Yacht racing season sets sail

The local Rendezvous Yacht Club has broken the ice on another season of competition, but it will be a slippery task for the various skippers to get a grip on the series championship.
Through three races so far this year, Todd Hamilton and his Tanzer 22 boat, “Through,” lead the way after posting first-place finishes in the opening two events of the spring series.
But Quinn McCarthy capitalized on a race shortened to one leg due to light winds last Wednesday evening (June 4) to post a winning time of 24:49 in his S2 boat, “Sedna.”
Hamilton finished second in 25:39, while Ron Bowman and his J24 boat, “In Tune,” were right behind in third (25:49).
Colin Hewitt and his Tanzer 22 boat, “Ariba,” rounded out the field with his second-straight fourth-place finish (26:08).
Only four of the club’s 11 competition boats have seen action so far this season. Most of them need four- to five-foot drafts to launch (meaning the amount of water needed to fully submerge the undercarriage of a sailing vessel).
But with the water level of Rainy Lake about two-and-a-half feet lower than average at present, most of the racers currently are stuck in dry-dock.
There are eight races in the spring series, which runs every Wednesday until July 9 starting at 6:30 p.m. on Sand Bay. The fall series also will be an eight-race event, starting July 16 and running Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. until Sept. 3.
The club’s Saturday race schedule leaves the dock this weekend with the Sandpoint Island Race, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Thunderbird Lodge on the Minnesota side of Rainy Lake.
Other Saturday races will include the Canada Day Race (June 28), the Mermaid Rock Race (July 12), the Kettle Falls Race (July 26), the Woody’s Fairly Reliable Regatta in Ranier (Aug. 16-17), the Wells Fargo Classic Race (Sept. 6), and the Pumpkin Cup Race (Sept. 20).
< *c>Youth yachting
In related news, the club—in conjunction with the Town of Fort Frances—once again will offer the Canadian Yachting Association’s BOOM (Best-Ever Ontario Optimist Mobile) program for youth July 1-4.
BOOM is a mobile sailing school run by the Ontario Sailing Association, using instructors who are certified by the Canadian Yachting Association.
Since the BOOM program got underway in the 1980s, it has taught the techniques and the love of sailing to more than 10,000 people. The sessions will include sailing lessons and sailboat races for youth.
For more information or to register, contact the Memorial Sports Centre.
The Rendezvous Club also announced recently that its “community sail” event has been postponed for the time being until they are able to put more boats in the water to offer people free sails.