OMDA's Labour Day weekend events were held at the Belwood Lake Sailing Club outside Fergus. It is an important weekend in the OMDA calendar, with both the Derek Clay single-handed regatta and the Annual General Meeting scheduled.
The weather was warm and sunny on Saturday morning, but there was barely a breath of wind. The ever hopeful sailors rigged their boats and hoped things would pick up. Just after lunch, a promising breeze did appear, and we rushed to get Charger in the water. By the time Charger was launched, the skies had darkend and it was clear this breeze was bringing rain and lightning with it. We took shelter and waited out the Thunderstorm. It was short lived, but when it disappeared it took all the breeze with it! We were able to enjoy the nice weather in the late afternoon, but there was to be no sailing that day.
It was a great chance to admire some recent additions to the OMDA extended family. Randy and Marika decided that there wasn't enough chaos in their lives with three small children, so they've added a puppy to stir things up!
And Shelley arrived to show off baby Ryan. Kevin was unable to come, as this is his busiest weekend at work. No matter, there was a constant stream of volunteers to look after Ryan! Shelley took full advantage of these services.
Marika suggested that if we couldn't race, we could get the Annual General Meeting out of the way. We went ahead with her idea (after contacting any OMDA members not present who might have been planning to show up for the originally scheduled meeting time, but none were). We held the AGM in the shade under the trees.
After the AGM, we had the traditional OMDA pot luck supper. Since the AGM was already done, we were able to have a early campfire. After enjoying the fire for an hour or so, a new batch of rain chased people back to their trailers for shelter. Some of the hardier types reconvened under the shelter of the Pugh's trailer awning.
There was rain in the night and early morning. We woke to find the skies grey and overcast, but we were happy to find there was plenty of breeze. After a quick breakfast, the race committee set out in Charger to set a course and the sailors readied their boats and got out on the water. Finally, it was time to race. Although we subject to a bit of rain shower for a while, there was no sign of thunder and lighning. The conditions were ideal for some excellent racing: we had to hike out quite hard for the stronger gusts. We completed five races before coming in mid-afternoon, and only had to make one minor course adjustment.
Les and Marika (barely visible to windward behind Les in the first photo) got great starts in this race, leading Steve and Aleid across the start line.
At the start of this race, John miscalculated and reached the start line too early: a mistake Steve, Les, Aleid and Heather were happy to take advantage of!
This time it was Marika's turn to get a great start, with Aleid following close behind.
Later, after we'd had a chance to have a snack and pull Charger in from the water, the race committee announcted the results:
| Place | Sail No. | Crew | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 43756 | Aleid Brendeke | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | 16562 | Heather Pugh | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | 51161 | Marika Beumont | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 53050 | Stephen Steel | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 17 |
| 5 | none | John McCulloch | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | 14351 | Les Bienczyk | 6 | DNF | 5 | 6 | 4 | 21 |
| 7 | 34048 | Paul Lingen | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
Many thanks to Lorne Belamy, Mike Coombs and Derek Pugh for manning Charger and running a great series of races, and to Hanzo VanBeusekom who helped out in his inflatable and captured some great photos.
And of course, many thanks to our host Paul Lingen and the Belwood Lake Sailing Club for graciously allowing us to use the club's facilities.
Thanks to all those who provided photos:
© 2011 Ontario Mirror Dinghy Association