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Page 28 <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Ontario</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> Racing Guide <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Ontario</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> Racing Guide Page 29<br />
With speeds reaching 16 knots the drag race down the lake is not without its<br />
spills. With over 10 wipe outs and almost as many spinnaker douses, packs and<br />
re-launches we are focused on keeping the lead boats in our fleet within sight.<br />
As our first night draws to a close, morning light creeps across the lake and<br />
boats emerge from the darkness and we begin to take stock of the fleet around<br />
us. After nearly 18 hours of sailing and a 100 mile downwind sprint with two<br />
J105’s the<br />
only thing<br />
decided<br />
is that we<br />
are evenly<br />
matched.<br />
Rounding<br />
Main Duck<br />
Island we<br />
gybe and<br />
head south.<br />
Coming out<br />
from behind<br />
the island’s<br />
lee the fleet<br />
is sailing<br />
on a close<br />
reach into<br />
steep eight<br />
foot waves<br />
This image of Main Duck Island has been<br />
provided by Marinas.com<br />
and 15 to 20 knot winds. After another 30 miles and 3.5 hours of close reaching<br />
the two J105’s have held us off and we round the Oswego mark in third<br />
place. The return course towards Niagara starts as an upwind sail directly into big<br />
waves and strong winds. It doesn’t take long for the J105’s to show their superiority<br />
in these conditions. Twenty miles into this leg, more boats have appeared<br />
and watching the sky it looks like the weather may be about to change again.<br />
We review the weather forecast from our shore crew and the consensus is that<br />
the better wind this afternoon will be out in the lake. Afterburn tacks away<br />
from shore with not much company following suit. By 3:30pm the wind dies<br />
and we are drifting.<br />
At 7:00pm wind ripples become visible on the water and the crew begins<br />
working the sails again. Chris serves up our one hot meal for the race – chili.<br />
By 7:30pm dinner is done and Afterburn is building up boat speed. As night<br />
two begins the lights of Rochester illuminate the shore to windward. A well balanced<br />
Afterburn under the power of the asymmetrical spinnaker slips through<br />
the flat water at 6 knots on a beam reach. Around midnight the south shore<br />
starts to come up to meet us, at the same time bow lights appear to the inside<br />
of us, with no idea which boats they are.<br />
Weather updates indicate that an<br />
approaching storm system has passed<br />
through Windsor and London, is<br />
headed our way and lightning is visible<br />
over both the north and south<br />
shores. With the experience of the<br />
Saturday afternoon squalls fresh in<br />
everyone’s minds the entire crew is<br />
wary of a rapidly developing weather<br />
system.<br />
The predicted storm hits at 3am;<br />
the wind speed rapidly strengthens<br />
and the lights on the shore and the<br />
boats around us disappear as we are<br />
engulfed in a grey shroud moving<br />
out of the darkness from the West.<br />
Suddenly Afterburn is sailing into a<br />
30 knot headwind and heavy rain.<br />
With no time for a sail change the<br />
boat is completely overpowered<br />
flying the #1 genoa and a full main.<br />
Doug and I go into sail preservation<br />
mode, I stuff the nose of Afterburn<br />
into the wind as much as I can to<br />
de-power the first third of the #1,<br />
and Doug is working feverishly with<br />
the main sheet and traveler to keep<br />
only the back 2 feet of the main<br />
powered up. The wind and the now<br />
horizontal rain make it feel like we<br />
are sailing in a car wash! We sail<br />
like this for 10 or 15 minutes which<br />
feels like forever, then as quickly as<br />
it arrived the wind drops to 15 knots<br />
and the wall of grey recedes off our<br />
leeward starboard quarter. Minutes<br />
later another line of weather is upon<br />
us. Similar to the last line we see<br />
30 knot winds and we work hard to<br />
preserve the sails. It passes within<br />
10 minutes. The lights of the South<br />
shore re-emerge but it is difficult to<br />
pick out the other racers. It is now<br />
4am and it starts to feel like morning<br />
light is almost here, we have gotten<br />
CHANDLERY<br />
CHANDLERY LTD<br />
MASON’S<br />
MASON’S<br />
TH<br />
E<br />
S O<br />
T<br />
R<br />
E