North Bay duo captures 2010 Canadian Nationals

(l to r) CSC Commodore Jan d'Ailly, Steph Romaniuk, Sue Pilling, Regatta Chair Leo Van Kampen


Spectatorss at the Conestoga SC: (l to r) Sharon Ryder-Turner, MaryJane Pilling, Julia Schonborn, Graham Pilling

North Bay's Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk are your new Canadian Wayfarer champions. In an 8-race, two-drop series, the W397 team (above) won the first race over a 12-boat fleet and then held off challenges from half a dozen boats in two days' worth of perfect sailing winds and lovely warm sunshine June 19-20 at the Conestoga SC. Hosting the Nationals for the first time since 1995, the host club and its members rose to the challenge in a sparkling manner in combining the Nats with this year's Warm Water regatta. Combine that with the superb winds and weather as well as exciting competition that saw no fewer than five of the twelve teams win races, and you ended up with one of the all around most enjoyable regattas we have had in North America in many a year!

Regatta Chair, Leo Van Kampen (above right) got things off on the right foot Friday night with scheduled practice sailing and a pot luck supper for any early arrivals. Even Uncle Al and Julia dropped in briefly for a boat drop-off and a couple of beers after checking in with Marilyn at their Elora B&B, the Sem Wissler House. We then continued on to keep up our Warm Water Friday night tradition of wiener schnitzel and sauerkraut at the Heidelberg Inn.

Those first two pre-lunch races immediately set the tone for the series as North Bay's Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk (above) scored a 1-2 but established only a slight edge over Mississauga SC's Alastair Ryder-Turner with son, Andrew, who scored 2-3, and Conestoga's Dwight Aplevich with wife, Pat, who finished 4-1. Also impressive were Leo Van Kampen and wife, Joanne, who scored 3-5. Notably absent from the top three were past Canadian champions, Mark Taylor of MSC (5-4) and Oakville's Uncle Al (6-8). The latter soon discovered that his own 200 lbs added to John's 300+ was no boost to boat speed. Despite John's noble and best efforts, Al was soon seeing that the mistakes his usual top-notch boat speed usually helps him erase were now pretty near fatal. And Al made lots of these. About the only saving grace was that Al remained fairly calm and even smiled as he got a serious glimpse of how the other half lives. By the second-race run, John and I were foregoing the spinnaker in favour of a Grolsch apiece.

After lunch, Al and John got a perfect start and picked the shifts and gusts well enough to round with a narrow lead over team Ryder-Turner, the de Boers (John and Dolores) and the Apleviches. The latter were all far lighter and thus faster on the ensuing reach but Al used all his wiles to keep them to leeward and unable to pass. With a large bit of luck, Al also managed to break a couple of overlaps just before the gybe mark. Seeing no future in defending his wind and sailing way high of the point, Al and John sailed the rhumb line while four or five pursuers fought and slowed each other. This ended up letting Al and John sail into a lead that was never again threatened. Unfortunately for John, he was not used to the hectic pace Al insisted on once SHADES was winning, and by the time we got the beep, all John could say was, "I don't think I'll be up to winning another race."

Meanwhile, the top trio further entrenched themselves as they came in 2-3-4 behind John and Al. Team Pilling shows the hallmark of champions as they overcame a poor early-race performance to snatch a fine 2nd ahead of Dwight and Alastair. Also looking very good were Roger Shepherd and Raewyn Perry who took 5th place. Conversely, a 7th-place finish in this race just about put an end to the Taylor brothers' hopes of repeating their title-winning performance of 2008.

John and I were doing OK in the ensuing race until a series of muscle cramps turned SHADES into a water-borne ambulance as we ferried John ashore where he could walk his cramps off. But we had seen enough to realize that Sue and Steph were once more doing very well in this, the 4th race. They did indeed win out with who else but Dwight and Alastair grabbing the 2-3 spots. Mike Codd with eight-year-old Lilly were a very pleasant surprise as they placed 4th ahead of Mark and Paul Taylor in these rather gusty, breezy conditions. Well done, Lilly and Mike!!

Anticipating a 5th race, Uncle Al was meanwhile busy recruiting Sue Pilling's dad, Graham, as a very pleased replacement crew. After some fairly smooth spinnaker practice during which we discovered that my Chester River Race ribbon tied to the starboard shroud as a fond memento of the previous weekend, had managed to tie itself very solidly around the spinnaker halyard. Eventually we did get through all the necessary manoeuvres before the 15-knot breezes could blow us into the North Arm. So now we were ready and reached the RC boat just in time to discover that there would be no 5th race today. Still, it was a fun sail for me and Graham who helmed SHADES on the way back to the club, but who unfortunately was not going to be at Conestoga and crew for me the following day.


By 1630 hrs we were relaxing back on shore, refreshing ourselves with swims (above) and/or drinks as we looked forward to the catered turkey feast to come. Supplemented by Dark 'n' Stormies. the makings of which Al (Goslings, ginger beer and ice cubes) and Julia  (the pre-requisite red plastic cups) had thoughtfully brought along, the feast was marvellously enjoyable (below) and led to a fine evening of sailing and other talk, before the day's exertions called most of us to an early bed, especially those whose beds were not in tents on the premises.


Except for a wind that had veered about 90° to a mean NW direction, Sunday's weather was a carbon copy (remember those??!!) of Saturday's gorgeous conditions (see pics below). Now all that remained for Al to do was finding a Sunday crew since Julia was still not feeling well enough to sail - although she reports that she, Raewyn and Sharon Ryder-Turner spent a great morning at the end of the dock where they polished off a Sunday morning bottle of wine while chatting, watching the races and taking pictures. Rae kindly let Al take her Roger away as crew, which brightened Al's day considerably - despite the memory of Roger's and Al's last sail together here in 1985 where they capsized while relaxing in very gusty conditions. By about 1300 hrs, we had completed four more races: 3 triangle-sausage-windwards (start-1-2-3-1-3-finish above) and one double sausage (start-1-3-1-3-finish above), giving us eight races total which was more than even the SI's (Sailing Instructions) had dared to hope for.


After spotting Alastair Ryder-Turner and Mike Codd (now sailing with Kirk Iredale) an early lead which they got by sticking close to the shore up the first beat, Al and Roger rounded the windward mark just behind Alastair and Andrew whom they passed by staying high and in better wind on the first reach. Fine pointing and speed let Roger and Al pull away up the second beat and cruise to Al's second race win of the series. Alastair easily held 2nd but gained little as Sue and Dwight once again came back with veteran poise to take 3-4 ahead of Mike Codd who completed the top five.

Having seen the benefits of going up the right-hand shore, both Alastair and Al did very well up the first beat of the next race with Al rounding ahead off the first beat this time. As these two pushed each other down the two reaches, they pulled away from the rest of the fleet and were a comfortable 1-2 starting the second beat. Early in this beat, that morning's long series of monotonously precise tacks by SHADES came to a resounding end when the jib stayed cleated during a gusty tack and we capsized. In the heat of battle, Roger had lost track of the jib sheet colour - was it green or purple? He guessed purple and immediately realized his error as his began to get wet while Al did an extreme roll tack which in this strong gust resulted in a capsize despite a totally released mainsheet. Full marks to Roger who quickly got onto the board and had us righted in no time. A few minutes of bailing later. we were under way once more and ended up giving Scott and Jan a run for their money in our attempt to avoid last place.

No such errors for Alastair and Andrew who easily held first ahead of the brothers Taylor, Mark and Paul, who looked a bit more like their speedily scary selves in this race. A 3rd place pretty much assured Dwight and Pat of series 3rd in what they (and the SI's) assumed would be a seven-race series. Another fine finish for Mike Codd who took 4th ahead of Sue Pilling whose series lead over Alastair had now shrunk to a couple of points - and she had her drop. The pressure was now on!!

It had been an exciting series for the SHADES sailors as we entered what we expected to be the last race of this year's Nationals. But our excitement was not yet done: we had carved ourselves out a nice windward-end spot next to the RC boat so that we could tack and defend the right side of the beat once more. With two seconds and a half boatlength to go to the line, we sheeted in. When Roger's countdown reached zero which was really +1 since Roger had got the first signal one second late, there was nothing forthcoming from the RC boat which finally beeped our start a couple of seconds late (by our lights). We had gone 100 yards when Mike Codd - in his delicate little voice - passed on the word that the X flag was meant for us. So we went back and I ungraciously pointed out what I believe to have been a timing error on the part of the RC.

Meanwhile, Mike Codd and Kirk Iredale were on their way to winning their first Nationals race as a team, while Alastair moved to within one point of the series lead by taking 2nd ahead of Sue. Still more excitement for Roger and Al as the spi pole end fitting plunger got wedged around the pole eye and it took Roger some ingenious hammering and phyrkling before he got it off the mast near the leeward mark - with no visible ill effects to the fitting. All this time, Al was flying the spi through 20-knot gusts while steering with his knees. Such heroics ultimately got Al back into a 4th-place finish as he just pipped John and Dolores de Boer on the finish line.

Willing to bend the strict interpretation of the rules a bit so that we could enjoy one more race in these ideal conditions, John sent us off for an unscheduled eighth race and made sure no one would require redress by decreeing a second drop race. This was the double sausage. Ending their series on a high note, Roger and Al won the finale handily ahead of Mike and Kirk while Alastair and Andrew edged out Sue and Steph to take low points honours for the total of all eight races, but with the drops, Sue and Steph just held on to win not only the Carling Trophy (Warm Water Wayfarer champions) but also the Smallcraft of Southampton Trophy (Canadian National champions). Moreover, Sue and Steph were once again the winners of the Sweet Award as best Female-Male team.


Alastair and Andrew Ryder-Turner took a most honourable second-place finish which also made them the Nationals' Most Improved team, having beaten their 5th seed by a whopping three places. After all the ups and downs, top-seeded Uncle Al with crews John Kuntz and Roger Shepherd, not to mention Graham Pilling sort of, took series 4th.


The team of Mike and Lilly Codd (above) of the Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club beat their seed by two spots in placing 5th which gave them the 2010 Gillespie Award as best Parent-Child team.  Series 6th went to the 2nd-seeded Mark and Paul Taylor of the Mississauga SC who showed a bit of rust on their small-lakes sailing skills and will doubtless be much tougher to beat in next month's Ontarios at their home club on Lake Ontario.

Our lone London entry, John de Boer with his wife, Dolores, took series 7th ahead of another Wayfarer couple, Leo and Joanne Van Kampen of the host club. Joanne and Leo came close to being Most Improved after beating their 10th seed by two places. The veteran Conestoga team of Al Nichols and Ken Nethercott placed 9th as seeded and did manage the first northern capsize of our 2010 Wayfarer season. The London team of Roger and Raewyn fell to series 10th after Roger went aboard SHADES to help out Uncle Al.

Nationals best Rookies of 2010 were Conestoga's Scott Ramsay and Jan d'Ailly who placed 11th ahead of our other Nationals rookies, Kirk Iredale and his daughter, Virginia, who sailed a borrowed CSC club Wayfarer on Saturday before Kirk went off to sail the Sunday races with Mike Codd.

Our sincere thanks to the many who made this great weekend a reality for us in 2010 - complete list follows:

Race Committee:
-          John and Alistair Martin, David Von Wahl
-          Marks and safety boat; Clara Janecka
 
Meals:
-          Pat and Dwight Aplevich coffee and baked goods for breakfast and lunch for Saturday
-          Al and Carol Nichols and Ken and Sandy Nethercott for Saturday dinner
-          Jan d’Ailly for Sunday Lunch
 
Power boats and race committee supplies ready:
-          Clara Janecka, Ben Harrison, Leo Van Kampen and John Kuntz
 
Registration:
-          Don Hickman
 
Scoring:
-          Clara Janecka and Ben Harrison
 
As you can notice, this well organized team left little for me to do but enjoy the racing!
 
Leo Van Kampen
Race Captain, Conestoga Sailing Club
W9667