Canadian Nationals

Guelph Lake, September 16-17, 2017

Report by Harri Palm

The Deed Of Gift for the Leckie Trophy stipulates that the Snipe Canadian Championships Regatta shall have three races to constitute a regatta, and after the original attempt in Toronto back in early July only managed one light air race, the Canadian Snipe sailors decided to try again at Guelph Lake on Sept. 16-17. This time they got their championship.

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Again it was a light air affair with PRO John Booth only managing two races the first day. The winds were tricky and no lead was safe. Defending champs Harri Palm and Molly Kurvink won the first race by starting clean and just staying in the pressure. The second race look like a replay of the first however Gord Richards and Ryan perry found some breeze on the left a hundred metres from the finish and Palm/Kurvink were stuck in a hole on the right and could not defend and Richards nipped them at the line. The two teams went to shore tied for first at the end of day one. Harri Palm mentioned how the day was very similar to the conditions he had just experienced at the recent US Nationals at Mystic Lake although he added the caveat that ” there is nothing quite like sailing in Mystic Lake”.

Day two provided more breeze and the crews actually found themselves in the hiking straps on many occasions. With the wind from the south it was Guelph Lake at its finest; warm and sunny with 6-8 knots of breeze, thirty minute races and the lake to ourselves. Sailing a newly acquired JibeTech #30765, Palm/Kurvink stayed out of trouble and in the pressure and had very good speed all day. They ended up winning all three races but not without John Dentinger giving them a real challenge at the finish in the last two races.

Final Results