LOSHRS Dalhousie Weekend 2023

November 1, 2023

By Mark Searle “Jersey Girl”

Jersey Girl on the way back from Dalhousie / Photo: Dee Hogan

The LOSHRS Dalhousie Weekend last month – Races Five and Six of the season – is always fun and often delivers nail-biters. The final season results, and overall season championships are often determined this weekend. Calculators are out with crews figuring out what they must do to podium on the season. Who do they have to cover… who do they have to beat?

The weather gods didn’t look like they were going to smile this weekend. Light, changing winds were promised leaving us wondering when we were going to finish. Winds on the way over were better than expected strength-wise but they were quite changeable. Was there a favoured side of the course? Should we sail high of the rhumb line to catch favoured wind or stay low and wait for a lift? Everyone had a different approach with some of us being terribly mistaken on the way over and others playing it just right. Regardless, everyone had fun and we arrived in a pretty tight cluster in plenty of time for socializing at Dalhousie Yacht Club.

Yes, the LOSHRS season is about some serious competition. Yes, it is also about sharing a lot of fun with long-time friends and making new ones. Many would argue that those two should be reversed. If this Dalhousie Weekend was any indication, FUN was a priority.

LOOR Committee member Sandra Chave worked very hard with Dalhousie Yacht Club to provide us with terrific après-race and a fantastic dinner. Sandra met us bright and early Sunday morning with coffee and pastries before leaving the docks. Big thanks to Sandra and DYC! The highlight of Dalhousie Weekend is the $5,000 sail draw co-sponsored by Dave Courtney at www.accessabilities.ca and Hugh Beaton at www.northsails.com. Congratulations to the lucky winner, Mac McKenzie on “Worthy Pearl”.

The race back to PCYC was somewhat the same but different. We started in light wind, but it came up gradually for most of the race until dropping near the end. Again, there was a good side of rhumb line and a not so good side… almost always the case. Spinnakers, Code Sails, and genoas were up and down keeping double-handed and single-handed crews quite busy. Many of us were working up quite a sweat in mid-summer conditions. The lead boats finished before the dinner hour, but others were stuck when the wind dropped a bit later. Nevertheless, almost everyone completed the race whether it impacted their season result or not. Such is the spirit of all those who compete in LOSHRS.

Race results can be found at: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=15560