Lake Erie Interclub Race and Rally - Port Dover to Port Colborne

It was another early race start (though not as early as the first!) and we scrambled to get going in time.

I don't have many close up sailboat shots for this race as we took a tack, hoping for speed, that took us
out into the lake and away from the rest of the fleet.

I did get some nice shots of Unbridled sailing by with their unusual Tree
Frog spinnaker.

If the wind is consistent there's not a lot to do on a long distance race.

Bob and Paul took a nap while I was at the helm. Sharon was napping in the cabin

We did some laundry. Washed a jib sheet that had diesel on it from an overfill.

We sailed most of the way to Port Colborne with the jib and then the Asymetrical. But the wind was dropping and the fleet sailed to the horizon ahead of us and then one by one disappeared leaving only our own, Rally/Cruising fleet in view (one behind and two ahead)

Like Spinnakers, most Asymetrical  sails are brightly coloured.

Coming into Port Colborne can be quite exciting with the Welland canal discharging huge commercial vessels into Lake Erie right at the entrance to the Sugarloaf Marina.

Mad Maxx in front of a laker going into the Welland canal.

We then followed it in as Sugarloaf Marina is just to the left as you go into the canal

This was our last race, we didn't plan on doing the last 2 and, just like last year, it was a good thing as the winds were 30 knots plus the next day. So we settled into our slip, relaxed and were again disqualified. This time we found out why. How embarrassing, we had not read the race rules completely and found out that you had to be under sail at the start and the finish line. Seems obvious when I think about it but after a day on the water all we wanted to do was finish. If we had realized we would have turned off the engine and unfurled the head sail and sailed across the finish line. Oh well, fun anyway.