2021 J105 Canadian Championships
October 14, 2021
Mandate’s crew echoes the Women’s J105 Regatta as winner outfits at Canadians Photo: Doug Bullock
Who says it never blows in Toronto? After sailing in very windy and wavy conditions on Friday and Saturday and champagne conditions on Sunday, certainly not I.
Friday brought wind and waves that the fleet does not experience a lot and unfortunately contributed to a number of incidents and breakdowns. It wasn’t easy to put one’s boat in the precise location one would like in the challenging sea state causing closer situations that are ideal in the tight racing. Mandate, formerly known as Womandate, got off to a quick start to the regatta on Friday closely followed by Starcross and The Usual Suspects, the latter being adept at getting off of the usually pin end favoured starting line in good shape. Forro followed up a 12th in the first race with a 4, 6 and H-Bomb has a similar progression with a 10, 5, 5.
Saturday saw very similar conditions, but the teams had a day of experience under their belts and were able to keep the boats apart more so. Mandate lost their picket fence in a close race with Starcross in race 5, while Hey Jude suffered a hydraulic backstay pump failure managing to still finish 3rd in race 5, but then had to retire before race 6. Sentient moved up the standings with three good finishes of 6, 4, 3. H-Bomb again had two good races and Jamaica Me Crazy improved with a 5, 5, 6.
On Saturday evening the fleet was treated to a wonderful dinner inside at RCYC. As this year’s events were scaled down, there were not the usual comedians and speeches by Mike Mountford.
On Sunday the wind and waves dissipated to the point where some boats started off the day with light jibs. For the last two races, the wind came up to 12-16 knots and the puffy and shifty conditions made racing challenging and fun if you were able to find a clear lane on the lifted tack. Mandate, Starcross and Hey Jude again showed consistency to finish the regatta in that order. Sentient improved over the day to just miss the podium by one point.
Many thanks to Regatta Chair Doug Bullock and to the race committee and jury all who contributed to a first-class regatta. Results here https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=14776
– Terry McLaughlin
