Page 10 - Jan-Feb 2020

TUESDAY NIGHT RACING: LATE WINTER SERIES 2019
Alan Heisey, The Kernal on Popcorn
As reported in prior years at the end of every season of Tuesday Night racing a group of die hard RCYC sailors have been conducting their own late informal season Tuesday night race from the end of September until mid-November. I am happy to report the 2019 Late Winter RCYC Tuesday series was held again this year commencing September 24th with stalwarts Resolute, Dionysus, Water Mirror and Popcorn on the line.
The race course for the series is an irregular rectangle - irregular being a recurring theme in this series - with the start line being a line between the red and green
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other right-of-way rules (Section A), then Rule 22 or 23 take precedence.
Rule 24 has two parts. The first part says that boats that are not racing, should try not to interfere with boats that are racing. Remember you are racing from your preparatory signal until you have finished and cleared the finishing line, so if the next start is not yours, you should keep clear of the boats who are coming up to their start. It also means that after you have finished and you are returning to harbour, you should avoid the boats that are still racing. This rule is frequently broken.
The second, rarely used part of rule 24 says that you should not stray from your proper course to interfere with boats that are taking a penalty or boats that are on other legs.
This summary of the Rules of Part 2 is now complete, and while it did not cover all of the details, it should help in finding the applicable rules when needed.
Copies of these rules articles along with animated diagrams can be found at RCYC.ca > Sailing > Programs> Know Your Rules
buoys at York Street. The fleet would then proceed to the green buoy at the Eastern Gap and back, sometimes with a dogleg thrown in depending on who was leading or who hadn’t listened during the course briefing. The 5:30 pm start time usually found the fleet returning to the Clubhouse Dock at 7:00 pm and in the dark.
One challenge was getting to the boats given the last RCYC boat to the Island leaves at 2:15 pm. Otter Water Taxi ran taxis from Yonge Street in September and October. Katbird came over early to City Station picked up skippers and took them to their boats. At the end of the race all boats returned to Cherry Street and participants went to the Keating Channel Pub for a debrief. After the debrief, the skippers returned their boats to the Island Clubhouse and then took their own support boats to the mainland.
Unsurprisingly boat participation declined as both the season progressed and the temperature plummeted with our early November winter. The finale to this year’s RCYC Winter Tuesday night series, was the 8th Santa Claus Cup Challenge on Saturday, November 16th. The SCCC is held the Saturday before the Santa Claus Parade.
The beginning of Saturday’s race was auspicious. As I came riding my bicycle down Chippewa Avenue the east lagoon was frozen solid. Conditions on the harbour were challenging: -7oC and 15+ knot winds. Face masks and ski googles were the order of the day. Conditions were very Christmas like. No need to decorate the boats with tinsel as there was real snow and icicles everywhere. The first part of race preparation was shoveling snow off the decks. Katbird, Dionysius and Water Mirror competed, and finished, in that order. Resolute and Popcorn’s engines would not cooperate so their crew served on other boats. Andrew Szonyi co-owner of Water Mirror crewed as the only octogenarian ever to participate in the race. A highlight of the race was sailing close by the seawall next to the skating rink at Harbourfront which was in full operation. The event closed out with a pot luck lunch and libations in the Chandlery. Best of all, there was no regatta fee and no PHRF ratings (which worked out really well for Kathy Timmis’ Katbird).
I encourage others to join us in fall of 2020. You will be cold, uncomfortable and have a whale of good time.
Top Left: The crew on the deck of Katbird on November 15th Photos: Courtesy of Alan Heisey
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 • KWASIND
SAILING