Upon arriving, with the wind howling 30+ knots at times, the teams very slowly unpacked the boats, while being greeted with extremely gracious hospitality at KYC. With the wind much stronger than the first Saturday at the NOD this past summer, it was clear that a race committee was not going to be able to set a race course. It wasn't until Boyd/Tenhove rigged up that the Ottawa fleet, with the exception of "Uncle" Chris, decided to fall in line like proper lemmings and jump off the cliff after Boyd, while the rest of the Kingston fleet knew better.
First to leave the harbor was Dave/Ben who looked like they where about to capsize for the first 5 seconds, and then preceded to shoot into the distance with nothing visible other than Ben's head, the top of the rig straight up, and a blur of white spray. Seconds later the words "have they capsized yet?" where heard around the dingy park followed by yours truly admiringly saying "no!"
Second to leave was Deb/Dave who fractions of a second after leaving the dock had problems gybing, almost hit the opposing leadmines, and collide rigs, when they finally where able to bear off. Following this spectacle they preceded to fly at speeds that 505s are never supposed to attain for 30 seconds ending with a fantastic capsize just outside the harbor's mouth.
Boyd/Tenhove then launched, and despite the wind, Tenhove pushed off before Boyd had put the rudder in, but being Rock stars, they simply went off to fly "like it ain't no thang".
Last but not least was "Dumbass"Matt/"Tiny"Steve who left the harbor much like the way that Deb and Dave did, but as much to Matt's incompetence , Steve's crewing ability managed to avoid a capsize when they entered the "real wind". After two minutes of ensuring that "Tiny" was properly hydrated from excessive teabagging, the team was able to get control and Steve was seen to have grown gills. Ripping along at incredible speeds nothing was going to stop these two.
The next highlight has to have been Dave/Ben launching chute and ripping along at at least 15 knots (Morgan Larson, and Howard Hamlin each recon that the fastest they've ever been in a 505 was 16 knots, and that's in Santa Cruz!).
Boyd Tenhove then launched spinnaker with brilliance only to be followed by a capsize as the wind pipped up by another 10 knots.
This is where "Dumbass"Matt and Steve Adolph started showing Darwin's Natural Selection at it's best. At this point the team was feeling much more confident, with the helm having finally gotten things under minimal control (Steve was able to use his lungs once again.) The team decided to sail closer to the end of Wolf Island where the wind and waves were at their strongest. Although unconfirmed, Ben said he saw the windicator read 55 knots at KYC, with it reading fairly consistent gusts of 40 at this point. The bear away was disastrous, and downwind sailing could only be described as several sessions of 45 seconds of airborne adrenaline followed by violent capsizes and failed attempts at prolonged sailing. Eventually "Uncle Chris" saved the day bringing a crash boat and an unnamed hero who jumped into the water, helped Matt/Steve bring down the main sail, right the boat, and plane into the harbor on jib alone.
After de-rigging (with much help from Dave/Ben) the exhausted crews went over to Jeff's place for much appreciated Chili and beers; a perfect capper to the day.
A big thanks goes out to the Kingston fleet who hosted the day of incredible sailing, our unnamed hero and of course to Chris Gilles who was there to help out those in need when they needed it the most.
-Matt