| Dave Hansman looks back at the 2010 North Bay Wayfarer Weekend ... |
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The North Bay Wayfarer Weekend
North Bay YC & Trout Lake July 1/2/3/4 2010 The water levels were low and
the boat count was low, but the enthusiasm and fun quotient was at its
normal high levels for the entire four-day weekend of sailing.
The recipe for this year's version of the North Bay Wayfarer Weekend was written by Mother Nature way back in March of this year when, contrary to the weather norms, the North Bay region experienced a "drought" in terms of snow and rain for the entire month. Normally a very wet month (generally in terms of snow), March failed to produce and with lake levels, controlled by dams, lowered in anticipation of major water inflows from the feeder systems, Lake Nipissing entered the spring and summer season well below normal summer lows. Translation: by the 1st of July, Lake Nipissing was 27" below normal, too low for keel boats to enter the NBYC harbour. And so this was the "Year of the Dinghy" at NBYC, with only Wayfarers, Lasers and a small assortment of other centreboard boats able to access and use the harbour. The Wayfarer Weekend proved to be the highlight of our sailing season. Canada Day: Last year (2009) saw the lead-off Canada Day race feature 30 sailboats, only three of which were dinghies (two Wayfarers). This year's edition of the Canada Day race, well covered by Steph Romaniuk in his report, featured five Wayfarers, a Laser and nine larger craft most of which were centreboard boats. Nice winds and good competition, as usual, were celebrated by a post-race barbeque, trophy presentations and an evening of good times.  The
fleet makes ready to race from the North Bay waterfront.
National Long Distance (Cruise) Race: After the warm up on Thursday , Friday brought us the National Long Distance (Cruise) Race. Although somewhat disappointing in the number of boats, but heavy on enthusiasm, seven boats joined in this year's edition. Light winds were the name of the game for nearly half the race, but all the boats were able to maintain decent boat speed and the fleet played cat and mouse all the way to the furthest windward mark (J5), the lead (and all nearly all positions) visibly changing several times during these early legs of the race.  One
of the most picturesque sailing venues on the Wayfarer Circuit!
As
the fleet neared J5, fluky shifts in the wind started to make things
really interesting; the sheer job of rounding the mark itself being a
challenge. However, those shifts turned into a lovely, freshening
wind from the south-west which allowed the later-rounding boats to make
up some time on the leaders. By the time the final three shorter legs
of the race were sailed, we were now experiencing most thrilling
planing winds in excess of 20 knots which bore us home in fine style,
impressing the various spectators that had accumulated at the NBYC
harbour to witness the finish.
Don
Rumble Memorial Series: It was a very normal Lake Nipissing
morning with light wind, just enough to ripple the water, as the
Wayfarers were making ready for the day of racing. The sun shone
bright and clear, persisting throughout the day. This year we had a new
RC boat plus a new safety boat and crew, just one of the many "new"
things experienced this year due to the effects of low water levels and
our usual team of people having made other plans. The prevailing
south-west winds, so common here, were starting to build even as the
skippers'
meeting took place. By the time the boats were on the water,
sailing was already starting to get very "interesting". Five
races were scheduled - as it turns out, three were completed.
 The
building breeze led to a fabulous challenge as the day moved
along!
As Al says in his notes of the
day "Uncle Al and Roger use their
weight to fine advantage". This was certainly a fact and not an
understatement. The wind created a situation of nearing attrition
as the small (smallest ever for the modern version of the NBWW) fleet
dealt with the +20 knot winds, with gusts to past 30 knots, experienced
in races 2 and 3. Uncle Al and Roger prevailed in all three of the
races. Dave and Carol retired early in race 2 due to injury, Lori
and Ross went swimming for an hour as a result of difficulties in race
3 and Sue and Steph learned how to bail their "hot" Chich in tough
conditions. The "survivors" all sailed well in challenging
conditions and later that evening, we all had a chance to laugh, toast
the day with Dark & Stormies
and have the usual fun that Wayfarer
sailors have any time they gather.
The new "Port & Starboard" Girls' fraternity (easily identified by their red and green socks, a sub-group to the better known Bruise Sisters) made its debut that Saturday evening. Dave Richardson and Steph Romaniuk cheerfully assisted with the high jinks of the Port & Starboard Girls in a Winter Olympics parody. We look forward to the next visit by the Bruise Sisters or the Port & Starboard Girls. Trout
Lake Poker Fun Event: Now this was a beautiful day for
sailing. It started off nice, stayed fine and finished great.
Another "new" this year included a new location for our start and
finish - the area known as "Armstrong Beach" at the west end of Trout
Lake. Good parking and a good boat launch made this a fine
venue. The racing got underway as planned at 10:30 a.m. with a
two-minute interval start dictated by the race director (me) and
"scientifically" based on seeding and performance over the
previous two days - in other words, the better you did in the preceding
couple of days, the later you started.
Heading off first, and in their very first-ever Wayfarer event, was the very enthusiastic Grigg family in their boat Y-knot. They started first and finished last, but this was their debut. For their efforts, they earned the Flyswatter Award. The shifty winds that we all experienced in the first 30 minutes served to help the later boats close the gap on whatever advantage the early starters may have had. As a result, six of the seven Wayfarers stayed very close over nearly the entire 10 mile, 2.5 hour length of the race; so close, in fact, that there was controversy created at the very last waypoint, prompting the race committee (me) to introduce the new "Julia Rule".  The
Trout Lake venue is hard to beat!
Of course, all boats made it to
the BBQ and fun at McNutt's cottage and our irreplaceable hosts were as
congenial as ever. Folks who miss this event, miss a lot! The trip back
up Trout Lake was also superb. With the 12 to 15 knot SW wind,
most boats were able to make the whole eight-mile trip back up Trout
Lake
on one very long port tack; those of you who know Trout Lake will
recognize
how unusual that is.
Many thanks to the following
people who helped make the 2010 edition of
the North Bay Wayfarer Weekend a success:
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