The longest win streak in recorded Wayfarer history came to an emphatic end on the weekend of August 14-15 in the 2010 Wayfarer North Americans hosted by the Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club (above). Al Schonborn and SHADES W3854 had not lost a North American title since 1996 when his crew, Dawn Town, had to bow out due to morning sickness. After that, Uncle Al ran his undefeated streak to thirteen years in three of which he and various crews ended up tied for the title with veteran Wayfarers, Heider Funck and Tom Wharton of Mississauga.

In probably our most exciting North Americans in 40 years, a 15-boat fleet enjoyed warm weather and great 8- to 18-knot breezes (above) for five Saturday races that produced four different winners, none of which was Uncle Al, and lighter 5- to 8-knot zephyrs in two Sunday races (below).



The excitement began in 8- to 12-knot easterlies with two runaway wins by North Bay's Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk, who looked unbeatable in W397 Chich. After an on-the-water lunch, the winds increased to 12 to 18 knots, and it was Mike Codd's turn to shine. Sailing George Blanchard's Redtop W4600 with Kirk Iredale, Mike shot into the series lead with 3-1-2 afternoon finishes while Sue and Steph could manage no better than 6-5-6. Figuring in one drop race, Mike and Kirk completed Mike's best racing day in nearly 40 years at 2-(6)-3-1-2 for 8 points, which left them one point up on Heider Funck and Tom Wharton. The latter had seemed to be out of the title hunt after starting their series with 4-7 finishes, but rose from the dead with a 2-2-1 flourish to end the day with 9 points. Also still very much in contention were early leaders Sue and Steph with 1-1-(6)-5-6 and 13 points and the other race winners, John Cawthorne and Robert MacDonald who were also at 13 points from (5)-3-1-4-5.

Saturday's terrific racing was followed by a lovely evening of barbecue and socializing where we were treated to perhaps the finest regatta steak dinner I have ever had, courtesy of club manager, Derek Griffiths (above). The next morning, the wind appeared to be the one suffering from a hangover as our Sunday began with a lengthy postponement in a light cloud cover. As the clock ticked ever closer to the mid-day witching hour, it began to look more and more as if Mike and Kirk would win their first-ever North Americans. But near noon, a slight southerly breeze began to fill in, and we were called out to do battle by PRO, Jake Starr, and his fine Race Committee.

Heider and Tom wasted no time in taking a stranglehold on the series with another first, this one over Sue who had now dropped 5 points off the pace with one race to go. The extra weight, an ally the day before, was now a handicap for Mike and Kirk who came 8th in race 6 and were now trailing Heider by four points.


Now, all Heider and Tom needed was a decent finish in the 7th and final race to grab Heider's first-ever unshared North Americans win after sailing to ties in 1972, 1998, 2003 and 2008. Again, Tom and Heider (above) wasted no time and put an exclamation mark behind their 2010 North Americans victory with a classy first in the finale.

Series second went to Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk while Mike Codd and Kirk Iredale held on to the blue flags (so to speak) despite a final-race 7th that left them just a single point up on TSCC's John Cawthorne and Robert MacDonald. The Codd/Iredale team captured further glory as they beat their 7th seed by a whopping four places - tough to do this close to the front of the fleet!! Mike and Kirk (below) were thus our Most Improved team of the 2010 Wayfarer North Americans. Congratulations, gentlemen!!


A tie for series 5th saw two teams with different reactions to their result: Mississauga's Mark and Paul Taylor, our 2008 national champions, had hoped to overcome their baffling 2010 lack of speed and pointing by sailing on the waters of Lake Ontario where they have traditionally moved very well. However, our young brother act found no joy in their results and placed well out of their expected top-three contention. Going in the other direction was 8th-seeded Kit Wallace of the host club who has been finding happiness with his excellent newly acquired crew, George Waller, inherited from the late Geoff Edwards. George and Kit sailed very well and never looked out of place in the rarefied top-five atmosphere.

Defending champions and top seeds, Al Schonborn of Oakville and Nick Seraphinoff, who had won every race of last year's North Americans at Canandaigua Lake in New York state, managed to combine bad sailing, bad sails and bad luck to plunge to a shocking 7th-place finish. Uncle Al began his demise by using his brand-new, untried mainsail which was long along the luff but otherwise looked fine when it went up. It is now being recut. But it would not be until race 2 that Al would discover that he could not make the new sail perform up to snuff.


That was because, with a minute to go to the start of the opening race, SHADES was seriously rammed by a port-tacker not long after tacking to starboard to head for the start line. A reminder to us all that it is a cheap bit of insurance to loudly warn any nearby port boats that you are tacking to starboard. By the time we had removed the other boat's bow from our front tank, the fleet had started. Our subsequent catch-up attempts were hampered by waves that were quickly filling the bow tank (above left) as we went upwind, and by the time we pulled the drain plug, water was gushing out and was soon above the floorboards. Luckily we had that Red Green award-winning duct tape pro, Nick Seraphinoff, aboard and, by the end of the second run, our tank was watertight once more (above right). By the end of race 4, it was clear to Nick and me that we were seriously hurting for speed, and we forewent Saturday's final race so that we could haul out and check for further damage that might be unseen under water. Happily, there was nothing apparent, and we looked forward to sailing Sunday with our tried and trusted old sails. Alas, more work remains to be done, as we scored 5-3 with less than stellar sailing by both helm and crew, although we agreed that it had been a marvellously enjoyable weekend both on and off the water!! In the end, we took series 7th, one point out of 5th.

Tied, but otherwise all alone in 8th overall, 14 points from 7th and 20 points up on 10th, were the North Bay team of Dave Hansman with Dave Richardson and TSCC's Hans Gottschling with Tony Krauss of Walled Lake, Michigan. Sad to say, our two Michigan-based crews, Tony Krauss and Nick Seraphinoff, were the only USWA representation in this year's NAs. On a brighter note, three wives from the tied teams, Carol Hansman, Kim Rainville and Mary Krauss, spent Saturday enjoying a Toronto "culture crawl" that included a play and lots of other fun stuff. Less fun but perhaps equal satisfaction was had by Mary Seraphinoff who stayed home with Julia Schonborn in Oakville where Mary caught up on lots of her business to do's while Nick played.


The man who traded the rights to Tony Krauss's crewing services to Hans Gottschling for a Dark 'n' Stormy to be made with Gosling's Black Seal Bermuda Rum and Barritt's Jamaican Ginger Beer did very well for himself. After a couple of mid-week spinnaker training sessions, TSCC's Bob Stevenson and replacement crew, Jeffrey Hock (above), came close to being our Most Improved NAs team when they beat their 13th seed by a fine three places. Well done, guys!!


Sailing W3613 borrowed courtesy of the kind-hearted Tim Bider, were Coburg's Colin and Heather Junkin (above left) who are still working on revitalizing their old wood Wayfarer. Things had just begun to look up for the former CL- sailors after a fine 8th in race 3 when they capsized at the start of the first run in race 4 (above right). After that they packed it in for the day, and what with their pair of "alphabet finishes" (DNF, DNC), ended up 11th overall, just two points out of the top ten.

 
A couple of points further back were Anne Armstrong and husband, Gary, in their lovely wooden Wayfarer 861 Sawdust. Like Uncle Al and Kit Wallace, Anne and Gary had just returned from our week-long North American Rally at Killbear Park where we did lots of sailing and partying, including a Lighthouse Point tailgate party, where Anne wowed us with an amazing violin performance (above) - something most people have to pay for since Anne is lead violin in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.


Two more friendly faces from the Killbear Rally joined us on the Sunday as Connecticut CL sailors, Jeff and Fran Kirk (above), came out on the RC boat to watch their first sailboat races and take some pictures.


Meanwhile, back on the water, Mississauga SC newcomers, Bob Brown (above right) and Graham Bakelaar, made their first North Americans a successful one as they beat out TSCC's Ted Lacelle with Lou Scaglione, as well as a long-time Wayfarer fixture, Hazel Hewitt with Christine DeMerchant, whom we were pleased to see again after an absence of many years.
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