Offshore - Lake Ontario 300

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Sperry Cup
Skippers Log
by Craig Pirie
Afterburn, a Dash 34, at the start
of the race.
The boat won the Sperry Cup,
finishing at 5:04 on Monday
afternoon after 2 days and five
hours of racing.
To the south, Lake Ontario glistens in the sun, a parade of boats is feeding
into the growing congestion around the start area for the 2010 Lake
Ontario 300. Afterburn, a Dash 34, is one of the last boats to leave the
confines of PCYC’s harbour. The wind is filling in nicely at 10 to 12 knots out
of the Southwest as forecasted and we are looking forward to a fast downwind
ride towards Main Duck Island. In the back of my mind are the words
of caution from meteorologist Ron Bianchi at the skippers’ weather briefing
last night – warning us that by mid-afternoon Saturday there could be several
lines of severe weather passing through the fleet as we sail up the north shore of
the lake.
Darren and Tim prep the spinnaker for a downwind start as we follow a forty
footer towards the start line. With 20 seconds to the gun I bear off taking the
larger boat’s stern and the crew starts our spinnaker hoist, the gun sounds and
we are racing. The 8 mile leg to Gibraltar is a good stretch of water to get the
crew into the groove as Afterburn settles onto a starboard tack broad reach.
We keep to the north of the rhumb-line, focusing on maintaining clear air. Approaching
the mark we douse the spinnaker in favour of the #1 genoa and steer
a wide line around the Gibraltar mark; leaving a mess of boats struggling for
clear air to the inside. After clearing the mark we take advantage of the #1 and
work our way to windward of the fleet. As we pass the Leslie Spit we bear off
and re-launch the spinnaker, allowing Afterburn to accelerate from 7 knots up
to 9 knots while our crew settles on to the windward rail as the wind continues
to build.
By 2:00pm everyone on the rail has their eyes fixed on the dark storm clouds
rapidly closing in on our position, the exhilaration of the fast spinnaker run
over the past several hours is now replaced by anxiousness as we anticipate
the powerful and erratic winds and rain that will mark the leading edge of the
storm front. As the rain begins to fall and the wind increases, Darren and Tim
raise the #1, followed seconds later by the dousing of the chute, the crew is
in the final stages of stuffing the spinnaker below when the front of storm hits,
blasting through at over 30 knots! Hoisting the #1 was a bad call as we are
completely over canvassed, the helm rapidly loads up and lifts me off my perch
on the deck and pulls me half way across the cockpit. Afterburn rounds up
into the wind; I scramble back up to the high side and struggle to gain control
of the tiller. The noise from the howling wind and flogging sails is deafening,
but eventually I am able to work the bow down. Afterburn comes off the wind
and accelerates to 10 knots. Once the front passes and the winds diminish,
Darren emerges from below deck with the repacked spinnaker, Tim works the
sheets and halyard around the forestay and we re-launch the spinnaker. Two
more severe storm fronts chase us down over the next couple of hours; the
second coming from the south and included a solid pelting of hail.
As late afternoon turns to early evening the waves on Lake Ontario build to 6
feet; the skies are clear overhead while bands of darker storm clouds ring around
the horizon. For improved stability we switch to the asymmetrical spinnaker.