Variable Winds in 2024 Warm Water/Ontarios June 22-23 7 Scheduled, 5 Started, 3 Completed by Dave H. and Dave R., Team Beowulf With that title, we start the story about the 2024 Warm Water Regatta/Wayfarer Ontario championship. The weather forecast had, for the previous week, been warning of a potential mixed bag of weather marked by warm temperatures, warnings of thunderstorms, intense isolated rain and the possibility of tornadoes in the region.  Despite that, a small, intrepid fleet Wayfarers descended on the Conestoga Sailing Club, arriving from Michigan, North Bay, Lakefield and Mississauga to augment the local contestants. Dave & Dave in Beowulf arrived early Friday afternoon, finding that their arrival at the club had been preceded by Jan and Alannah who had come over from their new home in Lakefield (Peterborough Sailing Club). Both boats managed to go for very enjoyable sails with Tom Legrady crewing for Jan that afternoon in sunshine and fair winds from the west. It turns out that was the best of the weekend in terms of winds and weather!  John Koetsier came in Friday evening from Mississauga. Saturday morning started off dry, with a mix of sun and cloud, greeting the arrival of Mike Codd and son, Lee, with Red Top followed by Marc & Julie who had overnighted in Sarnia on their way from Lansing with their new Jamaica Blue in tow. The RC Chair for the race weekend was Scott Ramsay, assisted by sailing partner Les Sherratt and other willing volunteers from the club. After the skipper's meeting at 9 am to discuss the plans for the day and weather consideration, we were out on the water by 10.  Already at that point, the winds were starting to pick up and commence their "shiftiness" which turned out to be a portent of what was to come. After a short postponement of the first race while Scott worked to get a fair start line established in the shifting winds, we finally were underway.  In the first two races it was very close between Dave/Dave, Mike/Lee and Jan/Tom. Beowulf led to the first mark and leeward mark only to be passed by both boats on the second upwind leg. In both races, Beowulf headed to starboard on the second downwind leg and regained the lead and successfully covered both boats on the last upwind leg. The Dave/Dave team posted two bullets in the morning, both sailed as windward/leeward races.  Then it was back to the club for a great lunch put on by the club volunteers - true Conestoga style! Unfortunately, two stellar crews (Marc/Julie and Leo/Joanne) were unable to participate in the morning racing, a situation that handicapped them for the rest of the weekend in terms of scoring.  However, after a weather-delayed start in the afternoon, the third race, a planned triangle-sausage course, got underway at 3 pm. Tornado warnings had been issued for the area so the RC was keeping a sharp eye out. From the start of the 3rd race, Dave/Dave found themselves in a tight battle with Marc/Julie and Leo/Joanne. Beowulf managed to just edge out Jamaica Blue for the lead when rounding the second upwind mark. That is when Leo/Joanne in their new, bright red Mk 4 dove inside Beowulf while rounding and leaving the mark. Unfortunately, Leo was unable to give Beowulf their entitled room as the leeward boat. That pushed Dave/Dave back to fourth place, resulting in a protest by Beowulf and a DSQ for Leo. The 4th and last race on the first day started at about 4 pm. Beowulf made what turned out to be their worst start of the weekend, finding themselves in the DFL position after starting at the pin end rather than the favoured boat end. In the very shifty winds however, Beowulf had managed to claw their way back to third place on the last downwind leg when the RC made the call to abandon the race as a thunderstorm and funnel cloud was spotted not far from Lake Conestoga. That was the end of the Saturday's racing, four races started, three completed, but it was not the end of the fun for the day.  This is Conestoga Sailing Club after all! Saturday evening saw the clubhouse turned into a 1920's "speak-easy" worthy of Chicago at the time of Al Capone and the James Street Boys. The clubhouse was raided by the Prohibition Bureau, supported by very questionable police officers, but no arrests were made and the libations appeared again shortly after the raid. Later, there was an Al Capone trivia quiz. The costumes, food and fun carried on with a full house of visiting Wayfarers, 420 crews and club members with their families. The wind and weather forecast for Sunday's racing did not look hopeful.  However, Scott and Leo made a foray out into the lake to test the winds and get a closer look at the situation. They came back positive, so all six intrepid Wayfarers were out on the water for the start of the 5th race just after 10 am in strengthening winds. Dave/Dave nailed the timing at the committee end of the start line and led Mike/Lee and the others to the windward mark and the gybe mark of the triangle-sausage course. All the boats managed a high wind gybe but struggled to maintain control in the rapidly building wind. In one violent gust, Beowulf's boom hit the water and despite their best efforts high on the rail Dave/Dave were unable to keep the boat upright and went swimming in the Warm Waters of Lake Conestoga, very grateful for the help from the Conestoga volunteers in the mark boat who provided assistance. Meanwhile, windy air wizards, Mike and Lee Codd, were managing the high winds well, took over the lead in the race and pulled away from the field. After some debate, the race committee decided to abandon the race for safety reasons. That was it - seven races scheduled, five races started and three races completed over two days. In reality, if the 5th race had not been abandoned, the order of overall regatta placing could have changed significantly.  Nevertheless, Dave/Dave placed 1st overall, Mike/Lee 2nd, and Jan/Tom 3rd. Mississauga's John Koetsier in W11382, was consistently close to the leaders in all the races but finished 4th overall. He had a terrific local crew in Paul DiCiccio, an enthusiastic local sailor with Buccaneer racing experience. Both Marc and Leo were handicapped having missed the first two starts on day one. Marc was setting up his new Jamaica Blue and Leo and Joanne were attending a funeral. In the 5th race, Leo paired up with Les Sherratt for competition. Unfortunately, Leo had forgotten his life jacket and when advised that he was not wearing it he opted to head to shore to retrieve it. They were on their way back to the start line when they witnessed Beowulf's capsize! In total, six intrepid Wayfarers and one 420 (crewed by two great young Conestoga SC sailors) participated on the water. It is too bad that more boats were not able to attend such a well-organized event, but the social aspects, the many club volunteers, great food, along with the exciting on water experience so typical of The Conestoga Sailing Club made it all very worthwhile!