Sea Weasel: 2009 TCYC Sailpast - Race

The beginnings of one of the biggest raft ups I have ever scene. Spot the WEASEL?

The sun was shining and the wind was blowing in at a steady 10 knot Westerly when we set out for the 2009 TCYC Sail past. I had on board Kingsley (the dog), Cheryl, her mother Jo, and sister Lisa as crew. We set off bright an early from the marina as we had to be set the final mark to create a finish line for the race off the QC buoy. I spent a lot of the motor out of the Creek inflating the Mark which had deflated since I pumped it up the day before.

We set the mark in 50ft of water which went off without incident until a RVYC power boat buzzed us by two boat lengths while producing a massive wake. I screamed obscenities and used some rather colourful hand gestures as they passed. They stood in their blazers and white pants gawking.

Tiger Lily was the biggest of the fleet and had a hard time going slow enough to stay behind us in the sail past. What a beauty!

With the mark set we hoisted the sails and beat to windward up to Tiddly Cove, a little cove not on any chart just to the south of Caufield Cove in West Vancouver. FANCY FREE, Ian's Schock 35 was anchoured off the shore and ready to review us. In all we had 20 boats show up to the sail past, over double last year's attendance. With little difficulty we formed up. I lead the first division of boats as the Fleet Captain. This presented the problem that all the boats following me could bearly slow down enough to follow me. We went past the committee boat, saluted, and began waiting around for the race to start.

The Commodore's boat at anchour proudly sporting the TCYC burgee.

The sail past race is a non-competitive race we all take part in where we sail a simple course and let a junior member of the crew helm the boat. Cheryl was elected to helm the boat on the SEA WEASEL; while normally the Fleet Captain would have been the RC for the race Ian graciously offered to do it and pull up the marks after the race. We set the course for a windward freighter off of Point Atkinson and then a straight run to the line at the QC Buoy. We were late across the line having had some difficulty with the head (another story).

We crossed the line and began a pleasant beat up wind to the freighter. Getting in line with Caufield Cove we tacked over and headed south to round the freighter. Having completed this we did a bear away set and hoisted the kite. It was tricky maneuvering around all the people in the cockpit as Cheryl's Mom and Lisa had never really been sailing before. We got the boat all settled down and began our run.

Putting the Ass in Class Michael would go on to win the race single handing VOLARE in style.

The tide was flooding fast out of First Narrows creating a strong section of seas with the wind going against the current. We rocketed forward and surfed down waves. I noticed the other boats going south to avoid this but I opted to bash my way through and stay on target. This would up working to our advantage and we passed COSSACK and gained on other yachts as we neared the line. In the end we wound up correcting into third place for division two and fifth overall.

The provisional results.

Our glorious Commodore in all his finery commanding a vessel suited to his abilities.

The two rafts about to join up.

Rob and Simon, concerned over the five boat to one anchour ratio.

Niko contemplating going aloft for some video footage.

Following the race we made our way to False Creek for the raft up and BBQ. In typical Tiddly fashion we all tried to get away without setting an anchour. We had literally 19 boats affixed to four anchours! When the current began ripping in at 2 knots the outcome was predictable. We broke away and headed for home. Not before Kingsley voided his bowels all over Joseph's boat FIRE CHASER . My crew were wanting to get off the boat so I thought I would end it on a high note. All in all it was a very successful event and an excellent kick off to the 2009 summer sailing season.