Results

It was another amazing day for keelboat racing with 8 boats joining in. The south east winds were s bit stronger than expected at 10 to 15 knots. Our course ran upwind from Willingdon Beach to Grief Point then downwind to the virtual mark half way between Willingdon and the southern tip of Harwood Island before a final close reach back to Willingdon for the finish, a distance of 9 nautical miles.

It was kind of expected given that since 1970, out of 49 races completed, the Powell River side has won the cup only 6 times. Last year both cups, the Algerine trophy for 1st place corrected as well as the Credit Union trophy for line honours were both captured by Powell River. In this race Comox was well prepared for revenge.

The south east winds strengthened from the start from an estimated 8 knots up to 17 and it seemed we had some 20 knot gusts, one of which had the honour of shredding Una’s spinnaker.

In every sailboat race there are lessons learned. Fickle weather knows no loyalties. One might have a brilliant start and build a significant lead and have a happy crew fully expecting to claim the podium only to have the wind vanish in the final moments to go and attend to someone else's flogging sails. Today’s lessons were about patience and humility.

It was a blustery day that refused to listen to the weatherman’s opinion as instead of decreasing, the wind strengthened.

Our course took us from Willingdon beach upwind to Grief Point, then downwind to the virtual mid channel mark before beating back to Willingdon beach, a distance of nine nautical miles or 18 km. South east winds of 10 - 12 knots prevailed giving us plenty of power to cover the course in 1 1/2 hours and the cold rain couldn't dampen our spirits as in the excitement it was hardly noticed.

Winds were predicted to come lightly from the south east. Instead they came from the opposite direction and rather than light they were actually quite pleasant pulling us along at over 4 knots for part of the way.

First my apologies for the slightly pessimistic weather report Friday evening as it may have frightened some from coming out. Still we had enough fearless daredevils to crew up 4 boats for what turned out to be a pleasant race in moderate winds and with only a hint of rain.

All I can say about today is I feel a bit sorry for all those friends and neighbours who paid all those thousands to find sunshine in southern climes while back home we had another magical day like this:

After suffering Saturday after Saturday of drifting about in light breezes it was the day we’ve been waiting for. A moderate 10 - 12 knot south easterly wind took us on a beat from the south harbour mark to Grief Point, then downwind to our mid-channel virtual mark before returning on a close reach to the south harbour to finish, a distance of approx. 7.5 nautical miles.

It was a lovely day in every way except for sailing that is - unless you
were one of the lucky who found enough wind to finish. The sky was
clear and blue and the sun was hot. The sea was full of life with
schools of dolphins racing about like horses while sea lions and dogs
barked at them from shore.

Those who failed to show today missed a special one. (Regrets Brian we hope you recover for next week) It was a light wind race for the most part with just enough medium strength wind thrown in to ensure we were in on time for lunch.

As predicted sunshine and a warm breeze made for a very enjoyable race. Winds were light at the start and coming from the south east near the shore while further out they were coming from the north-west.

After four tries the annual Shearwater race finally took place November 23rd, 2024.