Incredible Storm

(NASA)

Sometimes, sailing on our little Lac St. Louis is the best little place. Yes, there are big seas to explore and faraway places, famous long-distance races to conquer. But...

When the ocean looks like this picture, I am happy on little Lac St. Louis and Lac Des Deux Montagnes with safe club harbours a short sprint away! The photo is the entire breadth of the Atlantic Ocean being consumed by a mega-sized storm right now. Not only is is huge with no where to run, but it is powerful. It's force is being compared to a category 3 hurricane. Yes, this is the storm that weather reports are talking about in Newfoundland. The same storm is bordering Portugal. It extends north to Greenland, and sweeps south to the Caribbean.

We are now starting spring. I will enjoy prepping the boat, continuing its process of refurbishment and improvement. While working away, I will be anticipating day sails, races to come soon. Whatever the weather, I know I will always be 2 to 3 kilometers or less from the safe harbours of one of our neighbourly clubs.

Enjoy are little playground friends!

Rahn's on top at 2013 Wayfarer U,S. Nat'ls & Midwinter's

Peter and Alex Rahn have won the joint 2013 Annual Midwinter International Wayfarer and U.S. National Championship Regatta. Hosted by the Lake Eustis Sailing Club in Florida, the regatta has been a favoured February getaway for the father and son team from Beaconsfield Yacht Club. Peter and Alex took bullets in seven out of eight races. Regular winter rivals, Jim and Linda Heffernan took the other race win. Judging from the picture here, the Rahn duo were still feeling the heat of the fleet.

The Rahn's also met Will Hendershot from Club Des Voiles Deux Montagnes sailing his MC Scow at the same venue. The MC Scows were sailing their Trainwreck Regatta. Will took 15th out of 41 entries

28 degrees centigrade apparently!

Laser Sailing

I like this shot of Brenda Bowskill (Whitby, On) by John Payne. This was taken of her sailing in Miami fior the recent round of the 2013 ISAF World Cup. Our Beaconsfield Yacht Club is hosting the Laser Masters Canadian Championship this year, June 13-16. Sure makes me want to get in one!

Robitaille at Miami ISAF World Cup Robitaille

The video above is the Day 4 Highlights from the Miami OCR including many classes and the new Nacra 17.

Of particular interest is some good Finn coverage. You can see the light air technique and pumping. Of special interest for local fans is the great footage of Martin Robitaille (CVL) who is continuing to do exceptionally well with this beginning of a new Olympic quadrennium. Robitaille took 6th overall at this World Cup event.

Woodie Fireball Lives On!

 Here's a woodie for the local Fireball crowd, the DIYers and traditionalists everywhere. This beautiful restoration is the family Fireball project, US 7634, of John Ibele. He hails from Minneapolis. The boat was originally built by his family in the seventies. It makes me wince at my all-too-brief Fireball ownership, and want to get cracking on the plywood Y-Flyer I have had garaged for years.

You can read up on, and see more pics of this beau-craft on his blog Family Fireball

Brodeur and Stranix in Miami for World Cup

It looks like Michael Brodeur of Beaconsfield and Alexandre Stranix of Pointe-Claire are in the right place for sailing right now. They are competing in the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami. Currently, they are mid-fleet, and appear to be experiencing it all. In the first race they crossed the finish line first, but in another race, crossed the start line early for an OCS to drop. Scoring is unusual with a first place getting you zero points for an added edge overall. Racing continues to February 2nd.

Photo by Walter Cooper.

DN's out Saturday

There were a good number of DN's on the Lac St. Louis ice yesterday afternoon. Marks had been set, and they were moving very nicely in a light breeze.


The big freeze has finally lifted, and while still cooler than average it was warm enough that I spotted them while jogging comfortably along Lakeshore Road.


The weather has been so wonky with a lot of open water this year. However, the cold snap presumably has given sailors good quality ice. The DN's were quite far out in the wide area.


Montreal Sailing file photo at right.

Lynn Watters

Sailing and racing is a significant international sport, yet here, a small, friendly, local one. I still get a little surprised when I come across a Montreal-area name of worldly stature that I don't recognize. Montreal Sailing has allowed me to become familiar with many of you in our small community. Recently, an important person, whom I did not know passed away. Lynn Watters died in Kingston on December 25th, 2012. He was 96 years old (pic from ISAF news). I had not heard of his name, even though he founded the Saint Lawrence Valley Yacht Racing Association (SLVYRA), with Art Thompson. I served as SLVYRA Secretary for a little while.

Watters and Thompson started SLVYRA right after World War 2. SLVYRA was to become a much larger, more ambitious organization than its current state. Its territory covered our Montreal sailing waters on Lac St. Louis and Lac Des Deux Montagnes, and extended up the St. Lawrence River all the way to Kingston, and all the way up the Ottawa River to the capital itself. That is quite a network of racers. Currently, SLVYRA assembles racers on our two local waters of the Montreal area to loosely coordinate regattas. That seems like a pretty natural geographic area. It has always been my feeling that the potential utility of a Montreal-area racing organization has been overlooked by many of us. The accomplishment and foresight of people like Watters impresses me. How important his legacy is, and how little known! How relevant it remains today, as promotion of racing is largely ignored beyond our individual club actions. 

So, who was Lynn Watters? Well, according to the notes of his passing, he was indeed a remarkable sailor. He sailed in the Lightning class, which was once one of the major one design race boats in Montreal.  Watters called tactics from the middle, with Edward Botterell steering and Sicotte Hamilton manning the pointy end. There is still a black and white picture of Botterell, who went on to be a sailmaker, on the wall at PCYC.

Watters then went on to sail in the two Olympic games. In 1960 and 1964, he competed in the Dragon class. He developed a reputation as a great tactician. 

However, he was probably best known internationally for his years as head of the IYRU (ISAF) Rules Committee. That committee did much of the work that forms the racing rules still used today. According to his son Alex, Lynn Watters created the International Judging System, and judged many international regattas, including the America's Cup and the Olympics.

Lynn Watters, a lion in the Montreal Sailing scene. How much it appears we owe to the history of sailors like him. How many have contributed to the quality of our pastime, yet we know so little of? We should know so much more of them.

Sources


ISAF Obituary
Glob & Mail Obituary
Scuttlebutt #3745
Bruce Kirby in Scuttlebutt #3747

Frosty Sailing, the real thing!

Nick Hogg sailing his Megabyte out of BDYC on November 11th. The air temperature was 6 degrees celsius. Water temp? 7 degrees celsius!  Isn't it fantastic to see how aficionados get the max out of our sport. Dry suits, praise be. Woo-hoo!

Screwball XXXI

Nicola Mocchiutti wrote this great summary of the Fireball regatta, Screwball, which took place a few weeks ago. This was taken from their Facebook page. The Fireball picture is from a super set by Luka Bartulovic on the Kalu Facebook page

Ralph  Stocek, Ed.

Screwball has its own special traditions. Unlike all other regattas during the sailing season when the wind and action is unpredictable, Screwball is pretty much guaranteed to be exciting and eventful. This year was truly memorable. Mother Nature spoiled us with one day of light and erratically shifty conditions, followed by two days of 25-30 knot winds and is led to much swimming by every participant throughout the entire weekend. Including 3 boats on the start-line of one race with 45 seconds before the gun! Let’s just say the race committee got a pretty good show!!!

However, the action had already started back on shore with Tom and Pierre, who on Friday just two hours before the first gun, had their boat upside down in the barn and were still sanding away. But with some teamwork and a bit of luck, they managed to pull everything together and were sailing just in time for the start. Sometimes, luck does run out…rather quickly when it comes to Tom and Pierre. They not only lost their newly installed slot gaskets once, but twice!! Is third time the charm??!!

With winds like we had, one can only imagine that boat breakage is inevitable. And you would be right! Nic and Stephen experienced this first hand when their rudder ripped out of their transom. Poor boat!

Once everyone was back on-land, dry and warm, we were presented with a delicious Mexican themed dinner Saturday night. We even had a great band playing called: Break in the Silence. Thank you very much Shane, Val, Declan and Matys for being our musicians for the night!

I would like to thank Luka Bartulovic for taking some awesome pictures of us in action over the weekend.

Finally, for the boring part…the Screwball XXXI podium finishes! Nic and Stephen finished in 3rd place, followed by Rune and Jochen in 2nd place and Tom and Joe in 1st place!

Thank you very much to everyone who had a part in this regatta and making it as enjoyable as it always is!!!

See you all next year!!!
-
Nicola M.