This year we had great weather for our first event of the sailing season. The Victoria Day Weekend Regatta was at the Belwood Lake Sailing Club over the long weekend.
Saturday morning started with warm sunny weather.
Great for catching up on gossip, and for remembering how to rig the boat.
It also gave us a chance to reassemble Charger after collecting all
the parts from winter storage.
Finally, a little after noon, there was finally enough wind to set out (slowly) to the race course. Since the winds were light, the race committee set a fairly short course: triangle - sausage in the OMDA vernaclular.
The first race was quite exciting. Marika, Don and Heather took the early lead, but everyone got bunched together at the leeward mark. Steve and Don managed to sneak through the confusion and take the lead. Don popped his spinnaker on the last leg to overtake Steve and win the race.
Belwood's shifty winds claimed another victim. Don took an early lead, but after he completed the triangle portion by rounding the leeward mark, he headed to the mark that was actually to windward for the sausage portion. The rest of the field opted to head towards the mark that had been to windward when the course was set!
The winds had started to pick up a bit for this race.
Steve tried a risky port tack start that paid off big in this race.
Sorry, no pictures from the fifth race.
Hanzo manned his inflatable and acted as the safety boat.
Of course, not everybody was caught up with events on the water:
The results were close, and the race committee had to exercise their knowledge of the tie-break rules!
| Place | Sail No. | Crew | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70098 | Don Alp | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 12 |
| 2 | 16562 | Heather Pugh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | 53050 | Stephen Steel | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| 4 | 51161 | Marika Beaumont | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | 63848 | Heather Alp Brandon |
4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 18 |
| 6 | 34048 | Paul Lingen | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 24 |
| 7 | 43756 | Aleid Brendeke | DNF | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | 32 |
Note: Those sailing single-handed were assessed a penalty of 1 point per race, and each crew's worst result was thrown-out.
Thanks to all those who helped run the races: Shelley, Richard, Derek and Hanzo. And of course, thanks to Belwood Lake Sailing Club and our host Paul Lingen.
The day began with the traditional President's Pancake Breakfast.
Although the day started out sunny, we had rain later in the morning which lasted until after lunchtime.
Once the rain cleared, the wind really picked up. A few brave souls ventured out. Others socialized.
At the end of the afternoon, we had a baby shower for Shelley and Kevin, who are expecting the newest addition to the OMDA family in July.
Thanks to all those who provided photos:
© 2011 Ontario Mirror Dinghy Association