This years Canadian national 505 Championships was a true reflection of the exciting new ‘vibe’ that is happening here in Eastern Canada: Big fleet, Five Out-of-Towners, and Family teams (partners, kids/parents). Most notable was the huge range of ages from hot young sailors to John Moss on RC committee boat who actively raced 505 in the 70s.
Being Canada, winters come early and the weather gods thought it would be a good idea to remind folks that the seasons are changing. A cold front arrived Saturday morning and stayed for the entire weekend. It meant for some cold, wet and windy conditions, that even the famous Californian teams would be pleased with.
Sailing in breeze requires a different mind set and with time, the comfort zone becomes more established. And it is conditions like this is where dreams are made of, but it was also a time to test how strong your boat is put together. The winter repair list became quickly evident, both major and minor.
Being the national championships, the Ottawa Fleet took the opportunity to combine the event to acknowledge retiring sailors. We bid farewell to John Bryant who over the years has schooled us all on tactical racing and how to make a boat go fast in light shifty conditions. And the team of Chris Gilles and Clarissa Bush, who were major fleet builders, event organizers and a wealth of knowledge of the 505 class. Clarissa was also a former top female skipper at NAs a few years back.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper regatta without a lovely dinner and exhaustive de-brief session following each day. After hot showers, and warm clothes: the fleet settled in to an enormous dinner and chat. Long time sailor Ali Meller, and now the owner of the Kingston Sail Loft, was a competitor and it was pleasure to have a sail maker join us because it brings the discussion of sail trim to a whole new level.
As for results, in true Canadian fashion it was a three way tie for first place. Maybe we say sorry too much but mathematically it had to boil down to the young guns of Luke Strickland and Christian Voyer in third place, and the husband and wife teams of Shona Moss and Stephen Lovshin in second and Dave Adams and Debbie Ashby taking first.
And finally, a big thank you to Marie Gendron for organizing the food and dealing with all the hidden tasks of running a regatta. Rob Voyer as chief cook. And of course the event would also not be possible with our amazing spokesperson Paul Place and president of the Canadian 505 Association. We would not be the fleet that we are without all these amazing people.
This concludes our season. We end on a note of promise and excitement for next year. The NAs are coming to Kingston next August, which has spawned chatter about actually “training” for regattas, what to get loved ones for Christmas presents, or who can we get into a boat and reunion tours by former teams.
Sail flat, Sail Fast……Send it.
For results: https://nsc.ca/nsc_racing/fanfare/results/fanfare-2024-results.htm
