A
s Schooner Cove Yacht Club members left the dock on Sunday, April 21 for their annual Bay Race, they did so on a flooding tide below and blue skies above.
Fleet Captain Richard Hudson reported that it was Rambunctious, helmed by Bill Walters, that sailed to a first place victory.
“Walters kept ahead of the fleet throughout the race,” Hudson said, noting that Neal Berger in Shingebiss took second place and Tim Rann in Amazing Grace taking third.
The race is a reverse handicap event, in which individual start times for the various boats are calculated using handicap formulas so that if equally sailed, the boats should arrive at the finish line at the same time. The faster boats have later start times. Therefore the test of sailing skill is to win by crossing the finish line first.
In most races at Schooner Cove, the boats start together and their finish position is calculated based on their finish time and their handicap rating.
The race was sailed in ideal conditions, with sunny skies, a 12-knot northwest wind and a flooding tide, he said. From a start outside Schooner Cove Marina, the course was to round Mistaken Island to port then round the P-30 mark at the entrance to Beachcomber Marina to port and race back to Schooner Cove. Boats were required to keep offshore from the Cottam Reef buoy on the outward and return legs.
“As usual for the Bay Race there was great entertainment rounding the P-30 mark,” he said “The action was led by Bill Walters in Rambunctious in the lead. Shingebiss kept Amazing Grace very close behind rounding the mark.”
The hotly-contested Spring Series of four races completed with two races on Sunday April 7. A total of seven boats competed. For the series, Brian Robinson at the wheel of Flight came first, followed by Neal Berger in Shingebiss, one point behind in second place and Bill Walters in Rambunctious taking third.
On Wednesday, the Schooner Cove Yacht Club kicked off of the Wednesday evening summer fun racing.
The first of the three-race Single Handed Series takes place Sunday April 28.
• It was a great day of sailing when the Deep Bay Yacht Club took to the waves on Sunday.
Fleet Captain Don Hourmer reports sailors were faced with sunshine and perfect, 10 to 15-knot winds — at least for most of the race.
The finish line was different story, he noted, with winds dropping off sharply.
“That made it a catch up race for boats behind and even out of the scoring,” Hourmer said.
The race began in Deep Bay at the end of the spit and continued around the Light house and up Lambert Channel and back again, a distance of 12.88 knots.
Although Hukuna Matada was first boat over the line for Line Honors, it was Integrity that took the top spot on corrected time, followed by PS Hukuna Matada, with Princesa taking the bronze.
Once again, Hourmer called on sailing enthusiasts — or people who would like to become one — to consider crewing in future races.
“We would like to invite all Sailors to bring out their boats to our races every second Sunday,” he said. “For those of you who do not have a boat, the DBYC has a fleet of dinghy boats for the use of all our members.”
The next race is on May 5.