Race Report - Sgt Dick Booth Memorial Safety Race

Never trust the weather forecast. Saturday’s forecast on Thursday evening was predicting a high of 13, showers and no wind. Saturday actual weather was beautiful -sunny all day long with temps close to 20 and a 10-15 knot breeze out of the north. Nine boats took part in the Safety Race that included a $50 gift certificate from The Keg awarded to the winner. The race was 14 miles long: round Kipling, through Strawberry, round the Devils Elbow, Bun to stb with the finish at Steamboat reef. Boats were also required to execute a simulated man overboard exercise (by retrieving a lifejacket tossed overboard) at some point during the race.

A few boats had to make more than one pass to pick up the lifejacket and this was under a planned scenario with everyone still aboard. Under real circumstances it is clear that this maneuver can take a lot of time under the best circumstances. This acted as a reminder that water triggered inflatable lifejackets are fairly comfortable and may save someone’s life one day. The race itself was pretty straightforward: a broad reach to Kipling and then downwind the rest of the way. The wind was oscillating a fair bit with 20 degree shifts. It was pretty puffy as well. Boats would go from a deep run to being on the edge of being able to carry the chute and then back to a deep run within seconds without a change in compass course. The downhaul, uphaul and guy saw a lot of action during this race. Grand Cru, who passed Raven around the Devils Elbow managed to hold off a charging Raven (who probably closed the gap by a ½ mile after rounding Bun) to take the victory.

Borderline is still chasing their elusive first bullet in a club race. They finished 6 and ½ minutes behind Grand Cru. A somewhat bitter pill since they were 8 minutes late to the start line.

Results:
1) Grand Cru (Beneteau 36.7) 12:48:30
2) Raven (Abbott 33) 12:50:30
3) Borderline (C&C 30 MkI) 12:55:00
4) Auberg (C&C33) 1:01:00
5) Knock Out (C&C 37)
6) Vixen (C&C32)
7) Rapture (C&C 32) 1:31:00
8) RamBunkShus (C&C30)
9) Invictus (Aloha 30)