing having faster runners passing me all day. On the Paris race (30 thousand runners) I was the last one to start and passed people all day. It just makes you feel better. I have the same time on both races (3:20 range) but emotionally I was way stronger in Paris.

The nice thing about being in the mid fleet on a long race is you can avoid the parking lots (stopped boats) and pass by them on the outside or inside (never sail towards a stopped group of boats they are not having lunch). My strategy was to sail way south and avoid all the dead air in Fulford and Beaver Point. The only problem was all the wind died and everyone sat their having supper. I tried to get out side and work the tides and was hoping to get a jump on the fleet and hit the line before them all but the wind filled in from the Salt Spring side and I made a mid pack finish. The only tense part of the race was at the finish. The wind had picked up to 10 kts and there had to be 60 odd boats going in every direction dousing sails. I chose to sail off and do it on my own time.

Strawberry is up on the hard at Canoe Cove with a 25 thousand dollar repair bill. I have to admit it is nice to have boat insurance. If I did not I would be at Canoe Cove with my West System kit. Just waiting for the cheque now. It should be sent out soon. June had been driving me mad with all this talk about a new boat; what about a J24, how about a Santana 525, Martin, etc...

Special note to all who sailed on Strawberry Express Kirby 30 hull #9 a big thanks from Scott Simmons. Hopefully that will not be the end of the boat. Someone (not me) will buy her and rebuild.