The racing season is wrapping up next weekend with the Last Chance Cup on Oct. 1st and we’re having a very strong finish.
QCYC Series 3, Race 6
On Wednesday night, the final race of the QCYC series went in somewhat rainy and light-wind conditions. There were many on the dock suggesting that maybe they would call it off because there just wasn’t any wind… plus, who really wants to sail in the rain.
Well, we were only one point behind One More Time for second overall, so we were definitely going to go out. And as for the wind: you just had to look for it. Frankie, Paul and Astra came out to crew and brought their winning attitude…
Pre-start, the race committee did postpone us for awhile as they tried to figure out the wind direction. We slowly sailing around, chasing them on just the mainsail. But as our start was approaching, I noticed that we were sitting in almost no wind close to the city, while at the other end of the start line, boats were actually moving. We got the gennie up to try and make it out there in time to setup for the start.
I was surprised that neither Blythe Spirit nor One More Time were setting up at the (windy) pin end of the line. I guess the way the line was going, the boat end was a little closer to the first mark. Anyway, we timed our start perfectly and hit the line at full speed, a foot away from the pin and right on time.
Somehow we were not awarded the jug, but we definitely had the best start – we were moving!
Following close behind us were the other Niagara 26, Wisterical (a new member near who joined late season: Roel) and Breakin’ Wind out for their first race of the year, after a trying season of boat repair.
We absolutely walked away from OMT and Blythe as they bobbed in the tiny breeze blowing near the city. At the first mark, Wisterical and Breakin’ Wind were close behind us, but the others were way back.
It was a triangular course and on the downwind we were catching and passing several of the boats from the start ahead of us, keeping Wisterical and Breakin’ Wind at about the same distance behind us.
Then it was a close hauled leg back to the start mark and we had relatively clear air to sail in, allowing us to separate a little further ahead. The light was starting to fade by this point and the wind was fading with it. The rain was coming down steadily now. We saw the RC moving into position to finish us early, so we headed down a few degrees to get a little more speed to the finish… not noticing Zig Zag was right below and ahead of us. Astra was apparently too busy telling us how great it was on the low side where she was protected from the rain to tell anybody that we were about to run into another boat… We heard some shouts and luckily avoided them last second. That could have been disaster for our race.
As it was, we cruised across the finish line well ahead of the fleet and knew right away that we’d finally won our first Wednesday night race of the year! The win also means we’ll be second overall in the series. High fives all around!!
AHMEN #5
But the winning didn’t stop there. Saturday was race #5 of the AHMEN series – one that I try to get out to race at least once every year. The legs are long and the racing more relaxed, but still… we’re racing.
Jay woke up early to join me. It was a gorgeous day, and nice change from the cold, rainy weather we’d been having. And the Monarch Butterflies were out in force; it’s that time of year when they are migrating south. I always take it as a good omen when I see them fluttering around the boat, showing us the way.
Once again, we started well and kinda just went from there. We had a couple of boatlength lead on Puffin, a C&C30 out of EYC, and we battled to stay ahead of them the whole way around Humber Bay. Our biggest concern was not really knowing where the first mark of the course was. Luckily there’s a big handicap difference between boats in the AHMEN races and we’re at the slow end. We watched fellow QCYCer Nick on Ascend and just followed in his general direction.
Well, it seemed to work out… By the end we felt we were definitely top-3, if not top-2. When the results were posted late last night, it turns out we won!
Did I mention I love sailing with butterflies?
