10 June 2013

Hi all! You might have seen this elsewhere, but here is the "official" version of the Sailpast yesterday.
We formed up at 1100 and those who had no paperwork were helped out by RMC SAR64 and they handed this in to the Beachmaster. After a pause, we got our line -up. The Charles Hays led, followed by RMC SAR64, then your committee vesssel, Albacore ll, with Corissa in hot pusuit. They broke us up then, with the RCMP Lindsay being placed in front of Wild Abandon, Footloose and Sea Chips. After us came a motley assortment of pleasure boats, tugs and CCG vessels. The MC called us out as we went by the beach and after the sailpast, we formed a loose group outside the breakwater and watched the show. Most of us stayed for the blessing of the Fleet. Marty had allready set up the markers and our race started. Remember the flags? White is 10 mins to start, blue 5 mins and the red flag coming down is the start. Hardly any wind, a complex pattern of ever-changind wind direction, coupled with a drizzle made it a "less than desireable" day! Nevertheless, Footloose with young Jordan Weir at the helm, 14 yrs young, with Mike as crew, came in at 1hr 40mins and 50secs. Followed closely by Wild Abandon at 1hr 46 mins, skippered by Mae and crewed by Bob Lord. The other two boats that started with us were Peri-Peri and Tiki, neither of which finished, but with the wind coming up a bit, they enjoyed the rest of the day. As the race progressed, I gave the MC the times and vessels names as they rounded the markers and at the finish and he would inform the beach crowd. I hear reports that the crowd enjoyed our show and the Beachmaster and MC invited us to next year's Sailpast and hoped that we could have a rematch of the race with Footloose and Wild Abandon! So, plan on next year! Thank you to all who participated and especially to Marty for setting up and bringing in the markers. I understand from an e-mail that Marty sent us all that he will no longer be doing that, so we will be asking for volunteers to do this in the next racing season. Thanks again, have a safe cruising season, hope to see you all on the dock from time to time, Cheers, Dave.