Winners named at Cadillac Van Isle

by Janine Bell on 29 Jun 2005 There was an outpouring of emotion yesterday at the final awards presentation for the 2005 Cadillac Van Isle 360 Yacht Race, as the two week event came to a close.

The fifth running of this biennial event was a spectacular success and no one wanted to go home. Time and again, sailors took the stage to commend the race committee and organizers for a fanstastic job.

What was expressed the most though, was the sense of camaraderie and adventure that this event has come to be known for. Sandy Huntingford from the Luff 48, Flattery, stated, ‘thanks for another fabulous event! Every year is different, but is more challenging than the previous event. New friendships were made and old friendships were rekindled, it takes an event like the Van Ilse 360 to do that.’

A Cheekee Monkee crew said, ‘this is the best regatta we have ever participated in and raises the bar on the world stage for adventure sailing regattas.’

Racing this year was more competitive than ever, with close finishes in every division. The 1D 48, Flash and the Davidson 72, Cassiopeia, brought a new dimension to the event. Though both suffered rig failures on the west coast that forced their withdrawals. Their skippers and crew were not anxious to leave the event and continued on to the following stops and final awards.

Weather around Vancouver Island this year was very co-operative, allowing nine of the ten legs to finish. There was little or no rain and spinnakers were flown on almost every leg.

This year's winners fought tooth and nail and the large ‘Tour de 360’ yellow flag exchanged hands frequently. In Division 1, the J120 Time Bandit, owned by Bob and Barb Brunius, claimed first place. In second place was White Cloud, the Cookson 12 meter co-skippered by David Lynch and Steve Johnson, and rounding out the division in Third Place, Daryl Homan's Beneteau 36, Evolution.

In Division 2, Michael Kalahar's Jespersen 30, Myrrh, placed first. Aeriel, the McCurdy Rhodes 40 owned by Nanaimo's Bill and Lorna Malone, was second with one of the smallest boats in the fleet, the Aphrodite 101, Tryst, skippered by Stuart Farrell, sailed into third place.

In the Multihull Division, Kim Alfred's F33, Cheekee Monkee, battled it out to win from Pat McGarry's Formula 40, Dragonfly and the F31, Blue Lightning, skippered by Mark Gumley and his kids, Justine and Trent.

Upon accepting his first place award, Bob Brunius remarked with considerable emotion how he had tried for four years to win this event. The beautiful glass trophy he earned today will be his most prized trophy for the rest of his life.

A very ecstatic Steve Johnson (White Cloud) won overall corrected honors for Monohulls. Line honors, by a healthy margin of seven hours, went to Pat McGarry on the Formula 40, Dragonfly, with a time of 79:07:03.

A special thanks to each host community (Nanaimo, French Creek, Comox, Campbell River, BC Salmon Farmers, Telegraph Cove, Port Hardy, Winter Harbour, Ucluelet and Victoria), which went out of their way to make the participants in the Cadillac Van Isle 360 feel welcome.

For more information visit www.vanisle360.com