Al, without a doubt you would have loved this Canada Day race!

 

We had the kite up right from the start and were almost constantly on plane.  What a lot of work and concentration!  We actually had to drop the spinnaker twice as we were simply being overpowered and it was too nerve wracking.  Even with the kite down we were still planing a lot of the time.  Was it ever fun….but no time for photos – just watch the sails and the wind and hang on for the thrill.  The forecast was for 10 to 12 knots from the NNW but what we got was initial winds from the north at 15 to 18 knots which clocked to the NW and were reported to be 18 to 20 knots with gusts to 30 knots.

 

There were 24 boats competing and we were the sole dinghy.  We were the 5th boat across the line and not very far behind any of the first 4.  As Dave R. put it, “We were closer to the 1st boat than the 6th boat was to us”.  There was, indeed, a huge gap open between the first five boats and the rest of the fleet of keel boats.  I sure wish there was a good way to compare the results as I am sure that Beowulf would have finished 2nd or 3rd overall if we had been tallied on adjusted time in with the keel boats.  Unfortunately, they don’t do that here.

 

This is 3 years in a row that Dave and I have had planing conditions on Canada Day.  I hope that tradition continues next year when more of our W fleet will be available (Canada Day is on a Friday in 2016).

 

Best regards,

 

Dave