It was another very successful Malaspina Regatta -the 17th annual edition on Saturday, July 1 - with ideal conditions resulting in 14 very happy skippers and crews. The course was triangular, in the middle of Malaspina Strait, and involved essentially two races, one for conventional sailboats and one for "souped up" boats and multi-hulled vessels. The start and finish lines for both races were between Pearson and Martin Island. The start line of the first race was a bit crowded, but as the southeast wind was from 12 to 15 knots it created good boat speeds and lots of control for the skippers. Aloha III had the best start with BC Navigator and Ganache in close pursuit. The first mark was a close reach and BC Navigator was first around with Aloha III and Frendy close behind.
On the spinnaker run down to the second mark, the fleet started to spread apart, but the three front runners went around the second mark within seconds of each other. On the beat to the third mark, Frendy and Ganache decided to go to the north of Hodgson Islands and got into some stronger winds which put Frendy ahead of Navigator at the third mark with Ganache close behind. Frendy kept the lead around the fourth and fifth mark with BC Navigator and Aloha III close behind. The wind started to drop and BC Navigator managed to beat to the finish line well ahead of Frendy.
At that point the wind completely died and no other boat completed the course. In the meantime the faster boats started their race a half hour after the first race. Only two boats showed for this race, the Occams Razor designed by Farr, a word famous marine architect, and Cariad Bach, a trimaran (three hulls). Cariad Bach was well ahead at the first mark, but had trouble with the spinnaker on the downwind run and was overtaken by Occams Razor, which held the lead for the whole race.
When the two races were combined, the finishing order was Occams Razor first with Cariad Bach 42 minutes behind, then BC Navigator (one hour, 38 minutes) and Frendy (one hour and 52 minutes). When the handicaps were applied, Frendy moved up to second and BC Navigator to third.
To make allowance for the fact that 10 boats did not finish the race but all got around the course once, the times for the first round were doubled and the awards were based on these figures.
After the race, more than 60 people enjoyed the excellent bar and barbecue at the Music Centre in Madeira Park. The day ended with the presentation of five awards.
See the sports ticker on page C4 for all the results.
