Montreal Shark Showdown: CNDM One Design Regatta

The CNDM One Design Regatta is open to any class with enough boats, but one class showed, and made it a big and important event.

Shark Showdown. That is what this became. A lot of Montreal Sharks have been shoving each other around the course, vying for that leader of the pack designation, that heft to be head of the howling hounds. And it has taken a lot of shoving to be at the top of this competitive heap. The very first Lac St. Louis race of the year in the spring saw 10 Sharks out on the course right off the bat.

In the first major away-regatta, Trillium in Toronto, Tof Nicoll-Griffith and the Crisis team were the top Montreal boat. At the Canadian Championship at BYC, Crisis were again top Montreal boat. Would they always dominate? No! Then, Peter Rahn and the team on Eclipse gave Crisis a serious run for the top in the local racing, often putting into question who would win the series. In the end, Crisis took the first series with a razor-thin margin. But this was not just one mano-a mano battle for two. Jin Frati crashed that party and whooped both of the others in convincing fashion in one particularly notable race. VO2 Max took a race, Nuiscance was always hovering at the top tier. Eclipse took the last regatta of Sailweek in a nail-biter. George Stedman's Ketchup ultimately triumphed over everyone to take the highest overall standing for Sailweek. So many contenders and different victors! A showdown was needed to settle the score. Who could struggle through to the top, and could any one boat dominate this class?

Along comes the CNDM One Design Regatta. This is it, the final shoot out, the Shark showdown in the CNDM corral. Almost all the Montreal racing Sharks came. Environment Canada clocked windspeed for the region in the 20-25 knot range, but in the sheltered bay where racing took place it was probably in the mid-teens - perfect for Sharks. Perfect for a streetfight! Here, we would have it out. CNDM would be the place the score was settled. This would not be simply cruisin' for a bruisin'. Top dawgs tails were wagging because the wind was up and so were the rights for bragging.

Well who has the hots when the wind clocks? VO2 Max. They killed the fleet. Eight races, all in brisk wind, against the best Montreal competition, all at CNDM. Here were their scores. 1,1,2,1,3,7 (drop),1.They came, sailed, and conquered!

• Don Osborne, Helm
• Nick Van Haeften, Middle
• Matt Osborne, Foredeck

Remember those names! How did they so convincingly take this climatic Shark regatta at CNDM? Well, it seems they had the geography figured out. They knew where the wind was bending, and were ready to tack when they hit the right spot. Me, I know when the wind picks up, this team is ready. When the white caps are rushing, they rock.