Morson Race Results

This year there were 7 boats that made the trip to Morson. The fleet departed from the North part of lake on Friday June 30 and made their way down to McPherson Island where they met for a skippers meeting at 8:00 pm.

The next morning the wind was very light and variable and there was some debate as if a race could be started. The first boats were scheduled to start early at 9:20 am to give time to make the 41 nautical mile journey around Big Island and up Morson. At the time of the start, there was breeze of about 5 knots so boats started the race. Most boats chose to sail the route to the west of Gardner Island and then crossing through the small island west of Bay Island. By the time the lead boats got to Bay, the wind had diminished to almost nothing and the fleet waited. The race instructions set a time limit of 3.5 hours to reach the first gate between Babe Island and Bear Island which is about 10 miles from the start. None of the boats got to the gate within the time limit, so the race was abandoned and the fleet continue to make their way out into the Big Traverse. At this point the wind picked up and everyone enjoyed a fantastic sail around Big Island and The Three Sisters reefs. Storm clouds followed the fleet threatening to descend upon them, but luckily missing them every time! The fleet arrived at Buena Vista Lodge around 8:30 pm to enjoy a buffet feast put on by the lodge. Fireworks followed to celebrate Canada’s 150^th!

The next morning the wind was very light again and after some discussion, the decision was made to motor down the course until the better wind could be found. Dress Rehearsal made an early call that the wind would stay light and chose to head straight to the anchorage. The rest of the boats motored and sailed down the course in a south westerly direction for about 10.5 nautical miles, at which point a steady wind filled in from the west. At 1:30 pm the fleet started a race together between Tomahawk Island and the west side of the Mable Islands and proceeded upwind rounding Black Point. Boats traded tacks upwind to The Three Sisters by which point Kitchen Party and Misty had pulled away taking a strong lead. The two boats battled closely taking advantage of every shift. After rounding the Sisters, it was a close reach to Babe Island and boats held their positions with Kitchen Party in the lead followed by Misty and then Borderline. Spinnakers went up to complete the final 10 miles to the finish. Once again, the fleet split with most boats taking the route west of Bay Island and Misty attempting to gain some ground to the east. The boats finished between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm and headed to anchorage.

The Morson trip is always a great trip and fun weekend. Thanks to all who made the trip and thanks again to Buena Vista Lodge for being such great hosts! Final corrected results are shown below.

Boat	Class	HelmName	PHRFTOT	Start	Finish	Elapsed	Corrected	Points
Borderline	C&C 30	Paul Gomori	174	13:30:00	20:06:00	6:36:00	6:34:16	0.75
Kitchen Party	Beneteau 36.7	Eric Vogan	90	13:30:00	19:29:00	5:59:00	6:47:07	2.00
Misty	Goman 30	Chris Debicka	138	13:30:00	20:01:00	6:31:00	6:50:47	3.00
Fred Again	C&C 29	Bob Nuttal	174	13:30:00	20:30:00	7:00:00	6:58:10	4.00
Intrepid	C&C 30	Jim Fogg	153	13:30:00	20:19:00	6:49:00	7:00:02	5.00
Sloops Troops	C&C 32	John Beringer	153	13:30:00	20:29:30	6:59:30	7:10:49	6.00

Summer Solstice Pursuit Race Results

A fleet of 9 boats turned out for the Summer Solstice Pursuit race on June 17th! A great turn out for a great day of racing! The first boat to start was Lode Star at 11:20:15. They were followed by Sanity about 7 minutes later. Vindur, Aftika and Dress Rehearsal started at the same time with Borderline starting just 45 seconds after them. Next started Blondie, Black Knight and then eventually Kitchen Party at 11:52:30.

The fleet started at the end of Pine Portage Bay and headed upwind into a westerly wind toward Scotties. There was not too much overtaking until the fleet rounded the North side of Scotties. The wind died down to very light compacting the bulk of the fleet to within a few boat lengths. A close reach allowed some boats to get their Spinnakers up and pull away from the fleet. Rounding Slate Island, Lode Star maintained the lead with Sanity not far behind. Following them was Borderline who was closely pursued by Black Knight and Kitchen Party. The fleet rounded Slate and Gaherty, and proceeded upwind towards Whiskey trading tacks on a shifty course. Kitchen Party loved this wind and proceeded to pass boats until they were closing in on Lode Star eventually passing them as they rounded Shannons. The remaining positions are held until the last rounding at The Hump where Black Knight and Sanity passed Borderline on the inside as they struggle with a Spinnaker douse.

Final positions are as follows:

1. Kitchen Party
2. Lode Star
3. Sanity
4. Black Knight
5. Borderline
6. Blondie
7. Vindur
8. Dress Rehearsal
9. Aftica - DNF