Nepean One Design 2006

Competitors and anyone interested in great racing photography should visit Curved Space Studio's website. I purchased some fine work last year, and hope to find some good ones of Ambitious this year too.

A lot of boats made the trip to the Nepean Sailing Club in Ottawa for their annual one design regatta. Montreal Sailing thinks the clubhouse, harbour, and docks at NSC are the best there is. This regatta is one of the premier events that are not too far a tow beyond our sailing locale. Saturday consisted of light air sailing, and the Sunday started that way, but ended up blowing for the latter half. The higher winds brought some collisions too as Andanzaz, a Laser 28 from RStLYC, and Blue Heron, from BYC both got involved in bang ups. The problem as I saw it was that not only did the wind become heavier, but it also blew across the river, instead of along it. This made for struggling, tiring crews in dense, fast traffic on the short course.

For sure the N.O.D. is an exciting championship regatta, usually a counter for many fleets in their championship series. So, the racing is a notch above the usual fare. Ambitious placed mid-fleet in the Tanzer 22 class, which is good for us. I was particularly pleased since we missed the first race while rigging, then made up for it with our first bullet at a championship level. Cool! The light winds were full of significant shifts on every leg, so attentiveness to the wind was a priority. By the time the high winds came Sunday, the light crew were lacking in sleep, sun-scorched, and tired. So we opted to switch down to a brand spanking new #2 genoa which slowed us a mite but kept us in the game admirably.

Bruiser, the Fireball from PCYC did very well picking up second overall, and two bullets. I believe Bruiser is their scholarship boat, but I'm not certain.

3 local Sharks were there, led by Ketchup in 4th overall, helmed by George Stedman who also picked up a bullet. Tof Nicoll-Griffith's Crisis raced well, but got hurt by a dsq. Jin Frati's Blue Heron did very well, including a 2nd in one race! Unfortunately, they appear to not have completed the last race, which presumably was that of the collision with a Kirby 25. Back at BYC, a quick look at the damage seems to indicate nothing hull piercing, but into the fibre below the waterline. Scary! Montreal Sailing wishes them well and hopes they're back on the water soon.

Excuse our triviality here at Montreal Sailing, but we enjoy the name-calling... of boats that is. Here are my favourites from the NOD:

• Das Woof
• L'eau rider
• Dynamo Hum
• Shark Poop
• Trailer Park Buoys
• Wobbly Pop