22 Hours into the Ackroo Lake Ontario 300 Challenge
by Greg Nicoll on 23 Jul 2012
Mister Ed, IMX 38, starting the Ackroo Lake Ontario 300 Challenge 2012 Greg Nicoll
The 23rd annual Ackroo Lake Ontario 300 Challenge is underway.
22 hours into the race Mister Ed, an IMX-38 skippered by Ian McAllister from Port Credit Yacht Club, sent this report from the Main Duck course:
’17 plus knots of wind. Huge swells going into Main Duck. More than one spinnaker was torn in 20 knots of wind rounding the island.’
Mister Ed is currently heading south toward the Oswego turning mark at 6.5 knots with 147 miles to go to the finish.
Current line honours leader is Gaucho a Farr 44, skippered Keith MacDonald from Hamilton Ontario. Gaucho, 134 nautical miles from the finish line, is hugging the south shoreline of Lake Ontario heading for the last turning mark off Niagara-On-The- Lake. Their nearest competitor Shock Therapy skippered by Gary Brenner of the RCYC , is heading out into the lake look for more breeze.
The Main Duck Island Course is a challenging 300 nautical mile clockwise circumnavigation of Lake Ontario, starting and finishing at the Port Credit Yacht Club.
The course takes the fleet past Toronto, keeping the Gibraltar Point mark to starboard. From there, the boats head down the lake and round the infamous Main Duck and Yorkshire Islands, also keeping them to starboard. The next mark, the Ford Shoal mark, is on the US shore, just west of Oswego. It is kept to starboard before the fleet heads west past Rochester towards the Niagara mark. The final mark is the Port Credit Yacht Club.
Lake Ontario 300 Challenge website http://www.lo300.org
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