KYC Regatta Reports

2025 LO300 12 July

On Saturday July 12th, Panta Rhei X competed in the Lake Ontario 300 Challenge out of Port Credit Yacht Club. After 2 Days, 5 Hours, 56 Minutes and 27 Seconds, they finished Monday evening. Our time was good enough for:

• 4th in Line Honours
• 2nd in PHRF - Full Crew - Flying Sails - A Fleet
• 3rd Overall corrected

A brief synopsis of the race follows:

Day 1

After Friday evening’s weather briefing presented a bleak outlook on wind conditions, Saturday morning presented light winds for the start of the race. The PHRF-FC-FS A fleet required a general recall (followed by a U-flag start) to get away clean, before everyone brought out tight reaching sails or Code-Zero’s to head toward Hamilton.

Progressively the wind built (and built) as the fleet headed southwest, eventually gusting above 25 knots as the first boats turned east towards Grimsby on a headsail reach. Turning at the weather buoy meant flying sails and the first tactical choice to be made on the leg northeast towards Ajax. 

We opted to stay as easterly as possible (avoiding the US water exclusion zone) which worked out well until we found our own personal parking lot near the end of the leg, being passed by a few boats before getting moving again, just in time for the wind to shift nearly 180° as we rounded the mark for the long eastward run out to the waypoint mark replacing Main Duck island for the course this year.

Day 2

The first half of the eastward run was a tricky balancing act between confused seas, with waves as likely to come from ahead and behind as they were to come from abeam. As the sun rose, the lake settled out into a more straightforward run toward the turning mark. Breeze eventually died to almost nothing, requiring a handful of sail changes and some “escape maneuvers” to make the most of what little wind was left to get us around the corner.

Finally the wind filled from northeast, giving us a fetch from the waypoint northward to the weather buoy off of False Duck islands. We could see our competitors just ahead, and wanted badly to be able to catch them in “our” end of the lake. Fortunately, we found an ideal shift tucked into shore near Point Petre that let us jump them on the long march back westward toward PCYC.

We had been able to watch some storms developing around other parts of the lake for the afternoon, and after sunset it was our turn to face a storm cell that boiled its way over the lake. Watching the impressive lightning storm, we tried desperately to get a cell signal that would show a RADAR display of what lay ahead. Eventually getting just enough data for a single frame that showed our position directly in the path of a formidable cell. 

We reduced sail, sealed hatches, and were given an incredible demonstration of the electrical interference generated within a carbon fibre mast when our instruments started showing wildly inaccurate wind readings despite near total calm. Eventually the cell arrived, and we rode out a brief inundation of 30 knot gusts and sharply driven rain before going right back to a light air headsail to continue along the rhumb line. 

Day3

Misty grey overcast skies and light wind made day 3 feel like a snow globe, where more than once we wondered if we were the only ones left on the entire lake. Light but steady wind pushed us further toward the finish, while the biting lake flies pushed us to the brink of insanity.

Eventually, we spotted our closest competitor and ended up passing within 50 feet of them before separating as we tried opposite methods to get the most out of the little breeze available. The final maneuver came down to timing, and a gamble as to which direction from which the wind would fill. We caught the wrong side of luck, and had to spend the final stretch of the race pushing ourselves to try and catch the boat in front who admitted looking over their shoulders the entire time, but it wasn’t enough. Tight reaching all the way from the middle of the lake, across the Toronto Islands, and into Mississauga, we finished just 15 minutes behind Moxie who took 1st in our division, and 2nd overall.