Rain and lack of wind turned the Four Sisters Regatta at Port Credit into a one race 35 boat fleet event, but the Sturgeon race team (supplemented by instructors Evan Burtt and Liz Barr) put in a good performance highlighted by a third place finish from the Kamy team of Amy DesBrisay and Kate Thomas and an outstanding fifth place finish from Owen Thomas and Liz Barr. The Kevin Robson/Ryan Callahan team finished 9th and Evan Burtt/Ellen Lourie 12th.
On Saturday the wind filled in in the early afternoon and the race committee got a first race off at about 1 pm, with both Owen and Evan port tack starting at the pin end to shoot out of the pack ahead of all other boats. Owen/Liz were second around the first windward mark, with Amy/Kate just a couple of boats back. Evan/Ellen (Evan still trying to figure out how to make a 420 go fast…it was his first regatta sailing in a 420 fleet) and Kevin/Ryan (having recovered from a poor start) were in a pack just behind the leaders. Kamy (notwithstanding a poor leeward mark rounding…Andrew: “I know what we are going to work on this week”) gained on the other leaders by tacking on the shifts up the middle of the second windward leg, rounding the second windward mark third and holding on to that position through the downwind finish. Owen and Liz sailed a great race. They parlayed their fine start into a top 5 finish in a very competive fleet.
With weather now threatning, the second race got off to a great start by Evan and Ellen. They sailed a strong windward leg and were top 3 after the first winward leeward…but as the boats were heading up the second windward the heavens opened. With the rain and wind, came rumblings of thunder and that was enough for the Race Committee. The second race was abandoned on that second weather leg…to the great frustration of Evan and Ellen who were having a good race, but saving the day for other SLSC sailors who were mired back in the fleet.
Sunday started early with a 6:30 am wake up but it ended up being an exercise in waiting in the rain for wind, ultimately to no avail. Racing was finally called off at about 1:30 pm. This secured the Red flags for Amy and Kate, a third place finish behind a boat from Buffalo Canoe Club and a boat from Royal Canadian Yacht Club. In addition to the flags, the sodden team headed home with the proceeds of a good Saturday night shopping expedition (which included new matching baby blue team shirts).
This team has lots of promise…and is now ready for a regatta with more racing and less waiting. Stay tuned for reports on the next regatta in the schedule.
For results, hit this link http://www.pcyc.net/01_onwater/09_regattas/2008/documents/4SistersCharlie.pdf