M242’S big winners at 2019 Round Bowen
June 27 2019
Dirty Dog Crew (L-R): Tim Murphy, Connie Leung, Peter Carter, Matt Collingwood
Round Bowen has once again proved to be a strong event for the M242 fleet with M242’s taking the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Overall in PHRF:
- 2nd place – Dirty Dog (Matt Collingwood + crew, Vancouver)
- 3rd place – Treachery (Ken Machtley + crew, Orcas Island)
- 5th place – Too Wicked (Michael Clements + crew, Vancouver)
HUGE CONGRATS FROM EVERYONE IN THE M242 FAMILY!
Thanks to all M242’s who participated! Check out all of the 800 pictures posted of the event here.
Full list of race results are here.
Hear the Play-By-Play from Dirty Dog Crew Member Tim Murphy!
Dog in action with Tim Murphy at the helm
The 2019 Round Bowen regatta was exceptional this year: relatively steady breeze, sunshine, and a great Martin 242 turn-out of 14 boats in a fleet over 130 boats overall. During the pre-start on Dirty Dog we asked: 1) where is Too Wicked starting? and 2) where can we take advantage of the ebbing tide? Both those key factors aligned about 2/3 of the way out into the channel towards the Horseshoe Bay side. Starting near an end can help you keep clear air in the large fleet.
The start looked like a rerun of last year, Michael Clements and Too Wicked jumping into an early lead, again by having feel for where the long line actually was. However, as luck would have it 304’s lead evaporated as they fell into a hole and Dirty Dog was able to sail from the starting line to Cape Roger Curtis making only a single tack and set the spinnaker as the wind lifted them.
Members of various M242 crews celebrating post race
Jeremy and Tara on Min of Mine were right on the tail of Dirty Dog and had a great first hour. There was lots of discussion on Dirty Dog about when to jibe the spinnaker given the wind-shadow of the Bowen Island (and that we were for once not following 304!). After jibing there was relatively uneventful run/spinnaker up and down with close reaching from Cape Roger Curtis to the vicinity of Hutt Island. Near Hutt Island things got a lot more interesting with a huge hole and a shift from the south-east to an eventual thermal westerly, sticking to the Hutt island side brought a few fingers of wind. Treachery and Dirty Dog were within 10 boats lengths of each other at this point. Treachery was sailed by the most welcome Orcas Island crew including Ken Machtley, Taylor Smith, and Chris White (hosts of the NAs, promised to have more Orcas boats for Round Bowen 2020).
After a tense rounding of Finisterre Island (which literally means the end of the earth) with huge shifts and gusts, boats were greeted by 12 knots on the nose. Dirty Dog had a ~25-tack tacking duel with Treachery (sailing with 3) back to Snug Cove. Dirty Dog with skipper Matt Collingwood, Tim Murphy, Connie Leung, and Peter Carter was able to hold off Treachery for the win who was second followed closely by Michael Clements and crew on Too Wicked (Justin, Adrienne, and Bernadette). Alas all those tacks cost the 242’s the PHRF 1st overall, but I wouldn’t expect anything different from this Fleet, which ended up with 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Overall in PHRF anyway!
This is the 4th year in a row that the 242s have finished in the top 3 overall. We highly recommend the Round Bowen regatta for 242’s which are seeking an out of English Bay experience on the cheap both in time and dollars. For the past two years we have compressed it into a one-day event leaving at a civilized 7:30 AM Saturday morning and our crew coming back Saturday evening via TransLink and by boat. Looking forward to another Round Bowen next year with even more Martin 242s’ participating.
written by Tim Murphy (day job Crown Royal and weekends Dirty Dog).
