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On September long weekend, sailors in Saskatchewan go racing in the Prince Albert Regatta. In Fall 2000, Mike Gale talked me into sailing in the PA Regatta. It is up at my lake (Emma), so I really have no excuse not to join in the fun. Fall 2000: The weather didn't really cooperate. It was 5 degrees, howling winds and raining... all day Saturday and Sunday. Mike didn't make it to the race (hmmmm), leaving Greg and I to introduce ourselves to the gang. Day 1: Went over and registered ourselves. In the rain. Day 2: Lots of racing... in the rain... Sometimes it is hard to tell if it is raining when you are sailing. Day 3: We went home. Turns out the racing wasn't much fun, no wind. Fall 2001 This fall we again had sustained strong winds (25 knots?) with even wilder gusts (35 knots?) which came in from assorted different directions winds, frequently 90 degrees off from the main wind. Fun and challenging. Once again, Mike Gale didn't make it to the race (hmmmm, strike 2). Day 1: I had Kim Closson for my crew. Nice day, but the winds were only okay, nothing like what we had hoped for. We did well in these mild breezes, zinging past some of the other boats. The fleet was becalmed during third race, so Greg and I just took off for home, not even bothering to finish the race. Greg's side of the lake had enough of a breeze to get him home, while Kim and I were stranded half a kilometer from home. We paddled half-heartedly with our hands. Soon Greg came by in his big waterski boat and towed us home. An ignominious end to our day. Day 2: The wind started coming up around 10. But, it looked like I might not have any crew! :-( Kim had tweaked his elbow and wasn't sure if he could sail. Very disappointed because the winds looked like they were picking up enough to make the race really fun. So, I phoned up my backup crew, Bill Wallace, and he was ready. By now the wind was howling. We saw the other classes gathering at the start line, so we sailed off to join them. Yup, the wind was there alright. White caps surrounded us, and we failed to go about a bunch of times. Time to learn a new technique. Luckily we had lots of time to practice. Boats were dropping like flies. Every few minutes one of the monohulls would go over. We circled the committee boat trying to get an estimate from them as to when our race would start. No answer. Others also asked. No answer. It didn't look like the first group had even started yet, so all the cats took off to the far side of the lake to shelter out of the wind a little bit. We yelled questions at each other. No-one knew what was up. So we sailed off upwind to the sailing club and parked on the beach. It turned out that the committee boat, a big pontoon boat, had been unable to hold position. The wind and waves were overpowering its anchor. Eventually, they gave in, and transferred the "committee" to a smaller boat which was able to hold position. The race started an hour and a half late. The winds continued to increase. All the cats waited on the beach and watched the other 2 classes start. There was no need to rush. In these conditions, we could be at the start line in 2 minutes. Fall 2002 Couldn't attend because I was the support crew for Sandy running her first MARATHON in Saskatoon. Rats... (but she did well) |
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