Second-half come-back lifts Uncle Al and Roger Shepherd to victory in exciting Long Distance Race

After a fine breakfast served up by the host club's volunteers (above) small but talented fleet of seven Wayfarers (below) lined up for the 11 a.m. start off the North Bay YC after a skippers' meeting chaired as always by Fred and Anne McNutt (right end of group below).

Something a little different from Uncle Al (3854) who got the favoured windward-end start by holding on to the dock until just before the start beep went, but the hoped for edge failed to materialize as the wind veered to blow off the shore and left Al nearly becalmed. Still, Al and his defending champion crew, Roger Shepherd, recovered nicely. Though not as nicely as Dave Richardson (4782) and his very capable crew du jour, Lori Jamieson, who I believe rounded off the first beat in the lead - with Canada Day race winners, Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk and Al with Roger close behind.

The next leg had us leave Darling and McPherson Islands to port on our way to the Main Channel out into Lake Nipissing. The three leaders were still very close together (above) but pulling away from the other four. Al once more thrived in the patchy winds and had pulled into a modest lead ...

... as we sailed into and through the Main Channel (above). But Dave (4782) and Sue (397) were far from dead as this was one of those rare moments when Al found himself being slowly but surely ...

... outspeeded by the other two leaders. For the two miles or so of a largely one-tack (starboard) beat to J5, both Sue and Dave continued to edge past Al.

... 2nd. The light and by now patchy winds (above) looked to be just what the heavyweight Schonborn-Shepherd team had not hoped for, given the lightweights ahead of them. But the patchiness of the breeze played to one of Al's strengths as ...

... he and Roger nibbled away at their disadvantage. By the time the fleet neared the return trip through the Main Channel, Al and Roger had threaded their way into the lead for the second time as ...

... the westerly breeze picked up to a steadier 8-10 knots. Still in hot pursuit and sailing impressively well were ...

... earlier leaders, Sue and Steph (pink and white spi) and Dave with Lori (right) who had in fact been joined by Dave and Carol Hansman (black hull) who were recovering amazingly well from a poor beginning to their race.

And so we exited the Main Channel back into Callander Bay and headed for mark #2 which is about 10° to the right of the Callander water tower. It was still anybody's race, especially given the fact that the course to #2 was just about a dead run. In the photo above, Al and Roger can be seen to be "following Sue and Steph from in front", as Al likes to say, namely, staying between Sue and the next mark and in this case, on the same gybe.

A very nervous moment came for Uncle Al when Sue (above left) decided to sail high and closer to the island than Al was willing to risk going. Sue did indeed gain as she and Steph sailed into the stronger wind funnelling along beside the island, but then she hit the wind shadow cast by the land and ...

... lost serious distance to Al and Roger. In a very pleasant breeze of about 8 knots, we dawdled across Callander Bay towards ...

... mark #2, which was hard to see but which we had been told was just to leeward of the water tower (above). Except for the spinnaker-less Andy Douma and Robin Allardyce from Ottawa, the other six boats were not too far apart as can be seen by the positioning of the four boats above: (l to r) Sue, John and Dolores de Boer, Al, Dave Richardson with Lori Jamieson.

Just after we in SHADES rounded mark #2 onto a close reach towards #1, the wind piped up dramatically to 20+ knots from the west. Unlike the lighter teams behind us, Roger and I were able to hold our boat down nicely and had the rare and exhilarating experience of planing the entire leg to #1, and most of the way to #3, even without a spinnaker. At #3, we bore away onto ...

... a dead spinnaker run towards the finish line, perhaps a quarter-mile away. It was indeed a far cry from our rather sedate sailing that we had done for most of this year's Long Distance Race. Instead, we got to re-enter the North Bay YC's basin in suitable style.

Scooting across the finish line off the North Bay YC in first place were Uncle Al and Roger Shepherd with ...

... Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk a close 2nd.

Sharon Ryder-Turner was at the helm while husband, Alastair, tended the spinnaker as they crossed in 3rd place.

Very close behind in 4th place were Dave and Carol Hansman who were in turn just ahead of ...

... Dave Richardson with Lori Jamieson.

All flags flying, Andy Douma and Robin Allardyce, crossed in fine style as well to round out our fleet.

No sooner were boats put away than the Dark and Stormies made their well deserved and extremely appreciated appearance. In due course and considerably later, a lovely catered dinner was served upstairs before ...

Roger Shepherd (l) and Uncle Al receive our most beautiful trophy from Dave Hansman (r).

The 2010 version of the Bruise Sisters then rounded off the entertainment. Our lovely dancing girls came complete with port and starboard socks. A fine day it was all in all and we look forward to have more Wayfarers share the fun next year!!!