Each Thanksgiving Weekend, the Calgary Yacht Club winds up its sailing season with what is usually a pleasant day of racing in the fall sunshine out on Chestermere Lake. This year, it was a bit different! Awaking to several inches of snow on Saturday October 8th and freezing temperatures did not seem to deter the ardent sailors. Seven Lightnings and 13 Lasers competed. The Lightnings raced in the morning, and the single handed Lasers, in the afternoon. Though the temperature and visibility were a challenge, a nice steady 8-10 knot wind made for perfect sailing…sort of. A few got lost heading out to the race start point, as the Signal boat was invisible from shore. The fearless Signal Boat Committee snapped off lots of races, and the mark boats that shepherded the skippers along the way were invaluable, herding them back to shore when they all headed south thinking they were going east at the end of the racing! Despite this navigation challenge, once the races started the competitors did very well finding their way up and down the lake, using the wind direction as their guide. First and second places in the Lightning class went to Steve Tubby and Eugene Dombrovskiy in their boat, and second Dave Martin, Stephanie Myatt and John Martin; and third Phil Paxton with Leslie Reichenfeld. In the Laser Masters, first place to Phil Paxton, second Thom Stubbs and third Eugene Dombrowskiy. In the Laser (Over All–includes all age groups) the 1st place went to Ian Herne, second Ian Elliott, and third to Phil Paxton. The Regatta is named for the old saying about ” so cold you could freeze the ( you know what) off a brass monkey’ and so there is a trophy for the Laser Master who wins the day, congratulations to Phil for taking this home. And for winning most points overall sailing a Laser, the Lantern Trophy went to Ian Herne. The day finished with tots of rum and a turkey cooked by Manager and Chef Extraordinaire Laurie Dunn with the rest of the delicious fixings provided by members. If you are interested at all in sailing, want to learn, or just want to check it out – stay tuned on the Calgary Yacht Club webpage www.cyc.ab.ca (there are a few winter events) and watch for posting of lessons and other water related sports supported by the CYC ( paddleboard and kayak lessons etc.) as soon as the water comes back in May 2017. And don’t forget that the CYC has a weather station atop the club house and local Chestermere weather is available 24/7 on the webpage.
