Etchells Canadians

by Allan Gray

On July 2-3, historic Pointe Claire Yacht Club on Montreal’s West Island hosted the 2011 Canadian Etchells Championships. Seventeen boats from Vermont, Windsor, Toronto and the Montreal area appeared on Lac St-Louis on Saturday morning jousting for space on the start line.

Saturday brought stupendous sunny weather, but light and shifty winds. Under the expert eye of PRO Madeline Palfreeman and her race committee, 2 races were completed resulting in a tie at the end of Day 1 between Hank Lammens and Jerry O’Brien.  That evening, the regatta committee and PCYC hosted a great dinner on the deck overlooking the lake as the sailors relaxed and enjoyed PCYC’s hospitality. They even timed the dinner to have Air France’s ominous and gargantuan Airbus fly over the club during dessert.

On Sunday, better racing conditions greeted the sailors. Winds gradually built in the morning and peaked in the 10-knot range, allowing 4 races to be completed before the 1400 hrs deadline. The racing was close, the leaderboard was in constant flux, but at the end of the day Hank Lammens, with crew Dirk Kneulman and J. Clark were victorious (these guys finally seem to be getting the hang of the boat). Second place honours went to Jerry O’Brien, D. Nuttial and B. Boston and the third place finishers were Allan Leibel, M. Wren and B. McFarlane.

In truth, the real winners were the members of Montreal’s Fleet 3, who had the opportunity to race against superb competition and meet their fellow Etchells Sailors.  Thanks go out to PCYC for being such gracious hosts, to Regatta Chair Dave Covo and his committee for their organizational excellence, and to Madeline Palfreeman and the Race Committee for setting fair courses in sometimes difficult conditions. Thanks also to all the sponsors who helped make the event possible, including title sponsor Ye Olde Orchard Pub.