English Bay Scramble Race Report

Team SEA WEASEL at the start.

It was the biggest race of the year in English Bay with 62 boats showing up; and owing to my having to take the dog to 'Puppy School' we were almost late for the start. Crewing we had the Rookie, D-Hog, and Curt-ASS and with a steady 8-10 knots it was looking like it was going to be a great race.

A low res picture from Kitsalano of the start. Man that is a ton of boats!

A shot from the RC boat of the start.

As you know the EBS has 4 marks with two start lines; you have to cross the start line after round one or two of your first marks and other than that it is a free-for-all. We had planned to do the Point Grey Bell Buoy - Passage Island - Start line - West Vancouver - Barge Buoy and then the Finish. This would allow us to take advantage of the massive flood that was coming in during the early afternoon.

This plan was working beautifully as we passed many of our division 7 competitors on our way out to the Bell Buoy and on to Passage Island. What we weren't prepared for was the wind hole like I have never experienced. Just to the west of Passage Island we could see a parking lot of sail boats. There were at least 20 boats bobbing in the water making absolutely no head way. We followed the lead of some of the other boats and stuck to the shoreline. We drifted along for 2 hours around the island passing many of our competitors who in some cases were just meters away from us but not benefiting from the current in close to the island.

Rounding the North end of the Island we all the sudden were pulled in closer to the shore by the same current that had slowly pulled us around. Now we were heading for a exposed rock just off shore from the island with no steerage at all. Desperately we tried to scull around and bare away but it was painstaking. I took the helm from Curt-ASS who then tried to help the others change our sail plan when the fluky wind snapped the boom back braining him and sending him to the cockpit seat dazed.

We finally were able to turn the boat slightly away from the rock inward to shore but we noticed MYSTIC bearing down on us. He was in the same boat as us. As we spun around we had to fend MYSTIC off our stern. They were now in worse trouble than us and as they attempted to follow us around they gently grounded on the rock. We were now drifting into more danger and had no ability to claw off. I quickly fired up the engine and we motored for about 30-60 seconds out of danger. MYSTIC took a little longer to get their engine going but was able to motor off with no serious damage.

Our course around to Passage Island that lead to us almost running around.

I now, mistakenly, believed we were disqualified but we continued on after already investing so much time. It was frustrating as we watched boats a short distance away finally catch wind and make it into English Bay. Our chance finally came and we through up the chute and had a decent run into the bay when again seemingly only for us the wind shut off. Now believing I was out of the race I gave up and retired. Again this proved to me that I should never, never, never retire from a race.

In the end we were burned, dehydrated, and exhausted but we had had some good sailing that we could hold onto; and with a great bunch of guys on the boat it made passing the time easier. I am sure that if we had not given up we could have completed the first two marks and picked up the barge buoy. Oh well.

Our course for the scramble.

Following the race we made our way to the after party at the Maritime Museum put on by my yacht club. It was great; about 200 sailors showed up and the food and entertainment was excellent. I closed out the party and helped with the clean up. All in all I still think this is one of the best races in BC and will definitely be out there next year.

While the lead singer's ad-libbing was a little odd; the music was good.

Div 7 results.