| the George Blanchard
See-the-Island Race Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club * Sat. 19 Sept. 2009 |
|
Heider
and Tom hang on to win Island
Race over Thomas and Al!
..
 Lilly Codd was out there helping PRO, Mike Codd, her dad, as we waited for the winds to fill in. ..
Ten
plus Wayfarers were part of a
large fleet of boats of every kind as the annual
See-the-Island
Race was held
Saturday 19 September in benign winds and sunshine out
of the Toronto
Sailing & Canoe Club.   Current Canadian W champions, Heider Funck and Tom Wharton (above), edged out 6th-seeded Thomas Vendely who benefitted from having Uncle Al as his tactician (below), and won Most Improved honours.    We actually had 11 Wayfarers sailing but Tom Kotsiopoulos and Richard ???, the team (above) sailing one of the TSCC club W's with one of Uncle Al's old mainsails (3854) did not register. Too bad!  On a brighter note, paddlers joined the race for the first time this year, and promptly impressed the heck out of us as they finished long, long before any of the sailboats. Well done!! A Report on this
Year's Race Built Around
Pictures Taken by Mike Codd and Anne Armstrong
 Now that the weenies
at the
Toronto Harbour Commission have barred us from running
our race around
the Islands and through the gaps, we get to sail a
chicken-shit,
amputated course as shown above. The keelboats went
off first, followed
five minutes later by a centreboard fleet that was
largely Wayfarers.
Then PRO, Mike Codd, coached the paddlers through
their start routine.
To them, our five-minute routine seemed rather
useless, but they took
it all as the fun outing that was intended, as did the
rest of us.
 Aboard Thomas
Vendely's W9658,
we couldn't quite match boat speed off the line with
the three favoured
speedsters, Heider, Alastair and John. Our plan had
been to hold a long
starboard tack towards Hanlan's Point but when
Alastair Ryder-Turner
(10137) with son, David, and ...
 ... John Cawthorne
with Robert
MacDonald sailed over our wind right after the start,
Thomas and I
began thinking about Plan B. Luckily for us, however,
both Alastarir
and John tacked out into the Lake quickly to go out
and challenge
Heider and Tom who looked to have better breeze after
started towards
the RC-boat end of the line. This left Thomas and me
to follow our plan
of heading straight for the Island. The winds were
patchy and shifty
everywhere but seemed to be a bit healthier on the
left side on
average, such that when we tacked across fairly near
Hanlan's Point, we
were well ahead of Heider and the other Wayfarers.
Unfortunately, we
hadn't stuck with a good thing long enough and Heider
ended up crossing
us after going left and then tacking. After letting us
go further left
and regain the lead one last time, Heider stayed with
us and repassed
us.
 The Island Race was the only 2009 Wayfarer Tour appearance for Reg Bunt and his son, Chris, who ended up placing exactly halfway up the fleet in 5th.  With pick-up crew, Judy Vineyard, Bob Stevenson sailed his refurbished wooden beauty, W440, disguised with the mainsail from his glass W3137.  Anne Armstrong (l) and Annelies Groen sailed the lovely wooden W861, Sawdust, to 6th overall and still had time to take some lovely pictures for our Race coverage.  Note how beautifully high out of the water W861 is floating, what with the light-weight crew. This light-air edge was likely negated by the excessive twist that Anne is leaving in her mainsail here.  Tim Bider was sailing Sisiutl (W3613) with his daughter, Pascale, on this perfect day for newcomers to "get their feet wet". For Tim, too, this was his sole 2009 appearance on our "Tour".  With Gibraltar Point on the SW corner of Hanlan's Point in the background, Heider and Tom have tacked out to ...  ... this sorry excuse of a replacement for the long-time grandeur of the Gibraltar Point Bell Buoy. Mind you, this buoy will be a lot less intimidating to hit!! Here, Heider and Tom will tack around the mark into ...  ... a lovely strengthening breeze that will let them lay ... ... Buoy T1 off the Outer Harbour on one long starboard closehauled leg.  Approaching the Gibralter Point buoy about 100 yards behind Heider is Thomas Vendely (9658) who is sitting in a comfortable 2nd place among the centreboards.  With Ted Lacelle and his wife, Sheila, in the background, Alastair Ryder-Turner come in from the right side of the beat when they have lost a lot of distance, as has ...  ... John Cawthorne.  Ditto Anne Armstrong!!  As Tim Bider (3613) approaches the Gibraltar Point buoy ...  ... the leading paddlers are already ... ... passing it on their way back to the finish line off the club! Wow!! That has to take serious strength, effort and endurance!!  As all the sailboats are still on their way to the T1 turning mark off the Outer Harbour headland (above), more paddlers show the rest of us the way home. Tom Kotsiopoulos and Richard ??? sailing one of the TSCC's club boats with an old mainsail of Uncle Al's.  Another rookie W enthusiast, Bob Brown came in with Ed Dragosits from the Mississauga SC.  Coming back from T1 at
the
Outer Harbour headlands, Heider and Tom pop their
beautiful new, fast
chute as they re-pass the Gibraltar Point buoy, this
time to starboard.
They have extended their lead to about a quarter-mile
over Thomas and
Al who in turn will reach this mark well ahead of
Alastair and John who
will be fighting over 3rd.
Neither of the Wayfarer leaders seemed to know the exact bearing to the next mark, the Dufferin Bell Buoy which was to be left to port on our way to a finish line right outside the breakwall off the TSCC.  Heider ended up having
to gybe
to get around the Bell Buoy while Thomas and Al aimed
and sailed to
starboard off the east end of Ontario Place which
turned out to be well
off the rhumb line from the Gibraltar Point buoy to
the Dufferin but
did let them sail into better breeze and throw a scare
into Heider and
Tom who ended up nearly being passed by Thomas and Al
before they put
on a spurt near the finish and won it by about 50
yards.
 Both John (3654) and ...  ... Alastair went well high of the rhumb line and lost a lot of distance to the two leaders while fighting over 3rd place which ultimately went to John and Robert ahead of Alastair and David.  In no rush to hoist the spinnaker are Anne and Annelies after rounding Gibraltar Point. Fun is being had!!  No spinnaker for W3613 where Tim is letting Pascale have a turn at the tiller. Now, Pascale, which way should you face to see where you're going?  Also having a marvellous time was Christine DeMerchant in her lovely little dinghy which she sailed to the Point and back.  After a lovely little BBQ dinner for all, George made his usually speech, not to say oration, and then the Wayfarer awards were presented.  Most of the RC is on hand to present the blue 3rd-place pennants to John Cawthorne and Robert MacDonald (r). Counter-clockwise from right: Robert, John, Benjamin Kozak?, Mike, Lilly and Holly Codd  Lilly and Benjamin? present 2nd-place and Most Improved pennants to Thomas Vendely and Uncle Al (r).  Heider and Tom having departed, young Tommy Wharton accepted the winners' pennants on their behalf. |