Jeanneau America Staff Sailing Team 1st in Class, 2nd Overall

The largest keel boat regatta in Canada, hosted by the Chester Yacht Club, hits the starting line at noon on Wednesday, August 10th. The official opening ceremonies will commence in front of the Club at 9:00 am. The chair of Chester Race Week, Dr. John Curry will officiate. Gerald Keddy MP for South Shore-St. Margaret’s will bring greetings from the federal government as will dignitaries from local governments. As the club burgee is hoisted to the yardarm by the commodore Don McAlpine, the very loud starting cannon will declare CRW 2011 launched.

Dr. Curry stated 'with a fleet of over 132 yachts already pre-registered this regatta may well be one of the largest ever.

Soaked crews made it back to PCYC after experiencing the full gamut of conditions in the 2011 Susan Hood Trophy Race. Many abandoned the race after hours of drifting near the Burlington Weather Mark; PCYC's Simon Hampson on Kawabonga explained when I saw him on the docks at 5:30 AM: 'Despite the light winds at the start, we still managed to get to within two miles of the Burlington mark in three hours, then we spent the next three hours drifting towards the mark in the slow current with no wind in the sails. We were still a half-mile away when we decided to turn on the engine and come back home. A bit frustrating but at least we were out on the water!'

The Velux 5 Oceans Sprint 5 will begin today from Charleston SC (USA). The four skippers that remain will set off towards La Rochelle, France to complete a global circumnavigation back to where they began their journeys on October 17, 2010.

The skippers are Brad Van Liew (USA), Zbigniew ‘Gutek’ Gutkowski (POL), Derek Hatfield (CAN) and Chris Stanmore-Major (GB). Brad will secure overall victory in the race as long as he successfully completes the final leg. Derek and Hatfield are tied on points and the battle between them to decide second and third on the podium will be fierce.

Saturday morning finally comes; I have been rolling and tossing all night with much anticipation for the annual Solmar Lake Ontario 300 race. I kiss my family goodbye and head for the club. However, as I near the entrance, I gasp at my first sight of the lake; actually, I gasped because I couldn't even see the lake. Thick fog just sat there; not even a whisper of wind to push it out of the way. As a member of the organizing committee, I start to panic.