the Canadian Wayfarer Nationals
Fanshawe Yacht Club * June 24-25, 2006
report by Uncle Al with boat portraits by Bobby Hampton

FLASH! Bobby Hampton creates Nationals 2006 video

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Rick Goldt and Fanshawe YC give us great Nationals!

A record nine races were completed in the 2006 Canadian Wayfarer Nationals, held June 24-25 out of London, Ontario's Fanshawe YC (see photo below). Months and months of hard work by Regatta Chairman, Rick Goldt, paid off in a regatta that ran like clockwork, and was thoroughly enjoyed by 13 entries plus dozens of volunteers and guests. The weather co-operated, too:  we got summery 25C sunshine all weekend long, and a most enjoyable variety of wind strengths and directions.

Retaining their rights to the championship Smallcraft of Southampton Trophy for another year were Uncle Al and Marc Bennett who shared the helming rights with Al sailing the 5 Saturday races and Marc doing equally well in the 4 Sunday races (see boat portrait courtesy of Bobby Hampton below).  For Al, this was a 5th straight Nationals win, four of these coming with the amazingly talented and congenial Marc Bennett as crew.


Again working out of their base at the Château de Boer where they were royally hosted by John and Dolores, Marc and Al had a weekend that was in no way boring: Going upwind in Saturday morning's light easterly airs (as in the photo below),  we nearly hit a fisherman floating neck-high in a small inner tube while we were fighting over the lead in race 2. As we ghosted past, explaining politely that we were racing, the angler responded loudly and with all the wit of the hippo he resembled: "Fuck off! I'm going to come out in my motor boat and run you down!!"


Our boat portrait (two photos above) reminds me of more fun that we had after a lovely breeze filled in around 4 PM on the Saturday. A close look at that picture will reveal our duct-taped bow which resulted from our meeting W7379 about two seconds after the picture below was taken from the RC boat just after the start of Race 4.


As you can see, I got a nasty surprise once I bent low enough to see under the boom. In retrospect, I should have followed my own advice and luffed up hard when faced with an imminent collision. Instead, I panicked, let the main run and bore away violently, and now find myself hoping to find a metal work shop that can straighten the bow portion of my keel band. But enough of this whining.


Conestoga's Dwight and Pat Aplevich (above) took the runner-up spot despite being seeded 7th and were thus the 2006 Nationals' Most Improved team. By next week, Pat and Dwight will have a tougher time in the Most Improved competition since their Nationals result eclipses their much tougher (i.e. worse) result from the 2004 Worlds, and they have now shot up in the overall rankings (which include all the top sailors from the past Worlds!) from 107th to 40th. Mr. and Mrs. Aplevich capped their weekend haul by taking the Sweet Award as the top Male-Female team in the Canadians, as well.


A mere two points further back in series 3rd were the local team of John and Dolores de Boer (above). Just back from a delicious weekend of practice at the Rock Hall Regatta, John and Dolores sailed an impressively consistent series that included a fine first in Sunday's first race.


What a pleasure it was to see Jens Biskaborn of Fanshawe back sailing his Wayfarer!  Less than a year ago, he was seriously injured when a car sideswiped him off his bicycle. But here were he and Sharon (above) sailing better than ever and finishing only one point behind the de Boers in 4th overall - a fine series that included a decisive victory in the opener.

TSCC's Mike Codd (above) teamed up with his CL-16 friend, Kirk Iredale, once again and also narrowly missed hitting the top three after sailing consistently good races in George Blanchard's W4600 (a.k.a. CAN 90).

Making an impressive Fanshawe Lake debut at the 2006 Nationals were Alastair Ryder-Turner and his son, David (above). This TSCC team ended up 6th but were often sitting much higher in the races before the vagaries of Fanshawe caught up with them. David and Alastair also defended their rights to the Gillespie Award as the Nationals' top Parent-Offspring team.

A close battle saw FYC's Bob Kennedy and Peter Galsworthy (above) take series 7th by a mere single point. Their series included an excellent 3rd in Race 3 which they were winning until they mistakenly headed for the finish line after a major shift at the gybe mark.

Fresh from their debut as a team in the Warm Water Regatta two weeks before, the CSC duo of Al Nichols and Ken Nethercott (above) also sailed a fine series which included a super 3rd in Race 8. This after Ken and Al had the distinction of arriving very late for Sunday's first race - even later than Marc and Uncle Al!!

Not keeping clear of right-of-way boats hurt the TSCC team of Fred Black and Michael Kachkovsky (above) who otherwise moved W7379 very nicely as they scored a tie for series 9th while taking turns at the helm.

Fanshawe's Jeff Eames and his wife, Vera, made their first Nationals a good one. They not only tied Fred for series 9th (three places better than their seed!) but also captured the Canadian Wayfarer Nationals Rookie Award for the best finish by a team sailing their first Nationals. Well done, Vera and Jeff!

The veteran Fanshawe team of Len Macdougall and Andy Turnbull (above) returned to the Wayfarer circuit after a long absence and finished in 11th place overall. It was great to see you again after all this time, guys!

When FYC's Scott Town and his young son, Paul, did not make their promised appearance on Saturday, horrible rumours were spreading about W9239 having been burned in the fire that destroyed Abbott Boats the previous week. But reports of the W9239 demise were obviously exaggerated since the Towns  and W9239 (above) took a most active part in Sunday's races in which they scored 7-6-5 despite lack of spinnaker! Well done, Paul and Scott!


Conestoga's new Wayfarer family, the Van Kampens, looked good in their first Nationals, coping surprisingly well with the challenging Fanshawe winds. Leo and son, Daryl, sailed the five Saturday races before Leo's wife, Joanne, made her Wayfarer Nationals debut on the Sunday. Note the fine boat and sail trim in the photo above.


Special thanks to Regatta Chairman, Rick Goldt who put in months of hard and imaginative work to bring us this excellent weekend both on and off the water. He and daughter, Jenna, (above) as well as Kevin Biskaborn (scoring) and Bobby Hampton (flags and photography!) "manned" the RC boat in most capable fashion!! Kevin also deserves special congratulations for the fine web page he set up for our 2006 Nationals as part of his magnificent Fanshawe Yacht Club web site.


What a lucky club is Fanshawe in having Mike Wareing to run the kitchen! Mike and daughter, Brooke Ellison-Wareing, (above) served great breakfasts and lunches, and a super supper on Saturday night. Thanks, Brooke and Mike!!


The High Performance Mark Set Team of Aaron Goldt and Brad Biskaborn (above) responded flawlessly to Chairman Rick's every request, while the Hound Rescue Team (also above) of Steve Dietrich, son John, and Ross Green did nothing - we are happy to report since none of us needed rescuing. But Ross, John and Steve were ready as you can see above!


And finally, a big thank you to our photographers, Bobby Hampton (left) and Jenna Goldt, for the fine action shots they captured.

Thanks again, one and all! We really appreciate all you did for us!! Dare we hope we'll be invited back soon???