Just before the start of the 2018 BMW Lasqueti Regatta, the trimaran of brothers Stuart and Andy Robinson from the Comox Valley looked fast, skimming through the choppy conditions with ease.
At the end of the race, the results confirmed the early display of the Robinsons’ boat was for real. It was fast as it set a new course record to win this year’s 43 nautical-mile race, hosted by the Schooner Cove Yacht Club. Twenty-eight boats entered the regatta, held June 2.
The Robinsons finished the race in their Diam24 racing trimaran in just four hours, four minutes and 20 seconds to take home the Division One crown, beating the previous course mark by at least a few hours, according to Stuart.
“You could say we smashed the course record,” he said, adding that winners’ times in previous years were generally around the six-hour mark.
Finshing in second place was Mail Order Bride from the Nanaimo Yach Club and coming in third was Surfrider from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.
Yachts had to sail in a clockwise direction around Lasqueti Island and also start downwind, which forced sailors to raise their colourful spinnakers.
“It makes for a challenging event because there’s a route in the open strait, and there’s a lot of little islands to weave around,” explained Stuart. “Once you get around Lasqueti it can be fairly complicated to try and take advantage of the best winds and the currents.
“It’s also a narrow channel on the far side of Lasqueti.”
In Division Two, Optical Illusion from the Nanaimo Yacht Club placed first, followed by Noflyk of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and Blue Shift of the Sydney-North Saanich Yacht Club.
Princesa of the Deep Bay Yacht Club topped Division Three, with Pitoraq of the Canadian Forces Sailing Association finishing in second place and Katana of the Campbell River Yacht Club third.
The Schooner Cove Yacht Club sailboats Pyrat, Starlight Express and Regalo swept the top three spots — 1, 2, and 3 respectively — in Division Four.
— NEWS Staff/Comox Valley Record report