Shark Canadian's Off to Late But Good Start

It appeared like the first day might have been windless at the Shark Canadian Championship being held at BYC. We floated about for a while, then went back to harbour. A little before 2:00 pm the wind finally started to fill in, and the club became quite active as racers scurried to their boats. 40 boats are registered which is a phenomenal number. Also remarkable is the 18 local boats racing. The highest numbers I know of. The newer owners of 711, Blue Heron brought her from the U.S. The highest numbers I know of. CNDM has come to the regatta in strong numbers.

The first race start caught us unaware and practicing upwind. We managed to just barely get back in time, but not really, since we crossed the start a line back. It appears the left paid off best but we were caught behind traffic, so had to tack to clear our air.

The second race started with a huge windshift that screwed things up and caused a pile up near the pin. A general recall was called. The next start we managed to do a little better, but we still had to tack over and go right because of traffic. We progressed well with both height and speed. Unfortunately, we lost a huge amount of boats on the final run when a CNDM competitor had us pinned to leeward and very slow.

Too bad we could not have wind in the morning, but after kibitzing around the club, we ended up having a pleasant afternoon on the water.

I will post results after the regatta conclusion tomorrow!

Pictured is Tavish after stowing our sails post-race today.