Lake Erie Interclub Race and Rally - Summary

As usual, the Interclub was exhilarating, fun, boring, exciting, social, frustrating, hot, cool, windy, still ..... and we only did three races.
Overall it was very well organized and provides a good racing experience and lots of opportunities to engage with other racers on a variety of different boats. The host clubs were hospitable and the events great fun. The weather always plays a major part as does damage to the boats and their sails.
The rally or cruising division is a relatively recent add on and as such has some pros and cons. It is nice to race on a comfortable, stable boat and to be able to motor if not able to complete the race on time. However at times it feels like the fleet is a second class citizen. The results are not routinely announced when flags are given out. (The results were given of the 2 first races during the PDYC ceremony however according to the website those results were not correct). Flags are not awarded. In previous years there have been more participants in the rally fleet but I wonder if cruisers did not feel they were getting the same value as racers.
Our personal experience was marred by the fact that we did not read the race rules completely and were therefor disqualified from 2 of the 3 races we competed in. We were rather angry with ourselves!
We were pleased by Zatarra's performance even in heavy conditions and that we became much more adept at raising, flying and dowsing the Asymetrical.
Sailing with Paul and Sharon (and 2 races with Bob too) was fun and the days on the water always pleasurable.
One of the high points for me was recognizing a photograph I took, in graphic form, on the back of this years Interclub shirts.


This is shot of Graffitti on last years Port Dover to Port Colborne race that I posted on the blog.
I submitted a similar one to the Interclub photo contest and it became ....

... the back of the T shirt this year.

The sail home was uneventful, straight into a 10knot plus wind that picked up considerably for the last half hour. We passed the Wednesday night race fleet going out as we entered the marina but I declined Caliedascope's crew's offer to join them.