With yesterday’s strong gusty winds a mere memory, the fleet faced light breezes and some shifty conditions but rose to the challenge with the whole fleet more tightly packed and strategizing well, writes Jennifer Harker
In the North American 5.5M Regatta most crews are assembled for the event, rather than being regular teams so there’s always an adjustment as everyone familiarizes themselves with the boat they’re in and the team they’re working alongside.
Race 1 showed that new familiarity as heading off the first mark turn Pride USA 31, O’Kelly CAN 79 and Summer CAN 80 put together a beautiful spinnaker run challenging each other for advantage throughout the downwind leg.
Summer CAN 80 and Purple Haze USA 51 made it interesting right to the finish with Summer CAN 80 pushing ahead for fifth spot.
Pride USA 31 had a solid fourth. Joe Strelow has made the leap to the skipper’s seat this season and is learning the strategy from a new vantage point aboard his boat.
John Lister (Nantoria CAN 22) said, “It’s great to see Joe improving every race. These are not easy boats to sail and skipper and these are the boats he’s learning on. It’s remarkable.”
Although a steep and sometimes frustrating learning curve, Lister said it’s exactly what’s needed to expand the skills of the fleet and increase participation in the 5.5 events.
The boat is an excellent example of the friendship and camaraderie that has evolved through the past eight years with Canadian Matt Thurley skippering for several seasons as Strelow learned the ins and outs of his boat.
In Race 2, Summer CAN 80 nailed the start, accelerating quickly away from the fleet leaving Nantoria CAN 22 and Firestorm USA 87 to tangle with each other.
A cat and mouse game followed as Nantoria CAN 22 picked up ground and eventually overtook Summer CAN 80 in the downwind leg.
O’Kelly CAN 79 was moving fast and slipped into second by the second mark.
Then Midland Bay delivered its usual bag of tricks and the fleet stalled as what winds were there, faded away. Like good detectives searching for the elusive breeze, it was anyone’s game to catch the patches and avoid the holes. In the end it was familiar positioning by the third mark with Nantoria CAN 22, Firestorm USA 87 and O’Kelly CAN 79 battling for best positions.
The finish saw Nantoria CAN 22 the clear winner while O’Kelly CAN 79 and Firestorm USA 87 made a last second run in unison to the line with O’Kelly CAN 79 edging out the American boat to take the second spot.
Summer CAN 80 and Purple Haze USA 51 made it interesting at the line with the Canadian pushing ahead of Purple Haze for fifth spot. It was a mirror image of the finish in Race 1 when the Americans made a good run but the Canadians crossed the line ahead. Purple Haze’s Dan Rossi had yelled over good naturedly then, “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever got me.” And now that’s twice.
Rossi said he’s having difficulty adapting from his evolution Savage USA 75 to his classic Purple Haze USA 51. Used to the acceleration of his evolution, Rossi said he needs to reset his tactical mindset to the classics. “Savage accelerates much faster. You can slow down, change, and pick it up again. You can’t in Purple Haze. I need to get familiar with my older boat again.”
Dean Harker, skipper of Summer CAN 80, said, “It was a good day racing, although we weren’t at the front in the end. It was lots of good tactical maneuvering and being competitive with boats of a similar vintage.”
As Rossi said, “It’s typical leapfrog on Midland Bay, you can go from first to last pretty quickly. The weather was awesome and O’Kelly was pushing hard all day. Dean beat me fair and square twice and was definitely in the mix.” He called it another excellent day of 5.5 racing.
As predicted by Midland Bay Sailing Club resident weather guru and meteorologist Jeff Brook the winds dropped as the day progressed but in typical Midland Bay fashion the wind then shifted dramatically – in the middle of the race.
Brook who has been crewing aboard Firestorm USA 87 said, “That’s Midland Bay sailing. I like the challenge and complexity of it. It’s frustrating when the wind is up for the start and then drops at the horn. You can watch it, observe it, interpret it, but you can’t change it. I love it.”
Race 4 perfectly illustrated the need to shift gears quickly. After the downwind leg boats dropped their spinnakers only to find the wind shift around the mark and then frantically scrambled to raise them again for what should have been an upwind finish.
It was a fascinating finish as O’Kelly CAN 79 raised her chute to hold off a charging Firestorm USA 87 for the win. Nantoria CAN 22 kept her chute down and cruised in for third while Purple Haze USA 51 popped her chute to avoid a late challenge by Summer CAN 80.
It was a fitting end to an intriguing day of racing.
Don Cameron (O’Kelly CAN 79) said, “It was fun today with Firestorm cruising along – all of a sudden there’s a boat and crew basically the same as us. We do some things better, some things worse but it’s always really close. Being able to race against someone that’s so much the same, equal, but different, has been great.”
Chris Gooding stepped in at the last minute to crew for the regatta aboard O’Kelly and has been loving every minute of it. “The competition is great but I really enjoy the camaraderie between the boats. It’s a cool, fun group of people to sail with. Sailing out on the course is one thing, but the pranks and yelling comments is terrific.”
A seasoned sailor he’s learning the unique rigging on the 5.5 quickly, “It’s a really fun boat to sail. It points well, sails fast, an interesting boat to sail with a nice rig, a nice big spinnaker and they really go.”
Also aboard O’Kelly is Chris Hatton, who’s thoroughly enjoying the 5.5 experience. “I’m finding it really interesting because I live on a boat, a Roberts 43, and this is fascinating how many different controls there are, it’s almost overwhelming. After three days it’s getting to the point I know where all the lines are and what they’re for.”
That new familiarity aboard all the boats bodes sets the scene for another excellent day of racing.
Day 2 saw plenty of position changes and some strong performances. Summer CAN 80, Pride 31 and O’Kelly 79 put together a beautiful spinnaker run and it was anyone’s race to take.
There were lots of smiles aboard Pride USA 31 as Joe Strelow has stepped into the skipper’s spot this regatta supported by Matt Thurley and Michael Bloor.
Summer CAN 80 skippered by Dean Harker had a couple of spectacular starts and strong finishes for a satisfying day.