Cadillac Van Isle 360 International Yacht Race

by Mike Silverton on 12 Jun 2001 The fleet waved a fond farewell to French
Creek, and thanked the French Creek Harbour Authority and Russ Mosher of
the Boars Head Pub for their great generosity. 'Mayor Joe' the self
appointed mayor of French Creek presented each boat with their leg flags
and also presented a prize to the fastest elapsed time winner. The
Cadillac Van Isle 360 fleet were the first boats to tie up at the new
docks in French Creek. Thank you French Creek.

Leg 2 of the Cadillac Van Isle 360
International Yacht Race started with a 4 knot SE wind. A large crowd of
spectators gathered on shore to watch the start and were thrilled to see
the HMCS Oriole pop her huge gennaker 4 minutes early. The Oriole's
gennaker is 4660 sq ft. Commanding officer of the HMCS Oriole, Scott
Crawshaw, was not concerned about being over early until the wind piped
up forcing him to put his fishing rod away and flog the enormous sail.

Time Bandit (J120) won the start followed
by Diehler . Approaching the line Oriole sheeted in and promptly
blanketed half the fleet. Marda Gras, Dragonfly and 3D were stalled
below her for several minutes. Dragonfly was forced to take the Oriole's
stern. Hakuna Matata started to leeward of the fleet with clear air for a
good start.

On this leg of the race boats have the
choice of taking two routes, either the ouside route east of Denman and
Hornby Islands or through Baynes Channel west of the two islands. The
finish line was a transit through several markers off the Comox Sand Bar
allowing boats to finish on either side of the bar. All boats chose
the outside route.

The wind gradually built to 22 knots
treating all the boats to an excellent run. 'Bad Kitty' a 36 foot
catamaran skippered by Karl Uthoff of Vancouver led the fleet until 300
yards from the finish when Dragonfly finally overtook him. 'Bad Kitty'
hit boat speeds of 18+ knots. Dragonfly won line honours at 11:24
followed by Bad Kitty at 11:25. The first monohull over the line was
Marda Gras with Diehler less than a minute behind. Both are Santa Cruz
52's skippered by Marda Phelps and Bob Diehl respectively. The race
committee had a race of their own to beat the boats to finish line and
squeaked into place just minutes prior to the first boat finishing. Bill
Sherwood on Loch Ronnoch and the Commodore of the Comox Valley Yacht
club, Kitt Rushton, onboard the Vintage assisted with finishing lines and
times.

In Div. 1 Time Bandit the J120 won first
place. This is Time Bandit's second Van Isle 360 having participated
last year. In second place 'Point de Fuite' a Jeanneau 37 skippered by
Rob Tape of the Turkey Head Sailing Assoc. Third place was 'Karina' a
Cayenne 41skippered by Jurgen Bysse. Karina had a great race today but
broke their boom shortly after crossing the line. It is on it's way for
repairs and will hopefully be ready in time for tomorrow's race. In Div.
2 'HMCS Oriole'skippered by L.Com. Crawshaw took first place. In second
place was Peter McMartin's 'Cookie Cutter' a Peterson 36 from Royal
Victoria Yacht Club. In third place was 'Lordelpus'skippered by Matt
Wagstaff. Both Cookie Cutter and Lordelpus have participated in the race
before. In Div 3 (multihulls) 'Bad Kitty' took first, 'Redshift' was
second and '3D'was third.

Once crossing the official finish line
the boats had the option of participating in the Comox Bar to Bar race
sponsored by Mount Gay Rum, the first ten boats to sail over the
unofficial line receive a bottle of rum. Geronimo (aka America II) owned
by Simon Handley served as one end of the unofficial line.

The Comox Valley Harbour Authority went
to great efforts to accommodate the Cadillac Van Isle 360 yachts, and
spent much time rearranging their docks. After a great day of sailing
the boats enjoyed the great festivites at the Comox Valley Yacht Club,
and Edgewater Pub and downed a few brews compliments of Okanagan Spring
Breweries. Thanks to everyone in Comox for a great day.

Leg three to Campbell River starts at
8:00 tomorrow morning, with the finish directly off the Campbell River
Fishing Pier.