The Canada Day Race (see course diagram above) was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and run about 12 miles from the North Bay docks, around mark J5 near the south shore of Lake Nipissing, and into Callander Bay to a finish at the North Bay YC.


The fleet was impressive but alas, the wind (see photo above) was not. For over an hour, we drifted along on a close reach into the occasional breath of air from the SE and other directions. Both Dave Hansman (with Dave Richardson) and Tony Krauss (with Mary Abel) (4th and 5th boats from left above) showed excellent skill at making the most of what little breeze there was, moving to a big early lead over the other Wayfarers (and most of the bigger keelboats!) Finally, a fairly steady SE wind of 3 to 5 knots filled in. Dave got it first and used it to full effect but Tony soon found himself threatened and then passed by John de Boer and Uncle Al who had been lying 3-4. Al footed off and got past John who tacked away towards the shore. Because John and Dolores were going off almost at right angles to the rhumb, I thought this to be a risky move. But when we towards our turning mark, J5, there were John and Dolores, way ahead of us, and now in a position to challenge Dave and Dave who had been holding their quarter-mile lead over us very nicely.

Dave wisely tacked to cover John who tacked away, and a tacking duel followed. John actually crossed Dave at one point near J5 but Dave took the lead right back the next time he and John met. It turned out that the RC had decided to shorten the course to finish at J5 but Dave was the only Wayfarer aware of this. Dave and Dave tacked towards the favoured RC-boat end of the finish line and took a narrow win ahead of John and Dolores. Also making life interesting for the leaders by the end were Al and Michele who gained dramatically while John and Dave were fighting each other and ended up only a couple of lengths behind John. Tony ended up a fairly distant 4th ahead of Andrew Haill with Joanne Hurd. 6th place went to Henry Van Brussel with John Symmonds who beat out our newest W team, Lori Beehler and Jason Hassard.


As evening drew near, the slight breeze faded and a light rain began to fall. We Wayfarers were grateful to be offered tows back to the Club by our friendly fellow sailors in the keelboats (see photo above). The rain got more serious about an hour later, but by that time we were safely ensconced in the clubhouse, eating delicious burgers and sausages we had earned by registering for the Race.


An awards ceremony followed our dinner and all the entries got to choose goodies from the huge prize table. A good time was had by all! (see photo above) New Saturday arrivals included the expected former Cruise Race champions, Dwight and Pat Aplevich, as well as Geoff Edwards with his daughter, Barb. A pleasantly surprising appearance was that of Marc Bennett who had helmed SHADES to victory in 2005 in the Cruise Race with Uncle Al as crew. To give Marc a chance to defend his title, Al lent him SHADES and his crew, Michele, while Al signed on as crew aboard one of the club Wayfarers being sailed by Ross Jamieson.


We all went home happy - some of us to hotels in downtown North Bay where the shad fly season had arrived two weeks early - see photo above. When Julia and I got up the next morning, our white car looked brown! A bit of a shock but they're harmless and not overly mobile.


Dwight and Pat Aplevich dominate evening Cruise Race

On Sunday, July 2nd, the scheduled day of the cruise race we got too much wind! The Saturday evening rain had been part of a front that brought us NW winds gusting to 25 knots.


A Skippers' Meeting (above) gave a warm reception to the RC's proposal that we postpone 'til 1 p.m. in hopes that the wind would die down some.


By one o'clock the winds were blowing stronger than ever and the Hansmans came up with a unique proposal: They would phone our booked restaurant, Average Joe's on Trout Lake, in hopes that dinner could be moved up to 4 p.m. Minutes later the switch was OK'd by us and the restaurant, which meant we would eat at 4 and try for a 6 p.m. Cruise Race start by which time the winds should be starting to die down. A unique Skippers' Meeting (above) followed dinner and abbreviated course inside Callander Bay was outlined by Dave Hansman.


Sure enough, by race time the winds had died down to about 10 knots and our boats were bathed in the lowering sun's golden glow as we got set to start (above).  Our race was scheduled to go around several of the NBYC course marks (see photo below):


Things went well for about half an hour but then the winds went to bed early and the RC very wisely shortened course again as shown below:


By this time there could be no doubt as to the winners: Dwight and Pat were a quarter mile ahead and still pulling away as they crossed the line. What little wind was left was rapidly backing into the south and then the SE: Boats that held their spinnakers too long lost a lot of ground, while Ross Jamieson whom Al had coached into a dead last position by suggesting the left side up the beat, used only two sails and ghosted past several boats attempting to spinnaker. In the end, five boats were in a dog fight over 2nd place but John and Dolores de Boer managed to hang on for the runner-up spot. Ross and Al had drifted into 3rd place near the finish but sat helpless as Geoff and Barb Edwards picked up a lovely little reaching puff right in the lee of the near by shore and snatched 3rd place away. Still 4th was good enough to give Ross Most Improved honours since he had been seeded 10th in the 10-boat fleet. Meanwhile, defending champ Marc had played it safe by staying away from the shore when he saw that the wind was backing and should be blocked by the trees and rocks, was rewarded by dead calm further off shore and fell all the way from 2nd to 5th.

Lori Beehler and Jason Hassard turned on the jets as the winds died. After rounding the islands in 9th, they moved all the way up to 6th, ahead of Andrew Haill and Joanne Hurd. Getting too engrossed in their own dogfight, cost Tony Krauss and Dave Hansman big time. After being nose to nose and in the hunt for 2nd until right near the finish line, neither was willing to be the first to douse the spinnaker and they fell all the way to 8th and 9th respectively! Playing the perfect hosts, NBYC's Henry and John, rounded out the fleet in 10th.


After we had drifted across the finish line just as the sun set, a nice little breeze picked up and most of us enjoyed a lovely quiet gurgle back to the club - see photo of Ross (r) and Al above.



Very light winds greeted our 10-boat Don Rumble Memorial fleet on Monday, July 3rd. For this event, we had Don Rumble's son-in-law, Fred McNutt, running the races, ably assisted by Don's two daughters, Anne McNutt and Gillian Danby. No time for postponements on this day, since people had long trips home to start, and no race would be started after 1 p.m.


In fact, we did get 4 of the 5 scheduled races in as the RC wisely compensated for lack of wind (above) by setting Junior Club length courses. Saturday's light-air practice paid off for Al Schonborn of Oakville who was sailing sailing Dolores de Boer's daughter, Michele Dicker, of London.


The SHADES team (above) scored 1-2-1-1 to edge out Kitchener's Dwight and Pat Aplevich (below) and their 2-1-2-3 tally.




The out-of-towners continued their run as Tony Krauss and Mary Abel (above), who came up all the way from North East, Maryland, took 4th, a mere two points ahead of David and Carol Hansman (below) of the host club.


Andrew Haill (above) again came over all the way from Thunder Bay and shaved one hour off his last year's driving time of 14 hours. Teaming up with Joanne Hurd of North Bay, Andrew placed series 6th, and thus won the green Most Improved flags by improving 3 places over his seed.


Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club's Geoff Edwards (above) teamed up with daughter, Barb, to take 7th overall, while North Bay's Ross Jamieson (below) with his wife, Lori, took 8th (up a couple of places over their seed!)


Only two points behind the Jamiesons were Ottawa's Lori Beehler and Jason Hassard (above) while locals, Henry Van Brussel and John Symmonds (below) continued to have trouble making W3593 move at the necessary speed.


When Uncle Al suggested to Henry that his boat would move faster if he moved his weight further forward when racing (see photo above) , the latter replied: "I'm going to do just that! Next year, I'm going to crew and John will skipper!"

Those of us who didn't have to go home, went to Mexicali Rosa's and, among other things, assassinated a few "El Presidentes" before getting a well earned rest before Tuesday's Poker Run on Trout Lake!



Things didn't look overly promising as we arrived at Bob Brown's hangar on Trout Lake's Delaney Bay on Tuesday morning for the second annual Trout Lake Poker Race. But an overcast sky soon cleared into a warm and sparkling day with a perfect SW breeze of 8 to 12 knots to speed our five entered Wayfarers along.


For 2006, Dave Hansman had refined the positions of our five card pick-up points (see chart above) and with the SW winds, those choices were perfect for a cruise-type race since they involved very little beating after the first short leg.


By 10 a.m. all five boats were launched and poised for a Le Mans start off the beach (above) into the lovely little breeze. In keeping with the casual nature of the race, Uncle Al and Julia decided to take pictures of the start before leaving.


The upwind start through shallow water also promised some interesting photo ops. And we were not disappointed!! Only Tony and Mary got off to a clean start (above).


On the short beat SW across the lake, John and Dolores caught up well and arrived at the first way point, Ken Holloway's canoe (above) just ahead of Tony and Mary. The cantankerous Ken then made Dave and Carol Hansman with grandson, Mitchell, re-pass him, refusing to hand over the two cards until they had rounded the canoe in the Holloway-approved manner!!

A pleasant little downwind leg to way point #2  (photos above) back on the north shore followed with ...