Regatta report courtesy of Peter Scannell, emeritus chair of sailing instruction studies at 505 University.
The 2023 Canadian Championships was held on July 22-23rd as part of the CORK skiff week in Kingston, Ontario. Fourteen Canadian entries were joined by five visiting US boats, making a fine turnout of 19 boats. Forecast was uncertain, with light winds expected for both days.
Saturday started out with about 10kts from the NW with large gusts and lulls across the course. For race 1, logic suggested going left to avoid the shadow of the land, and for a while it worked, with Tom Kivney and Gordon Russell looking like early leaders. However it was the rabbit, Jeff Boyd and Martin ten Hove who continued right and found a large right hander with pressure to lead into the first mark.
Downwind, there was a mix of wiring and sitting. Peter Scannell and John Dunlea elected to gybe-set and were rewarded with good pressure to allow them to wire and gain about 8 places. The remainder of the race was all about finding the pressure, with lots of opportunities for big gains. Jeff and Martin held on for the win, with Tom/Gordon second and Peter/John crossing the line in third.
In Race 2, Scannell/Dunlea took control at the midway point and led the fleet home ahead of John Ingalls and stand-in helm Alex Bowdler, with Dave Kirkpatrick and Sol Marini in third and Jeff and Martin fourth. At this point, Scannell/Dunlea realized it would have paid to have read the sailing instructions, when they realized they had failed to finish correctly for both of the opening races. Going back around, they managed to salvage a 7th by refinishing race 2.
Bowdler/Ingalls were starting to gel and won race 3 from Kirkpatrick/Marini with Scannell/Dunlea in third.
Race 4 went to 2021 Canadian Champ Robert Bartlewski sailing with Andrew Gesing who succeeded in sniffing out shifts and pressure to hold on to win over Scannell/Dunlea with Shona Weldon and Michael Wonnacott in third.
Day 2’s forecast promised more wind with a typical SW Kingston breeze that would build if the sun stayed out.
Race 5 was light, with Scannell/Dunlea chasing Ingalls/Bowdler around the course before stealing the lead on the last run to finish ahead by a boatlength. Bartlewski/Gesing were third with Kirkpatrick/Marini in fourth.
Race 6 was in similar conditions with Scannell/Dunlea leading from the first mark to the finish. Behind them, 5 or 6 boats converged at the finish to all cross the line within seconds of each other. Ali Meller and Steve Lovshin grabbed the second spot with Duane Delfosse and Mike Hull in third.
The legendary Kingston thermal finally started to build by Race 7 and Kirkpatrick/Marini took the win in great wire-running conditions ahead of Ingalls/Bowdler with Kivney/Russell in third.
Race 8 was a carbon-copy for 1st and 2nd places, with Delfosse/Hull grabbing third place.
Overall, that left John Ingalls and newcomer Alex Bowdler in first place, one point ahead of Dave Kirkpatrick and Sol Marini. Peter Scannell and John Dunlea salvaged third place overall by sailing the last race without a tiller extension, having used up their discard with Saturdays finish-line antics.
Best placed Canadian boat was Jeff Boyd and Martin ten Hove in 4th place.
Special thanks to the local Kingston fleet who housed many of the visitors.
CAN notes: Second Canadian team and 5th overall were Robert Bartleski/Andrew Gesing (only 1pt behind Boyd/ten Hove) and 3rd Canadian and 8th overall Shona Moss Lovshin/David Mincoff who were sailing Marek’s boat. Special mention to Ali Meller/Steve Lovshin who lost their rake/tension system on Saturday. They spent the day onshore rebuilding the system. They got back on the water Sunday to finish 5th, 2nd, 8th, then RET due to another boat failure, this time to their spi pole system.
Thank you to all CORK volunteers for hosting the event. (–Marie Gendron)
Regatta results: Sailwave results for 2023 CORK 505 Canadian Championships at CORK/Sail Kingston 2023
