Hewitt wins Kettle Falls race

    The Rendezvous Yacht Club held its annual Kettle Falls Regatta back on Aug. 4 with a variety of wind conditions.
    Wind speeds varied from 0 to 35 m.p.h., coming mostly from the south but also from the southwest, southeast, and even the northeast for a short time.
    With the shifting conditions, many of the sailors dropped out of the race when the wind died in the first stretch prior to the Brule Narrows.
    The race was called early at the Anchor Islands, with Colin Hewitt taking top honours.
    The race started near Big American Island with light, south winds. The sailors headed east, south of Dryweed Island, but it was slow going with the light winds.
    For those who held out, the winds did pick up enough to get through the Brule, only to die down again on the other side.
    Eventually the wind came back and grew strong for the remainder of the day to bring at least some of the boats all the way to Kettle Falls by sail power.
    However, the stronger winds came too late for the race. After the Brule, a race gate was set at Anchor Islands and because no one crossed before the deadline, that gate became the finish line.
    Of the 13 competitors, only four actually crossed the line south of Anchor.
    Hewitt won the race with “Ariba” with a corrected time of 4:32:44. Taking second place was Jacob Bowman on his new J22 with 4:34:07, followed by Bob Algie on “Kemosabi” at 4:35:42 and Ron Bowman’s “In Tune” with 4:37:46.
    Meanwhile, last Wednesday’s race in the fall series was cancelled due to lack of wind.
    Wednesday night races continue through Sept. 5. The next Saturday race will be Aug. 18 leaving out of Rainy Lake Marine.
    If you would like more information, log onto www.rycweb.org or contact Diane McCarthy at 1-218-283-1060.