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Gyro Cup Regatta in Nanaimo
I've always been interested in sailing, but I could never see myself out on the water and so always favoured the land based sports. That all changed this year.
I learned the basics by taking some dingy courses this year and soon found myself crewing (helping sail) a 43-ft keelboat. The keelboats can be much larger than a 14-ft dinghy, but the idea behind sailing them is similar.
The local regattas held a few times per year are part of what makes sailing fun on Vancouver Island.
The Gyro Cup Regatta, which was held in October, is the last regatta based out of Nanaimo before the winter weather sets in. I had the chance to help out on the committee boat this year for Gyro Cup. We managed the buoy-setting, timing, flags and horns for all the races. It made for a very full weekend.
The wind stuck around all weekend -- an obvious blessing. One of the marker buoys posed an interesting challenge for skippers on Sunday morning when the wind from the north collided with the wind from the south. Two divisions of boats stacked up with nowhere to go until the wind changed. All of a sudden the wind from the north pushed through and all of the boats were able to round the mark at once. There were some close calls going around that mark!
Navigating the Harry "A"
The most interesting section was a small S-curve in the markers near the start line affectionately known as the Harry "A". Boats try to move in a straight line from one mark to another when heading downwind, but that's not very interesting on a long stretch. So, to make things more exciting, organizers installed an S-curve section into the long track, placing two significant turns into what would be an otherwise uneventful long, straightaway. Some sails got wet and great photos were taken during this section.
If you're interested in sailing in Nanaimo, the Nanaimo Yacht Club is a good place to start. Nanaimo Yacht Charters and Red Sky Outdoor Experiences are also great places to contact if you're interested in learning how to sail or taking charters out on the water.
- Photos & text by Ross Collicutt©
