KYC Regatta Reports

JLS Wins Shark Wolrds

Bay of Quinte Yacht Club (BQYC) was host to the 59th Shark World Championships Regatta hosting 48 Sharks from Austria, Germany, USA and Canada. 

KYC had 4 boats participate in this Worlds Regatta…Hot Stuff, R & R,  Inevitable II and Jonathan Livingston Seagull (JLS).   Friday and Saturday was check in for boat measurement.  All went well and only Inevitable II had to add 12 lbs. to her boat to get to 2300 lbs. all up sailing weight.

Participating in the regatta were 3 Austrian, 2  Germany, and 2 USA Teams with the rest being from Canada.

Sunday racing was to begin after all boats were launched.  The practice race was scheduled to start at 1300 and the first race starting, immediately after the practice race.   Unfortunately this did not happen due to lack of wind. No racing Sunday.

Monday started with breakfast at 7:00 and we were to leave the dock at 8: 00 for a 10:00 start.  It took 1hr to motor east into Big Bay.  The regatta took place in Big Bay due to the fleet size of 48 boats.  But again,  due to the lack of wind, the Race Committee (RC) postponed all racing on shore…  RC finally called us out at approx. 13:30 so by the time the boats got to the Committee Boat (CB), it was already 14:30.  Only one race was sailed in some challenging conditions.  The wind was at best 5 kts and shifted 40 degrees.  Also, you could not see the puffs on the water.   There was what looked like a soap film on top of the water preventing the wind from making waves on the water surface.  When a planing Bass Boat passed us on a plane, it would separate the soap film and only then could you see the wind ripples in the boat's path.   It wasn't long before the soap film closed back up on the surface,  preventing one from reading puffs again on the water.

Tuesday's wind forecast was more promising.    We got two races in and as we were finishing the second race, the RC announced over the VHF, all competitors were to return to BQYC as a storm was present.  Just about one hour later,  RC called us back out for a third race.  The race was started once all boats returned back to the Committee Boat (CB) at about 1730.  Only one boat actually made it back to BQYC.   The rest just turned around and headed back to the CB.  The last race was finished at around 1830.  With a 4th race completed, this allowed the RC to call on the Long Distance Race (LDR) for Wednesday. 

Wednesday the RC got the start off at 1000.   The wind was approx. 6-8 kts from the SW and built to 15kts by the end of the race.   The CB set its anchor around the North Eastern part of Big Bay and the windward mark was approx. 2.5 kt mile up wind into Muscote Bay.  The next mark was Nav Mark Q46 located in the bottom South Eastern part of Big Bay and then raced back to BQYC Harbour.   Approx. 15 Kt Mile long.

JLS finished second in the LDR and because the LDR was the fifth race in the series, it allowed all competitors a drop race.   JLS dropped its first race of 22 and was then moved up to first.  Tied with Crunch (World Champion from Niagara) Tie going to JLS as we had a second and Crunch a third.  

Thursday was the last day of racing and RC said they would try for four races.  The start was at 1000.   We didn't change any of our strategy as our process throughout the whole regatta was to sail clean, start at the middle of the line with no other boats and rely totally on our instrument for distance to line.  We could not afford one more bad race.   We managed a second place finish and Crunch finished third.  So we were up on Crunch by only one point.   Going into the next race, we stayed true to our starting strategy but the pin end was more favoured and Crunch took advantage of that.  On the last downwind leg to the finish, Crunch rounded second and us 4th.   We focused on pushing Crunch out to the coarse right side which allowed the third place boat to advance in front of Crunch.  Crunch beat us by one,  so we were tied again.   If racing had finished for the day, JLS would have won in the tie break.   But the RC radioed that they were going to do the third and final race of the series.   Knowing this, we needed to change our strategy to a higher risk but higher reward starting with more boats at the pin, more chance to find trouble.   Our start was U Flagged and General Recall was announced, the next start RC went straight to Black.  So if we didn't have enough pressure!   As we sailed down the line to the pin, it was getting more and more crowded and we were able to line up above Crunch with two boats between us.   At go, Crunch quickly pushed the two boats between us back so it was only Crunch on our front ports side quarter.   We managed to prevent them from tacking all the way to the port lay line.  We tacked first and this put Crunch in our stern quarter wake which is almost impossible to pass.   We ensured this by keeping our bow up and over standing the top mark, locking them back behind us along with another boat.   Rounding the first top mark, we were in ninth.   We had pushed Crunch back enough to concentrate now on staying above thirteenth position.   We still watched Crunch on the next upwind with loose cover but total focussed on keeping our position and tried to advance for more insurance.  We finished sixth and this was enough to clench the World Title.

Matt and Josh have been so instrumental in the success of JLS over the years and to finally win the World Championship in Canadian waters is something I am so proud to be a part of with them both.