Before getting into what happened, we want to make clear why it happened! We extend our thanks for the many volunteers who helped make these four days possible and most enjoyable.

The North Bay Wayfarer Weekend began early this year with the arrival of John and Dolores de Boer arriving on the 28th to set up camp at NBYC and getting in some sailing before the weekend start.  The area behind the club house (below) provided a good base for what turned out to be, for them, over a week of fun and relaxation in the North Bay area.

The first competition of the weekend was the annual Canada Day race sponsored by the NBYC.  This year, over 28 sailboats, including 7 Wayfarers, participated under light and variable winds (so different than the 30 to 39 knot winds of last year).  The planned course, over 12 miles in length, headed due south from the North Bay waterfront, and then through the channel and on to the yacht club facilities in Callander Bay. The 1:00 pm mass start in light wind proved interesting for all, and three of the keel boats had to make their way back across the line after inadvertently drifting across the start line too soon.  All 7 Wayfarers had reasonable starts, although two were scrambling to get to the start line on time. 


W282 Banshee, Dave Hansman and Dave Richardson (above), managed to secure excellent positioning right from the start, maintaining the lead on the entire fleet for over an hour and a half using the light, off shore easterly puffs before the breeze started to pick up and two J24s and a Santa Cruz 27 moved by. The head of the fleet was also passed by W3140, Lori and Jason (below), having despaired of getting any significant wind, were under tow by a larger keel boat.

The wind turned south east as it picked up slightly, and soon Banshee was being closely pursued by John and Dolores in Silver Fox, with Uncle Al and Michele Dicker coming on strong in Shades.  All boats had sailed low (west) on the mark anticipating a south west breeze which did not come, so the freshening south east breeze required the fleet to make several tacks up to the J5 buoy mark which would start the long beat into Callander Bay.  J5 was also the set mark for a shortened course which was soon to prove significant for Dave and Dave in Banshee.

John and Dolores slowly made their way closer and closer, finally outdueling Banshee to take the lead (after more than 3 hours of sailing and only a few hundred yards from J5).  Sailing from behind, and the fact that they were so close to the finish, forced a change in tactics for Banshee.  Silver Fox was on a higher line for J5 and slightly ahead.  Silver Fox appeared to be pinching to make J5, but Banshee realized that there would only be one more tack to port needed to make a dash for the finish line.  On a starboard tack, Banshee took a lower line for speed and managed to move ahead of Silver Fox enough to tack to port and come over top of them and cross the finish line first; Silver Fox crossed only seconds behind.  Within a minute, Shades also crossed the finish line to take 3rd place (We found out later that both Silver Fox and Shades did not realize the course would be shortened at J5).

Soon after the race was finished, the nice breeze we had been enjoying from the south east packed it in and the rains came, light but still inconvenient.  However, all of the Ws managed to scrounge a tow for the last 5 kms of the trip to the club.  One unusual feat of towing had one keel boat towing two Wayfarers, a J24 and a Santa Cruz (see photo above).

The evening was occupied by a NBYC sponsored BBQ, awards ceremony, prizes and sailing talk, and the Ws took high profile in the awards by sheer strength of class numbers.

The wind starting blowing at 4 in the morning and, by 9:00 am, had built into 20-knot winds with gusts to 30 knots.  Although it was a clear day to enjoy, the huge winds and accompanying waves forced a postponement until 1:00 pm.  Several people went off to explore the shops and attractions in North Bay for a couple hours, but when we all reconvened at 12:30 it was evident that safety would still not permit us to race.

This called for some flexibility in planning, and so the afternoon race was postponed to the evening and dinner moved up to mid afternoon.  After a few calls made by Carol Hansman, the stage was set for drinks at 3:30 and dinner at 4:00 pm.  By the time dinner was served, it became obvious that the wind was starting to retreat.  At 5:30, with dessert in boxes for later enjoyment, we all headed back to the club. With the Ws in the water and after a hasty skippers' meeting, the race was started at 7:00 pm (the first time the NCR had been held in the evening).  The shortened race course called for sailing within the bounds of Callander Bay, making use of the islands near the western shore and the permanent marks used by NBYC for races.  A fine 8 to 10-knot wind from the west allowed excellent sailing across the bay, with Dwight and Pat Aplevich in W4606 Eclairelle leading from the start and never looking back.  Course direction of the first leg, with westerly winds, demanded that the majority of sailing be done closehauled on port.  A few of the leading Ws found themselves trying to cut things a bit too close as they neared the islands, suffering from the lee side winds and weeds, and allowed some of the Ws further back to catch up and, in some cases, overtake the leaders - except for Dwight and Pat (below) who were firmly in the lead and playing it smart.

On the windward side of the islands, the whole complexion of the race changed with the winds; the winds died down and began, slowly, to move to the south.  It became a drifter, with air movement just enough to give hope.  W282 Banshee, who had managed to work up from 6th to 3rd as the islands were rounded, managed to “blow it” on this leg and was able to witness the success that six others had in dealing with the light winds of this evening on what turned to be the final leg of the race.  Most remarkable of comebacks was that of Geoff Edwards and crew Barbara in Jansubar, sliding from back in the pack to eventually capture 3rd place behind Dwight and Pat in 1st with John and Dolores in 2nd.  The most improved (or should we say, the “most learned”) boat was W4667 Mystic, an NBYC club boat with Ross Jamieson at the helm and Uncle Al as crew.

As a counterpoint to the very strong winds we had waited on all day to subside, and the mix of winds we saw in our evening race, the wind gods drummed up a beautiful south wind at about 4 to 5 knots to make our trip back to the club harbour both memorable and enjoyable under a clear sky and half moon.  There, our erstwhile sailors gathered in the NBYC clubhouse for chocolate mousse served in wine glasses before calling it a night.   It had been an interesting day requiring a lot of flexibility in planning, but we were able to get the race in, even if shortened.

The winds were predicted to be southwest 10 to 15 knots, but what we got was light and variable from the northwest, so the accuracy of the weather predictions continued on this day. Nevertheless, we were able to get in 4 of the 5 scheduled races for the Don Rumble Memorial Series in a situation that provided ample practice at working the sails to derive the last ounce of power from the limited winds.  Curiously, the breezes rose optimistically at the start of each race and then tapered off through the time of each race. Only the first race had to be shortened when the wind dropped to virtually nothing for a short while.

We had two different layouts for the races, the first two being triangular courses (modified Olympic) and the final two being windward/leeward.  (For more complete details, please refer to Uncle Al’s report on this series and most of the awards.)  Ten boats participated and there were no protests. 

The beautiful, spacious Committee boat was a 32 Hunter Rascal Too provided by Mogens Christensen, NBYC Commodore. Anne McNutt came to the conclusion that this is the way life is supposed to be lived! Mogens was under the weather but nevertheless hung in there for the day and later commented on the professional manner in which the races were conducted.  He even commented on the fact that racers came by after the races and were thanking people on the Committee boat, something he had never seen before.

Bill Simkins, his wife Joyce, Lynda O’Shea and Arlene provided the bountiful on-the-water lunch. This group was busy all weekend making sure that the hot breakfast, lunches and the bar at the club were well organized, available at need and cleaned up afterwards, and our whole gang, especially the “resident” Wayfarers camping at the club, were grateful for all that volunteer work.

One other worthy note: The annual “Wax” award, presented to the W who participated in the NCR and all the series races, but who finished last overall, went this year to Henry Van Brussel (above left) and John Symmonds in Felicia.  John, who is a regular contender in races at NBYC in his Kirby 25, said this was “all a bit embarrassing!” 

The “most helpful person” award this year went to Trevor Hughes (above). Trevor manned the mark boat for the series races, but he was there all weekend to help with whatever came up.  His big voice and big laugh could be heard all weekend as he good naturedly pitched in the help get it done.

We once again celebrated the American Independence Day, this time with Tony Krauss and Mary Abel as our “token” Americans there to help.  This day also saw the best combination of winds and weather over the four days of events, with winds starting early and the morning and rising to 10-12 knots in the mid- afternoon, with sun and warm temperatures all day.  A thunderstorm did pass by well to the south, but the resulting winds did add some additional interest to the return trip (but I am getting ahead of myself!).

The smaller Wayfarer fleet for this event did not reflect the level of enthusiasm the participants brought with them; everyone was there bright and early soon after 9:00 am to get set up.  All were ready to go by 10:00 am, so the Poker Event was underway as scheduled by 10:30.

This year’s start proved “interesting” for some and quite amusing for others (namely Uncle Al).  With a shore start with an onshore wind, we were quickly into a minor bump festival (see photo above).  It all happened very fast, but I do recall at one time being sandwiched between the side of Silver Fox (John and Dolores) and the bow of Felicia (Henry and Bridgett Van Brussel).  The small dent in Banshee’s rub rail bears witness to the event as, I am sure, will Uncle Al’s photos.  Al and Julia had wisely hung back and avoided the tangled start.

After a few laughs the racing part was underway, sailing beats to the west end of the lake for our first Poker point pickup, manned by longtime Wayfarer enthusiast, Ken Holloway, and Yvonne Brown (above). Silver Fox made the first pickup, followed closely by Tony and Mary in Trouble, Dave, Carol and Mitchell in Banshee, Al and Julia in Shades and then Felicia.

Turning east allowed the spinnakers to be run up for the 1 km run to the north shore of Trout Lake and the 2nd pick up at the dock of Wayfarer friend and member of the 2005 organizing committee, Tom McClements (above). 


From there, the course headed due south another km to the beach at the bottom of Dugas Bay.  In this leg, Banshee and Shades were able to close the gap opened earlier by Silver Fox and Trouble; the former two having entered low winds in the lee shore areas that Dave and Al were able to avoid.  Four Ws arrived at the 3rd pick-up within a minute of each other.  Here it was necessary for one member of each boat to get out and go to the beach (above) to get the cards from Charlie Hansman (said to be the oldest person to ever crew at a Wayfarer Worlds, 2004).

From here it was a beautiful sail under spinnaker east between Hemlock Island and the south shore of the lake.  The nature of this fun race became evident by the number of great photos that were taken as we sailed along.  Unfortunately, my camera was not ready at the most crucial time: the time when Al and Julia ran aground!  Fortunately for Shades, it was soft sand.  Fortunately for us, Al did manage to get a photo of his situation (above) before he and Julia scrambled to clear Shades of the sand bar.
 
This situation developed as we were rounding the end of Hemlock Island, and, with spinnakers now stowed, were starting a beam reach which would take us between Hemlock Island and Poplar Island to the east.  Silver Fox was still in the lead and were first to encounter the sand bar, not enough to stop them, but enough to kick up the center board and (we later learned) break the line which holds the rudder down.  Both Banshee and Trouble saw what happened and avoided the sand bar, but we suspect Al was paying more attention to taking photos than what was ahead in the water.  Wayfarers stop fast when there is only a couple inches of water over the sand! (Al's note: We did see the sandbar. We went over that same bar twice in the eighties: the first time we moved from 3rd to 1st in the Cruise Race, the second time we ran aground but I jumped out and ran alongside holding the extension tiller as the boat floated free and kept moving. When the water got back to nearly knee high, I jumped back in. Julia kept the spinny flying throughout and we passed one boat. This year the water was just that little bit shallower, but it was fun giving it a try!)
 

After the “Shades scramble” on the sand bar was completed, we headed north east under spinnaker, across once again to the north shore of the lake to our 4th pickup point.  Like last year, Erinn Hansman (above left) was in the shallow waters handing out poker cards, but this year only to her knees, forcing the Ws to raise their c/b and rudder (practiced under duress by Silver Fox and Shades only 10 minutes earlier) to make graceful pass-by pick-ups.
 

By then, there were three groups of Ws, Silver Fox and Shades duking it out for the lead, Trouble and Banshee positioning for 3rd and 4th, and Felicia well to the rear, enjoying the fine sailing weather.  Shades and Silver Fox flew their spinnakers for most of the 2.5 kms to the next pickup position, and the lovely wind made it quite a sporting situation for the leadership duel, as witnessed by us a few hundred yards behind in Trouble and Banshee.  It was also a sporting situation for Rob Greenfield (in motor boat above) who was sitting in his boat as the 5th pickup point; he had two Wayfarers coming at him from two different directions at the same time, both determined to get their cards first.  Rob literally had to jump from one side of his boat to the other to accomplish the near simultaneous handoffs; and darned is he didn’t get some good photos at the same time.
 
From there, it was a beam reach drag race across the lake to duck below Falconbridge Island and the finish at McNutts' cottage.  The duel continued across, which as the results show, was won by Shades, after Silver Fox turned the wrong way at that pick-up point.
 
Meanwhile, the race was still on between Trouble and Banshee to determine 3rd and 4th place in the water event. Banshee was 50 yards behind Trouble after the 5th pickup, so strategy was needed to change the fortunes. Trouble was taking the same line as that of Silver Fox and Shades, a course that Banshee realized would take them to the lee side of Falconbridge Island.  Sailing closehauled but conscious of boat speed, Banshee saw it would be possible to pass Falconbridge Island on the windward side and maybe, just maybe, squeeze out Trouble who would run into some strange winds in the lee of the island.  The strategy worked, and Banshee (Dave, Carol and Mitchell) arrived safely in 3rd position with shouts of “local knowledge” abuse being heard from Tony and Mary in Trouble.
 
Finally, with great fanfare from the peanut gallery on shore, all the Ws arrived for lunch, good conversation and friendship offered by the McNutts.  The morning sail had taken just over 2 hours to complete.
 
Our picnic was sunny, warm, and congenial.   The beer was cold, the food plentiful and the conversations good hearted.  Given that this was a relatively new event, only started last year, we soon realized that, after sorting poker hands, that a new event rule would be necessary.  Otherwise, Uncle Al would win again!
 
How can it be that, for the 2nd year in a row, the boat that finishes the water event in first also has the best poker hands? There has to be a rule to prevent this!!!! Therefore, it was decreed that a handicap would be applied to the previous year’s winner equal to the number of boats entered in this year's event. This had the effect of dropping Uncle Al from 1st to 3rd, a turn of events which he graciously accepted. He did, however, win the wax award for the most novel means of getting “over” a sand bar.
 
So, Silver Fox the winner.  They had, interestingly, enough placed 2nd in the water and had the 2nd best poker hands.  Tony and Mary placed 4th in the water part of the event and had the 4th best poker hands.  Further evidence that a handicap rule is needed.
 
At 2:30 p.m. it was time to make for the water again, this time to return “up” the lake to where we had started.  By this time, the storm backed south west winds were making it a gorgeous sail, with lifts that allowed us to sail good parts of the lake directly up, making the expected 100 minute trip something that was accomplished in under 75 minutes.  Before 4:30 p.m. we had the Ws out of the water and all packed up for the road.  After thanks and good-byes, we headed our separate ways, thinking about how much fun we would have again next year at the North Bay Wayfarer Weekend.

Report by Dave Hansman
Report by Uncle Al
Canada Day Race results
Cruise Race results
Cruise Race winners: 1959-2006
Don Rumble Memorial results
Don Rumble winners: 1963-2006
Trout Lake Poker Race results
photos
Friday - Saturday
Canada Day Race
Canada Day Race awards
Sunday morning ashore
early dinner at Average Joe's
Cruise Race - 1
Cruise Race - 2
Monday pre-racing ashore
Don Rumble series - race 1
Don Rumble series - race 2
Don Rumble series - races 3 & 4
Cruise Race & DRM awards
Trout Lake Poker Race - 1
Trout Lake Poker Race - 2
Trout Lake Poker Race - 3
picnic chez McNutt & farewell