The Canadian Nationals
The competition was intense; patience was wearing thin, the rules were being consulted, and insults were traded. We still hadn’t left the grounds at Pointe Claire Yacht Club, but putting the boats on the trailers for the three-hour drive was proving to be a tough warm-up to the event scheduled at Kingston Yacht Club.Some of the Montreal fleet really ought to travel a little more.
We arrived safely, and rigged along with others from Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Vermont. Saturday morning brought light to medium winds under hot sunny skies that we saw throughout the event.
first race set the pattern for much of the regatta. George and Tom, Robert and Mike, and Peter and I battled our way around the course, trading the lead, despite doing whatever we could to keep the others behind. The margin of victory was slim, with only seconds between the first three boats.
At the end of Day 1, the scores were so tight that we concluded that anyone of us could easily take this regatta.
Peter and I decided to make Day 2 a little more interesting. After burying ourselves at the start of Race 5, and compounding our troubles by going the wrong way on the first beat, we rounded the windward mark in 6th. A quick consultation with our magic sponge indicated to go right on the next beat, allowing us to round the second windward in second place, right on George’s transom. Tom, using his patented “helm management” technique, decided not to tell George where we were so as not to distract him. George nearly had a coronary when he discovered that the boat he was so carefully covering was less of a threat than the one he didn’t see. Tom’s technique worked. George and Tom finished first, we were second, and Robert and Mike third. The last race of the day was our magic race. We had a great start, and hit every shift just right. Our gap at the end of the race was so large, that George told us he would have awarded us the yellow jersey if Lance Armstrong hadn’t already taken it home.
Once again, we put our boats away for the night with the knowledge that our scores were so close that Day 3 would tell the tale.
Day 3 was ours. We had bullets in all three races. The racing was so tight that any lapse in concentration resulted in lost boats. Peter and I were thrilled with the outcome, and we took great satisfaction that we had sailed against superb competitors who had raced so well. After ten races with two throw-outs, our margin over the second boat (Robert and Mike) was only two points and only three points over the third boat (George and Tom). George proved that an eighteen-year old boat could sail with equal speed to the brand new Winders.
The fourth, fifth and sixth boats were separated by an even tighter margin of one point. That’s good racing.
The folks at Kingston Yacht Club did a great job hosting us. Mike Nicholl-Griffith ran the races efficiently and well, and all competitors enjoyed the event.
Then we loaded our trailers, …….
Joe Jospe
CAN 14769
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Kingston Yacht Club |
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| 2002 Fireball Canadians |
Final Results
Sailed: 10 Discards: 2 Ratings: None
| Pos | Boat Name | Class | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 03 | Aug 03 | Aug 03 | Aug 03 | Aug 04 | Aug 04 | Aug 04 | Aug 05 | Aug 05 | Aug 05 | |||||||
| 1240 | 1400 | 1525 | 1638 | 1010 | 1150 | 1450 | 1010 | 1110 | 1235 | |||||||
| 1st | Rocket Science | Fireball | 14769 | Joe Jospe | Peter Kelly | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13.0 | ||
| 2nd | Fireball | 14768 | Robert Levy | Mike Nalecz | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15.0 | |||
| 3rd | Glass & Half | Fireball | 13216 | George Stedman | Tom Egli | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 16.0 | ||
| 4th | Mamba | Fireball | 14744 | David Landsberg | Mona Barakat | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 40.0 | ||
| 5th | Fireball | 14758 | Cameron Lee | Robert Thompson | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 41.0 | |||
| 6th | Stress Puppy | Fireball | 14467 | Stephanie Marler | Patrick Martel | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 41.0 | ||
| 7th | Fireball | 10295 | Gaetan Lavoie | Guy LeBlanc | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 48.0 | |||
| 8th | Kongo | Fireball | 14688 | Derek Griffiths | Nicola Alston | 7 | 8 | RDGa | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 55.4 | ||
| 9th | Fireball | 14678 | Philip Locker | Evelyn Simpson | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 57.0 | |||
| 10th | Fireball | 12362 | Doug Corner | Antica Locker | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 77.0 | |||
| 11th | Proteus | Fireball | 11136 | Alan Spurdle | Marc Lalonde | 13 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 86.0 | ||
| 12th | Mojo | Fireball | 4726/3057 | Steph Serred St. Jean | Gary Branscombe | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 88.0 | ||
| 13th | Fireball | 12684 | CJ Kinaschuk | Brian Klassen | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 95.0 | |||
| 14th | Non Sequitor | Fireball | 10493 | David Brooks | D. McLean | 13 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 96.0 | ||
| 15th | Fireball | 6083 | Zane Murdoch | Gary Godberson | 15 | DNS | 13 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 112.0 |
| Sailwave Scoring Software 1.43 www.sailwave.com |