| the North Bay Wayfarer Weekend the Long Distance Race as seen by Uncle Al North Bay YC * Saturday 4 July 2009 ..... |
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Roger Shepherd and Raewyn Perry use
spinnaker beautifully to score major victory
 Another cool - but largely
sunny - day
and plenty of northwesterly breeze
greeted 11 teams entered in Saturday morning's National Long Distance
Race (see course chart above).
 After our usual shore-based start
in the mouth of the North Bay YC's anchorage basin (above) we sailed a beat towards
NBYC mark #6 into a gusty NW breeze. Alas, our 11-boat fleet was
reduced to ten before the start signal even went as Bernie
Tempelmans-Plat and Henry Van Brussel who were sailing the only CL16 in
the race, #885, had their rudder snap off and were forced to retire.
Uncle Al (2nd from left above) got
stuck on port tack heading towards the camera and away from the
favoured "pin" (far) end, and by the time he bit the bullet and gybed
away he ended up as the sole occupant of the second row.
 What to do? It's obvious, isn't
it? We tacked onto port for clear air and soon saw the fleet beside us
more or less looking like the photo above. So we tacked across to get
some of what was obviously doing these guys a world of good! In fact,
Al decided to go even further left in hopes we might make up a bit of
our deficit. This proved to be another mistake as we were soon so far
behind that we could not even see who was in the lead. We flushed the
board and rudder for weeds but no such luck. Everything was clear. The
only cheering thought was that we were not DFL. John and Dolores de
Boer who were banging the other corner on the right, seemed to be even
further back than we were. It was surely have made many in the fleet
happy to round ahead of two such capable veterans as Al (9th) and John
(10th).
 After leading to the first windward mark (#6), Ottawa's Frank Goulay and Kim Bergevin slowly but surely extended their lead on the way to and out through the Main Channel. In the typically patchy winds to leeward of the islands north of the Main Channel, it sometimes paid to watch the boats ahead and avoid dead spots or prepare for violent gusts, and John and Al managed to lose their grip on last place by the time they entered the Channel, at which time, I believe the leaders were Frank Goulay, Roger Shepherd, Dwight Aplevich and Dave Hansman.  Being behind gave Julia and me a chance to appreciate how well all the boats in our fleet were being sailed despite the gusty, overpowering conditions, as for example W4782 (Dave Richardson with Kim Rainville) and W4677 (Ross and Lori Jamieson) above. Well done, all of us!!   As the fleet sailed out of the
Main Channel (see photo of John de
Boer, and chart above) the winds we still more than we could
hike down, gusty and backed towards the west. Still leading by an
increasing margin were Frank and Kim with Roger and Raewyn enjoying
Roger's kind of winds in a solid 2nd place. Beginning to make a move
were Al and Julia who got past Dwight and Pat in the Channel and Dave
and Carol shortly after hitting the open waters of Lake Nipissing. The
long beat to J5 was a great chance to boatspeed test as the winds were
fairly steady in both strength and direction with only the occasional
considerably stronger gusts.
Frank Goulay and Kim Bergevin seemed poised to win this event in a "horizon job" as they rounded J5 out in Lake Nipissing and started the lengthy run back to the east end of Callander Bay far, far ahead of second-place Roger Shepherd and Raewyn Perry. Especially since the latter had worries of their own as Uncle Al and his wife, Julia, had gradually erased much of their huge early deficit. Without trying anything dramatic or risky, Al and Julia had closed to within a couple of lengths of Roger and Rae as spinnakers were popped to begin the run and pursuit of the long-gone Frank and Kim who were once again sailing "white sail" (no spi).  Roger and Rae chug down the Main Channel in first place, about 100 yards ahead of ...  ... Uncle Al and Julia who have finally summoned up the nerve to fly the chute. Who would have thought it? Al
and Julia lost the race on this hoist
attempt as the somewhat rusty Julia had so much trouble untwisting the
chute that, after a near death roll, Al decided to douse the spinny.
And by the time Al had regained his nerve and hoisted successfully,
Roger and Raewyn had spinnakered and at times planed off to a
substantial lead over SHADES.
Unlike several big times last year, the lack of spinnaker cost Frank
and Kim significantly - perhaps because the spinnaker allowed better
surfing and longer periods of planing. Be that as it may, as Frank
finally reached the Main Channel into Callander Bay, he had lost not
only Roger but also Al. And before the finish that was still far away,
the spinnaker-less Frank would fall all the way to 5th place!
 It was a glorious broad reach across Callander Bay to mark #2 (above) which we would have to leave to port. We (below) must have been a fine sight for any spectators!  Dwight and Pat Aplevich have moved into 3rd place.  Ross and Lori make even the old "club" sails look fine.  Relative rookies to the world of the spinnaker, Dave and Kim are looking like seasoned veterans!!  Lori Beehler and Andrew have it all wired.  Dave and Carol in Banshee  Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk in Chich  Excitement as John and Dolores de Boer (left) have the inside track on Dave Richardson and Kim Rainville as they approach mark #2 off the Callander Beach. A one-tack port beat to #1 preceded the most exciting, fun leg of the entire race - if not the year!! The lovely close reach from #1 to #3 gave us one the best planes we have enjoyed in years! Unfortunately, no one got any pictures of our exciting performances in this instance.  On the short run from #3 to the
finish line, Roger and Raewyn (above)
were ready to pop the chute one more time if Uncle Al did so behind
them. But Al was happy to concede victory to Roger and Raewyn, their
first ever in the Long Distance Race! Congratulations, Raewyn and
Roger!! Complete results here.
 After being far, far behind, Al and Julia have no trouble being thrilled with 2nd place.  Dwight and Pat cross in 3rd place.  Also completing a fine comeback with a 4th-place finish are Sue and Steph.  After miles and miles of sailing, Frank and Kim (648) edged out Dave and Carol.  John and Dolores recovered beautifully from being DFL to taking a 7th ahead of ...  ... Dave and Kim.  Lori and Andrew speed across the finish line just ahead of ...  ... Ross and Lori. One of the beauties of the
breezy Long Distance Race is that it gives us a lovely, long afternoon
on which to consume refreshments and do a lengthy post mortem on the
race.
 Our usual conviviality headquarters: the de Boer-mobile  Dolores, Callie and Cassie are happy to be together again.  Carol Hansman and her sister, Cathy Jessup, get close to our champion, Roger.  The McCoys, our Saturday evening caterers again provided great food.  The superb dinner was followed
by our awards ceremony (see our
winners, Roger and Raewyn above) and more superb entertainment
from our very own Bruise Sisters
who provided us with a hilarious, if sobering, look at the Wayfarer
sailors' (not all that distant!!) future (below).
 The year is perhaps 2029. At the Into The Sunset retirement home, those spry old gals, Sisters Lori (l) and Carol take us through their album of Wayfarer mementos ...  ... much to the amusement of the audience.  By now, even Boy Wayfarer has some grey in his hair and some fade in his trademark red undies. |
| complete results of the 2009 Wayfarer
Long Distance Race |