With temperatures of over 30 degrees C each day, and light air, this did not seem like the second weekend of September! And everybody knows its supposed to blow like stink on Fanfare weekend!
Saturday the fleet sat around and baked in the heat through the morning as the scheduled start time came and went - there was no sign of a breeze anywhere. Finally at 1:30 the RC put us out of our misery and abandoned for the day. Naturally a nice breeze filled in later, and those who went out for a pleasure sail spoke of trapezing conditions later in the afternoon. There was a BBQ at Mike McEvoy's at the end of the day where we were able to at least talk about sailing.
Sunday morning we were determined to get at least one race in, and after a short postponement ashore the boats hit the water when a breeze could be seen filling in down the river. That wind never quit materialized and we drifted out in the direction of the start area. After a bit of bobbing around a new breeze came in from the northwest, and the RC quickly set a short course and got a race in - it was Fireballs starting first, followed by Albacores. The 5o5s had for some reason decided not to come out. We had a very sailable 5 knots throughout the race, with the wind fading as the Fireballs finished. The last Albacore to cross the line did so in a nearly dead calm.
A bit more bobbing about, and our only out-of-town guests - Jason & Julie - decided to head for shore. When last seen Julie was swimming ahead and pulling the Fireball behind her. What a crew!
The RC decided to wait a bit, and patience was rewarded with the wind swinging to the southwest and filling in at a very satisfying 10 knots. Three more races were held in wonderful trapezing conditions and flat water. Very efficient RC work had them starting the fleets independently - the moment the last Fireball in a race crossed the line, we'd get a gun to begin the next start sequence. The short course racing kept the boats together. In the end we had a great day of racing. It may not have been like Fanfares from the past, but I could get used to it!
| 1 | Phil Locker, Evelyn Simpson | CAN14678 | 1, 3, 1, 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Alan Spurdle, ? | CAN11136 | 2, 1, 3, 4 | 10 |
| 3 | Mike McEvoy, Josh Foster | CAN13890 | 3, 2, 4, 2 | 11 |
| 4 | Andy Carran, Trish Carran | CAN12357 | 5, 4, 2, 3 | 14 |
| 5 | Doug Corner, Antica Locker | CAN12362 | 4, 5, 5, DNF | 21 |
| 6 | Jason Phillips, Julie Hill | CAN12533 | 6, DNS, DNS, DNS | 27 |