2001 Canadian Fireball Nationals

Contributed by Colin Huggett

The 2000 Canadian Fireball National Fireball Championships were held this year at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Cadboro Bay on Vancouver Island in what can best be described as "testing " conditions.

A mid-week regatta in the first week of May, in combination with a ferry trip and inclement weather all combined to limit the turnout to the truly committed, and by race day there were 15 boats more or less ready for the racing. I say more or less ready because two new boats were launched on race day: 14758, a new addition to Admiral Thompson's fleet and the other, 14757 to newcomer Brian Kilman of Victoria. Rob was up all night jury rigging control lines and adding some speed bumps to the hull at the suggestion of the measurer, and Brian never did make it out to the start line with his new boat.

The final fleet consisted of 6 boats from Calgary, 3 from Surrey, Bob Lewis and crew from Vancouver, Mike McEvoy and crew Jason Phillips from Ontario sailing Roger Phillips's boat, Rob Levy and crew Mike Nalecz from Montreal sailing a Thompson fleet boat, and the rest from Victoria.

A pre-race tuning session was held on the Wednesday with 4 or 5 boats participating in warm sunshine, but little wind.

Race 1 May 2 Triangle -windward leeward course. Race one was delayed while we waited for the wind to fill in and we eventually started in 8-10 knots from the West. The line could barely be laid on starboard tack and Colin Huggett (14727) and Bob Lewis (11792) port tacked the fleet at the pin end to get good starts. Chris Lemke (9360) eventually passed Huggett, but failed to cover on the last beat allowing Huggett to win followed by Thompson and Lemke.

Race 2- May 2 Same wind and course as race 1. The race committee decided to even things out and this time laid out a start line that could only be crossed on Starboard tack, which of course meant a huge pile up at the committee boat. I had to do a 720 shortly after the start and therefore have no idea what happened at the front end of the fleet, except that the Herberts (Graham crewing for Martin. Graham said he only consented to crew on condition that Martin not give him any advice on crewing techniques or practice, on pain of instant mutiny.) won in 1205, Debbie Kirkby was second and Robert Levy was third.

Race 3 May 2 same as above, except the start line could actually be laid on both tacks. Rob Levy had by now figured out the conditions and won this and the following race in convincing style, followed by Rob T;. and Rupert Holmes-Smith, crewed by his son Sean. Although the fleet was small, it was of high calibre and there were close fights for all positions, making it difficult to pass if you got behind.

Race 4 May 2. Same as above, with Rob Levy and Rob T. first and second again, but this time followed by Debbie and Lorne Kirkby in "Dancing with Waves".

Winds in the last two races of the day were fickle and varied from 0-6 knots, which combined with an increasing flood tide, made things interesting. The boats that stayed in seem to benefit from the tide, but lost the wind if they went in too far.

By the end of race 4, most competitors were feeling the cold and it was starting to rain, so nobody was too disappointed when the committee sent us in at about 3:30.

After resailing the races in the Yacht club bar, a gourmet roast beef dinner was held at Chez Thompsons.

Day 2, May 3
Race 1 No wind meant a postponed start and we finally got a race underway just before noon after drifting around the bay for an hour or so. The light wind shifted just before the start to turn the first leg into an ever broadening reach in what looked like a settling easterly breeze. We rounded the "weather" mark and were now hard on the wind tacking to the wing mark, which was set well out in Baynes Channel. Unfortunately, the wind died as quickly as it had started and by the time the lead boats had rounded the wing mark and were heading for home, it had become a drifter again. With the tide in full flood and the fleet going nowhere, the race committee abandoned the race. Rupert Holmes-Smith was leading, followed by Rob levy, Rob Thompson and Colin Huggett.

Race 2 After drifting around the mouth of the Bay for an hour or two, the monotony relieved only by a food fight that broke out between a couple of boats, the wind finally filled in from the east in earnest. Within 10 minutes or so there were white caps and the promise of good wind at last. Mast Rakes and jib leads were adjusted accordingly and the fleet looked forward to some fast, if not wet and cold sailing (it was drizzling by now). The first leg was about 3/4 of a mile long with the mark set between two islands and just on the edge of the tidal rip that marks Baynes Channel ( I will give the race committee the benefit of the doubt and assume the mark anchor wouldn't hold and the mark dritfted down stream until it caught at the edge of what looked like Niagara Falls). The wind almost immediately began backing to the North and the boats on the port side of the course made out like bandits, with Huggett rounding first followed by the Herberts and then a large group. By this time the wind had come right around to the Northwest and had dropped to a few knots, making it very difficult to get around the mark and back up channel. The Herberts and others were sucked into the rapids, eventually clawing their way back when the breeze filled in from the Northwest. The fleet then beat their way back to what should have been the wing mark, with Huggett rounding ahead of Rupert Holmes Smith, Debbie Kirkby and Rob Levy. The wind continued to back to the Southwest and the next leg was also a beat back to the original start line, with Huggett rounding ahead of Levy, Kirkby and Holmes Smith, and setting off on what should have been another beat. At this point things started to go off the rails. The race committee signalled a new mark change and moved what had been the windward mark, but which was now dead down wind, from its previous position at the head of the rapids to a spot that was barely visible about 10' off the beach, and dead downwind. To make matters worse, the wind died completely, so it was now a downwind drifter with nobody sure where the mark was. Rob Levy, thinking the leg was supposed to be a beat, broke off from the fleet and started sailing upwind to a mark he claimed to have spotted directly upwind of the committee boat. The rest of the fleet drifted downwind to the new "weather" mark. For reasons known only to themselves, Debbie Kirkby and Rupert Holmes Smith, instead of following Huggett to the old weather mark, decided to round what had been the wing mark. The race committee, sensing chaos, abandoned the race at this point, after about an hour of sailing!!

The wind had by now come in again from the West and the race committee up anchored and moved to the East side of the Bay and started to set a new line. By this time it was raining and cold and we had been on the water for about 4 hours with no races in yet! A mutiny, lead by the Herberts, spread throughout the fleet and the race committee eventually abandoned racing for the day. It was just as well they did, as the wind shut right off and most boats had to be towed in. (Ask Mike McEvoy about the towing arrangements.)

A delicious hamburger barbeque at Jamie Cox's that evening.

Day 3 8:15 skippers meeting
The wind gods decided to make up for their poor showing on Friday by treating us to a half gale on Saturday under clear skies. I headed out of the Bay and, after watching one boat lose its mast, suffered a crew mutiny and headed back to the wharf. I phoned my brother and dragged him out of bed in time for races 6 and 7. I missed race 5 and the results of 6 and 7 speak for themselves. Rob T mastered the conditions and was well ahead in the last two races.

The wind was recorded on the committee boat at over 30 knots and for most of the fleet it was survival upwind and down. Most of the fleet flew spinnakers on the downwinds, but the courses were short windward/leewards, so not too bad. It took a long time to finally get the first race off and the wind took its toll with Rupert Holmes Smith breaking a mast, McEvoy breaking his mast partners and other retiring from exhaustion or wanting to save their boat. I learned that trying to do a 720 turn in 30 knots (Race 6), or a 360 after hitting the mark (Race 7) is guaranteed to result in a horizontal 360!!

Highlight of my regatta was after Race 6, when I broad reached in from mid-channel, fully powered up with spinnaker up and crew on the wire, right through the milling fleet of lasers, optis, 420s etc. in a sheet of spray at about mach 2. Great stuff.

Prize giving was in the Rvic Clubhouse. Between math Gremlins, phantom sail numbers, a protest against the race committee for starting race 7 before Chris Lemke finished 6, and no throwout in the first compilation, the prize giving had more than the usual excitement to it and some prizes changed hands a number of times until the final results were posted.

See you all in 2001 and my apologies for errors or omissions.

Colin Huggett CAN14727

P.S. Has anybody seen my jib? It's a new North, with no sheets on it and Rick Clifts measurement certivicate in the tack. I left it at the Rvic Clubhouse in front of the showers where we unrigged the boats at the end of the regatta??

Place	Skipper	Crew	Sail Number	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Lamonte, G	Thompson, Rob	14758	2		2	2	3	0.75	0.75	10.5
2	Levy, Robert	Nalecz, Mike	14465		3	0.75	0.75	2	2	3	11.5
3	Herbert, M	Herbert, G	1205	4	0.75	6	8	0.75	4		23.5
4	Kirkby, Debbie	Kirkby, Lorne	14425	7	2	4	3	6	6		28
5	Law, Matt	Lewis, Bob	11792	5		5	9	4	3	4	30
6	Lemke, Christopher	Ferguson, Gregg	9360	3	6		6	9	5	2	31
7	Huggett, Colin	Huggett, Stephanie	14727	0.75	9	8	12		8	6	43.75
8	Cox, James	Pearson, Simon	14711	10	7	10		7	7	5	46
9	Holmes-Smith, Rupert	Holmes-Smith, Sean	14559	6	4	3	5	16	16		50
10	Dalberg, Stephan	Law, Iain	11882	12	8	7	4	17	17		65
11	Hunt, Alex	Hall, Rob	11796/10347	11	11	11	10	8	16		67
12	Neave, Troy	Brooke, Will	14428	13	10	9	7	17	17		73
13	McEvoy, Mike	Phillips, Jason	13890	9	14	13	15	5	17		73
14	Neilson, Christine	Neilson, Bruce	11166	14	13	14	13	17	17		88
15	Bishop, Gary	Kilman, Brian	2409/14757	17	17	17	17	16	17		101