Peter Rahn and son, Alex, take Wayfarer Ontarios in excellent Worlds warm-up at Lac Deschênes

The weekend of July 17-18 provided 13 crews with a superb weekend of socializing and sailing courtesy of the Lac Deschênes SC and its hard-working and very hospitable members. The weather was ideal - warm, mostly sunny, winds ranging from 5 to 12 knots - and the competition was fierce yet friendly. All in all, those of us about to race in the Worlds could not have asked for a better tune-up series in which to sharpen our skills.

Congratulations to the excellent father-son team of Peter and Alex Rahn from Montreal who won the 2004 Ontario championship and the Bronze Sail Trophy as they built up a good lead over the first four of five Saturday races and then held on to edge out four-time defending champions, Al Schönborn and Marc Bennett of Oakville and Toronto. For the Rahns, who have twice won the U.S. Nationals, it was their first Ontarios victory. And a well deserved one, too, as they came back from inauspicious starts in a few races to rescue usable finishes for their title run.

Uncle Al and Marc got an OCS out of their system in race 2. This turned out to be the difference as they crossed first in that race after a marvellously close battle with Bill Fyfe, Peter Rahn and Mark Taylor. Al and Marc particularly enjoyed the closely-fought runs engendered by the windward-leeward courses where the tactics and strategy had to be very sharp.

The fight over series third went down to the seventh and final race in which Ottawa's Bill Fyfe and Brian Egan took a 2nd while Mississauga SC's Mark Taylor with Jim Hately dropped from 3rd to 4th late in the race to lose 3rd overall by a mere one point. Both Bill and Mark sailed excellent series. Congratulations, guys! It was - as always - a pleasure to sail with you.

Also regularly up with the leaders and pushing them, were the next three series finishers - all looking promising for the upcoming Worlds. The only thing they lacked was the occasional small move that would have consistently put them into the top three at the finish. Series 5th went to London's John and Dolores de Boer who showed good consistent boat speed and boat handling in beating out Ottawa's Andrew Gumley. The latter was sailing with a new crew, Mike Frame, on the Saturday and improved all day, only to have to "train" another new crew (Teri Theoret) on the Sunday. Still, when the dust (so to speak) had settled, the 9th-seeded Andrew had taken series 6th and was our Most Improved helm of the series. Congratulations, Andrew, Mike and Teri!

Only two points behind Andrew in series 7th were Roger Shepherd and Joanne who also sailed very well in their Porter-built wooden beauty, Invasion. 8th place went to none other than our 90-year-old, George Blanchard, with the capable assistance of Mike Codd. Well done, George and Mike!

Wending his way slowly from Fredericton, New Brunswick, towards the Worlds was Brian Mills. Brian picked up a local crew, Ryan Leighton, and was seen among the leaders several times as he had Whiskey run … out moving very nicely. The Whiskey team ended up beating their 10th seed by one place.

Another Worlds-bound Wayfarer was Doug Netherton with John Johnston. Doug and John were another boat that was moving really well, but were done in by a strange affinity to marks and other boats which they hit several times.

Ottawa cruising sailor, Alan Asselstine, complete with two sets of reef points in his mainsail, combined with his son, Mark to sail a fine series and edged out our North Bay entry, Dave Hansman and his father, Charles in Banshee. For Banshee, the 1961 Canadian champion, it was a fine rescue from the scrap heap just in time for the 2004 Worlds. Dave spent the better part of a year re-building her, and now she looks brand new and gorgeous. It's great to have you with us, Dave and Charles!

Series 13th went to another Ottawa cruising sailor complete with reef points, Robin Allardyce, who was quite obviously enjoying himself while single-handing on Saturday before picking up a crew (anonymous, so far) for Sunday's racing.

All in all, it was a special weekend, largely organized and made to work by Doug Netherton and Françoise Brossard with capable assistance from the likes of (if any!) Bill Fyfe and Frank Goulay, and of course our excellent Race Committee, headed by Charles Smith. And then there were the hundreds of great photos courtesy of Stuart Pursey (Saturday) and Lois Frankel (Sunday). Thank you very much, one and all! See you same time next year!!