Apart from the rain beating down on the chalet roof so loud I could hardly hear the PRO's words at the Skippers' Meeting, the regatta was off to an enjoyable start - if you didn't count the fact that the day was unseasonably cold. Nonetheless, our 2010 Wayfarer regatta season came to a fine close Oct. 2-3 with the Fanshawe YC's 41st annual Pumpkin Regatta in London, Ontario. Nine hardy Wayfarer teams, about 15 Lasers, and the usual assortment of cruisers and others in a miscellaneous fleet braved two days of rain and miserable temperatures that struggled to reach 10°C. This was weather that brought to mind the "good old" Pumpkin days when we used to camp at Fanshawe in these conditions and use the washroom hands-dryer to blow-dry or at least warm our sailing boots. At least it wasn't a snowy Saturday morning like we had in the Blue Jays' World Series years 1992 and 1993. But we did get nice winds of about 8 to 12 knots. Even though they were from the dreaded NE direction, our RC made a very nice best of them by coming out into the wet with us and giving us water-based starts.


The RC noted and enjoyed the close racing and strategic battles provided by the Wayfarers, especially reigning Canadian champions, Sue Pilling with Steph Romaniuk, who duelled all weekend long with US champions, Uncle Al and Richard Watterson (see race 5 near finish photo above). At the end of the 6-race series, the two teams were each counting 1-1-1-2-2 and the tie-breaker had to go to tier two where Richard and Uncle Al won the tie-breaker by having beaten Sue and Steph in the last race. As Al reported it to his Rebel friends: "We had a wet, cold but exciting series in which we were never actually ahead of our main Wayfarer rival these days, Sue Pilling, but did manage to win the series by beating her in the finale to move into a tie which was then broken in our favour since we beat her in the last race. We could have beaten her outright but in the 2nd-last race she beat us by a tiny fraction of a second: the RC went beep-beep closer together than I had ever heard it. They said they enjoyed watching us battle it out!"

(14 Oct 10) I was just showering and remembered two items I would like to recall as I look back on this most interesting regatta: Heading back out towards race 2 after lunch in the chalet, I was coming back down the three substantial flights of stairs that lead down the cliff to the main docks. Unsuspecting, I slipped on a worn, wet and slimy wooden tread at the top of the bottom 20-foot flight and went down that flight a lot faster than I wanted to, and scared my ever so solicitous crew. What with the blood thinners and all, I am still getting rid of the visual evidence a couple of weeks later. Further, I like to think that my subsequent very costly faux pas in race 2 could be blamed on residual shock? Anyway, Richard and I had worked ourselves into a lovely little lead as we rounded the first windward mark. Without properly looking out for oncoming traffic, I gybed onto port around the mark for a windward hoist only to hear a worried yell from Mike Codd who was approaching on a collision course - also on port but leeward boat. By this time, it was all I could do to avoid a collision by violently luffing up. Mike and I sailed side by side for some distance and by the time I had finally luffed long enough to let Mike pass to leeward, we had fallen to 5th place and were in mid-lake where the best wind wasn't. We ultimately rescued a 4th in that one, while Sue and Steph made an impressive comeback to collect their second straight win and move into a well nigh insurmountable lead.


Actually, this regatta showed that easy sailing weather is not really essential, provided the social aspects are well arranged and looked after. And especially for us Wayfarers this was most certainly the case. As has become a hard and fast tradition, John and Dolores de Boer (above) again made our Friday night special with a dinner party that all by itself would have made our trip to London worthwhile what with the home "grown" Château de Boer wines to go with a great main course built around ham plus chili - perfect for a cold, rainy night!! A few of us did in fact do just that: Andy Douma and friend as well as Roger Shepherd and Rae Perry made the party the only part of Pumpkin weekend they attended. Special thanks to the de Boers from Julia and me (and doubtless from Ross and Lori Jamieson) who got fine sleeping accommodations once again in their lovely home!
 
Not to be outdone, Natalie and Brian Hurst and their lovely daughter, again provided us with the fantastic turkey dinner that all of us hope will become a tradition. This dinner also came with a bottle of eminently palatable Fanshawe YC/Pumpkin Regatta wine for each table. All this for the ridiculously low price of $7 per person!!! And of course, just to keep them from being bored, the Hursts manned the kitchen for Saturday and Sunday breakfasts and lunches. Especially this year, those were a life saver for many of us. Thanks a million, Natalie and Brian!!


As previously mentioned, we got nicely sailable wind strengths and water-based starts in north-easterly breezes out of Wye Creek (near mark #1 above). Saturday we got three races - one before lunch with a start line halfway up our beat near #2 and posted courses of buoys to port twice around a 1-B-3 triangle, and the other two double windward-leeward sausages of 1-Pumpkin-1-Pumpkin-finish. In nearly continuous rain (below) I expect that none of us had any desire to stay out for more races. And if we thought we had it tough, think of our poor RC volunteers who did not even have the excitement of racing to keep them warm!! Thanks a ton, guys!! We really appreciate the sacrifices you made for us!!