| Despite forecasts of a cool, rainy,
miserable
weekend, nine stalwart Wayfarer crews raced in our (northern) season
opener,
the Warm Water regatta at the Conestoga SC near Kitchener, Ontario on
the
weekend of May 26-27. With most of the top-seeded racers in attendance,
the small numbers belied the heat of the competition, and those who
were
there got in some excellent early season practice against most of North
America's top Wayfarer racers.
...  The series was wide open from beginning to end. Scott and Grant Town won Saturday's opener in a close all-Fanshawe tussle over Rick Goldt and his daughter, Jenna, and Brian Jeffs with Scott Bamford in 10 to12-knot easterly winds gusting to 18. During the lunch break, thunderstorms began to make themselves heard despite temperatures that were barely breaking 15ºC. When there was no sign of these storms leaving the area by 3 p.m., our hard-working RC of John and Alistair Martin wisely abandoned further racing for the day, and moved our group's Heidelberg Inn dinner reservations up to 5 p.m. After a wonderfully relaxing evening of
the delicious
food this area is famous for, with drinks and socializing to match, it
was early to bed for most. Sunday dawned sunny at about 5:45 a.m. but
it
was a classic case of "Red sky in morning, sailor take warning". By
10:15
race time, the sky was gray and the forecast occasional showers were
beginning.
 The slightly decreased winds of 6-12 knots, still from the east, and a different suit of sails seemed to make things better for Peter and Alex Rahn of Bainsville, Ontario as they captured race 2 over defending champions, Al Schönborn and son, David, who had sailed the previous day spinnaker-less in deference to this being David's first sail of 2001. Brian Jeffs was the only one to score a second straight top 3 finish as the competition was very even and the regatta wide open, especially since it was likely that there would be no drop race. After carving out a nice lead on the race 3 reaches, Uncle Al managed to round the leeward mark in the wrong direction and then unwind the wrong way as well. By the time Al had sorted out his confusion, Scott Town had sailed to a nice lead which he would hold to finish over Dwight Aplevich and his wife, Pat, of the host club, and Rick and Jenna Goldt. At the point, the regatta leaders, Scott and Grant Town, had to pack up and leave for an unbreakable business appointment and Peter Rahn decided that an early start to his 400-mile trip home in steadily deteriorating weather was called for. Another close race followed - so close in fact that Uncle Al on starboard and Rick Goldt and Brian Jeffs side by side on port all got to the mark at the end of the second beat at the same time. In a resulting collision between Al and Brian, Al protested while Brian felt that Al had tacked too close and declined to do a 720. Brian then sailed a fine run with super spinnaker work from Scott Bamford to get past Rick Goldt for the first-place beep. Dwight Aplevich rounded out the top three in the finale as he got past Al who had no luck trying the inshore route down the final run. As boats were quickly hauled out of a quickly rising Conestogo Lake and manhandled down a beach which was no longer wide enough to accommodate a car, the rain increased to a downpour. Preliminary results showed Brian Jeffs and Scott Bamford as the Carling Trophy winners by the narrowest of margins: one quarter point ahead of Rick and Jenna Goldt. Their first major regatta victory in Wayfarers. But there was the matter of the protest. And here I was beside Brian and Scott unrigging in the downpour, when, protest and all, Scott and Brian came over and gave me a beer. In all my years of sailing, I can't recall a friendlier, more sportsmanlike gesture. Sadly for Brian and Scott, the protest went against them, and the competition was so close in the no-drop series, that the DSQ dropped them to series 6th. An unfortunate turn of events for a team that definitely sailed well enough to win. So, in the end, it was the consistency of that wily veteran, Rick Goldt, with the fine crew work of his daughter, Jenna, which captured for them the Carling Trophy. The 3rd-seeded Rick also beat his seed by two places and took a share of the Most Improved honours. Well done, Rick and Jenna. Only one point ended up separating series second from fourth. The early departure of Scott and Grant Town left them in series 3rd, half a point behind Al and David Schönborn and half a point ahead of Dwight and Pat Aplevich. The latter also beat their seed by a pair of places to capture the other one of the green Most Improved flags. Super sailing, Pat and Dwight! Despite missing the finale, Peter and Alex Rahn took series 5th by one quarter point over Brian Jeffs and Scott Bamford after their unfortunate DSQ in the last race. And only a couple of points back of Brian was the ageless George Blanchard (87, if you're counting!) who subjected his arthritis to two days of cold rain and still scored 5-9-6-4 for a series 7th with the ever able assistance of Mike Codd. For Conestoga's Al Nichols and Mike Miethig, and Wiarton's Doug Ryan with his young son, Chris, it came down to the final race as to who would take series 8th and avoid last place. Al and Mike rose to the occasion by beating out Doug and Chris in the last race. As can be seen from the photos on the web site, the fleet was regularly closely bunched. The racing throughout this fleet was exciting at all times - just the way racing should be. And we actually had 11 Wayfarers at the Warm Water. Geoff Edwards got to the club on Saturday morning all set to sail with Hazel Hewitt but didn't feel well enough to sail. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to our CWA Racing Secretary! And new Wayfarer, Klas Bockasten, whom we met at this year's AGM, had his freshly refurbished W296 and his young daughter, Zoë, ready to go but decided to wait for better weather for their first go at racing. Two more Wayfarers made their presence felt also, as Bob Little and Barb Elve were our safety boat people under very trying circumstances. Many thanks, Barb and Bob!!! |