Northern Seitz wins J/27 Lake Ontario

by Dirk Sell - J/Boats on 19 Aug 2012 Like their 'bro's' and colleagues sailing in the J/29s a bit farther East on the Canadian seaboard, the J/27s managed to also attract a strong contingent of teams from across the eastern parts of North America to sail in the J/27 Lake Ontario's off Oakville (near Toronto). Here's the report from Dirk Sell, skipper of Willy-T.

'The ten J/27's battled it out for two days on Lake Ontario for the Championships. Boats came from Beverly Mass, Collingwood, Hamilton, Etobicoke, Buffalo and the local Oakville Fleet. Saturday, gave new meaning to the term battled. Winds started in the low teens and steadily increased throughout the day, and by the fourth race, were well into the low twenties with gusts approaching 30 kts. 10- 12 ft waves were crashing the foredeck.

12 kts down wind was the norm, with Curved Air reporting over 14 kts. Those rarely used No.3 jibs were the order of the day for most of the fleet, although some chose to use No.1's, to keep the boat driving into the waves. Sunday arrived with more subdued, although fluctuating and shifting, winds in the 8-12 kt range. The seas had diminished so it was great '27' conditions for 3 more windward/leeward races.'

Said the gang on Curve Air, 'It was Epic J/27 conditions on Saturday with 20-30kts breeze and waves. So far no-one has come forward with a better top speed of 14.3 Knots which we did under chute...we weren't as fast when we hoisted the chute sideways...but to be sure we did it a second time to confirm and after a bit of shrimping on the douse...decided to fly it as a flag to dry it out. Good Fun...everything is soak and everything still hurts.

Otherwise the American's have invaded Canada Again (we've got our eye on you Seitz)...Four Races Yesterday...another three today...so far it's a bunch of kids in their dad's boat (CAN-99 Messing About - nine points) and first year of sailing it holding of Michael in Northern Seitz (USA-108 - ten points). Third place in at 15 Points with a chance if they can manage to get off the line decently...and finish goofing around with the chute...yes that would be me (CAN-59 Curved Air).'

As for the crew on Starlet, here's what they had to say, 'Thanks Andrew for all of your hard work in organizing this regatta. I have no doubt that it will continue to grow once word get back to other 27 owners about how much fun the weekend was! As for us on Starlet, we had a great time! We didn't really buy the boat with the intention of doing much racing aside some JAM club racing with the kids but this weekend might make us change our mind on that. Even though we were shorted handed after dropping off 2 seasick crew on Saturday, the downwind rides were a blast! Sunday was good, fun tight racing as well!'

The final results were the following: first place- Northern Seitz with 20 pts, second was Messing About with 21 pts, third was Curved Air with 25 pts, fourth was Starlet 31 pts and fifth was Shazam losing the tie-breaker with Starlet.

In conclusion, Dirk commented that, 'Our target for 2013, is 15 or more boats. There are expressions of interest from three to four boats in addition to the 10 from this year. So lets make it happen! Oakville is a wonderful venue with downtown a seven-minute walk from the docks. The Oakville Jazz Festival was taking place on the same weekend, so the evenings had plenty of options for food, drink and entertainment. Thanks to Andrew Riem (Curved Air #59) and the Oakville Yacht Squadron for a hosting a great event.'