Last night's race.

[Gordon Laco]

Well there we were… at midday yesterday we had a full house of crew.  My son Rob, his girlfriend Meg, Robin, Greg and me.   Five hands is a full house.  Oh boy, thought I, not only enough people, but some experience too... we’ll use the spinnaker again.

Robin and I form SURPRISE’s brain trust.  Me as skipper he as mainsheet trimmer/tactician.  He turns 90 in a few months and as he puts it ‘decided I shouldn’t be skippering in races any longer’.  He sold his boat MAID MARION last winter and completed the circle returning back to where he started at our club twenty years ago, crewing for me. He is a good sailor... I much miss the great battles we had out on the water when he was one of our arch rivals, but it’s also good to have him back, and I’m pleased to afford him a way to keep racing by having him as a key crew member aboard my boat again.

About mid afternoon the text messages began coming in.  Greg couldn’t come because he was working late… Rob couldn’t come for a similar reason and since he couldn’t come Meg wasn’t coming.  From a full house we zoomed down to minimum crew, just Robin and I.  Oh well.

This being September, racing starts a little early so I ate an early supper at my desk then shot over to the club in time for a 5:30 shove-off from the dock.  Robin was already there removing the mainsail cover.  With no more conversation than greetings, we both got SURPRISE ready to cast off and away we went.   

Last night’s committee set a course abnormally close to the club.  Normally the start is further out of Midland Bay, but the odd north east zephyr prompted them to put the start only a few hundred meters out with a windward mark diagonally away to the NE.  Well so be it… and tough luck for all the early birds who were way out there before the committee set up, haha.  They came scrambling back in order to be in time for the start at 1800.

The course was the usual windward leeward, #4 signalled first by the committee (three times up and down) then reduced to #3, (twice up and down) in recognition of the light air.  Robin got his timer going and was giving me the count down efficiently as always.    We sorted out duties… he ran the port-side winch while I did the starboard one and the main…and steered.   

Pre start traffic was the usual heavy swarm (about 18 boats) swinging to and fro.   One shock was the appearance of CANADIAN EXPRESS, not seen since her owner rammed us three years ago in a September race, an incident which led to a Rule 69 being levelled on her owner.  He’d been in constant trouble during the five years his membership lasted.  The club declared that collision the last straw and convicted him of Unsportsmanlike Behaviour as defined by Rule 69 and laid a partial suspension on him, preventing him from racing Wednesday evenings for one season.   His appeals went all the way up to Sail Canada who eventually laid a life-time ban on racing on him.  He should have taken the slap on the wrist the club gave him but that’s another story.   And phew, it wasn’t the banned sailor at the helm, it was the boat’s new owner.  I shouted over to him ‘congratulations on your new boat!’  He called back ’thanks, but it seems I am sailing the most hated boat on Georgian Bay!’    Well, perhaps, but only till word gets around that she is owned by a quite reputable sailor.

So up and down went the flags and horns… here comes the herd stampeding for the start, with us right in there.  The image I hold of yacht racing as being like the chariot race scenes in Ben Hur (but at 4.6 knots) came to mind again.   The wind was up and it looked like it was going to be a great race.  We started right on the horn as Robin counted down the last ten seconds for me, on starboard tack with clear air and going fast.  But what ho… here's a Shark under our bow coming up like crazy.  Damn those things point.  In a minute he’ll be lee-bowing us and in another minute is going to force us to tack.  Better tack now and get away from him… I became absorbed sorting out Robin’s unfamiliarity with the self-tailing winch then started our tack.  And…and... oh no, there’s Hugh in his CS27 coming along up to windward of us… I had tacked onto port tack right across his bow. Oh what a bone-head move!  I couldn’t see Hugh so assumed he had not seen my stupid move.  I reversed my tack and shoved SURPRISE’s nose back into the wind, but we were still in his way.  I shouted ‘Hugh! I’m across your bow!’  I saw his head appear around the clew of his Genny and thinking fast he shot up and tacked clear, thank heavens.   We tacked again,  having enough way on us to steer and shouted ahead to him ’sorry!  I’ll do my 360’.  He waved and shouted back ’no prob… glad we missed you’.   The herd swept away from the two of us and we spent the rest of the race clawing our way back up in the fleet. 

We finally got to the first windward mark after doing our 360 and while achieving that, the wind backed to mostly north, turning the course into a broad reach starboard tack down and a close reach on port tack up.  Well well, thought I, this is just the thing for old SURPRISE, lots of reaching is good when one is facing a mob of lighter boats who all point higher than we do.  We made use of the shift to work our way up, wondering where we’d have been in the fleet if I hadn’t committed my gross error near the start.  Oh well… 

We concentrated on sailing in clear air and not wiggling too much, keeping the boat sliding along.  We finished somewhere in the middle of the pack.

At the clubhouse having beer and pizza after, I apologized to Hugh again.  One of his crew said ‘oh don’t worry Gord, don’t apologize.   I was trying to tell Hugh we needed to tack just when you forced us to… you did me a favour convincing him to do it hahaha’.   

Well I shouldn’t have tacked in that traffic without taking another look over my shoulder.  I’m very glad I didn’t force a collision.

Anyway, it was a great night out on the water.  

Gordon Laco
426 SURPRISE







Gordon Laco
www.gordonlaco.com