The 39th annual Cowichan (“Cow”) Bay Regatta was sailed at the beginning of the month. In those 39 years a lot of marks have been rounded and a lot of Canadian food and beverages consumed in that northern nooke adjacent to the Saanich Inlet. It remains BC’s summertime destination regatta, a chance for PHRFers and one-design fleets to get away from the big cities and hone in on equal parts racing and fun. I see a great appeal to Cow Bay as a likely jumping off point for a summer cruise. It provides great racing and a nice event for transitioning from racing mode to Gulf-cruising-mode. Thanks to Alex Fox for providing this racing rundown. Heidi Leckenby helmed their T-Bird Scooter to second in PHRF 4.
Cowichan Bay 2018
By Alex Fox
This year was everything Cow Bay’s advertised to be. Great venue, fine social activities and a kind 8-12 knots of breeze, with enough shifts and current variations to open the course options up, keeping the fleets tight and competitive.
The multihulls held, as always, their Northwest Championships, with 12 boats this year ranging from the F-24 Geneva up to the 40′ Dragonfly. Duncan Gladman’s speedy new (to the area) Dragon came out on top with great consistency, seeming to like it when the breeze was up a bit. One point behind in second was Bad Kitty, Bob and Ron’s ever-present yellow cat, with Geneva, last year’s winner, settling for third.
Division 1 was a mixed PHRF fleet, SC 50, Aerodyne 38, J-109, Flying Tiger, Henderson 30 , CM1200 and more. The battle came down to the 109 Tantivy, from Seattle, just edging out Baaad Kitty, the Henderson from Royal Victoria, again by a single point with Kairos in third.
Division 2 was something of a sportboat fleet. Three Melges 24’s , a Left Coast Dart, Elliot 770, no fewer than four Dash 34’s, or variations of and a Ross 930. The Melges and the Dart waged war on each other and the bigger boats, with the last race deciding the overalls. Mike Bond sailing the Melges with the ever changing name (ed. note: apparently Hold My Beer for this regatta), came out on top, with Paul and April’s Ogopogo edging the Melges 24 Sunnyvale for third. The Dash’s had their own battle within the fleet and interestingly that went to the one in original form, Optical Illusion.
Division 3 was pretty much dominated by Stephanie Schwenk and crew on Wild Rumpus. The little Santa Cruz 27 came, saw and conquered after a series of runner ups in recent memory. This division had a big range of boats from the Ultimate 20 and Pocket Rocket, a gaggle of Hotfoot 27’s, to a couple of J-29’s including second place Godzilla from Vancouver, a regular on the VIRS circuit, and her sistership Rhumbline in third. Most everyone had their day in this 13 boat fleet, with seven boats recording top three race finishes.
Division 4, the small boat division came down to a battle between four of us. Vidas Stukas on his much modified Turbo-Bird, Zig Zag, won it. Heidi making her regatta helming debut aboard our T-Bird, Scooter. Brian Robinson was third on the Cal 9.2 Flight and Windward 30 Pitoraq ended up fourth. Zig Zag dominated day one with three bullets to our one, then Flight really found the gas pedal on Sunday, winning two races. They might have finished third, had their spinnaker not blown. This was fun, tight racing with Graham Heath on Pitoraq, the 2017 VIRS series Overall winners, being a bit unlucky to fall to fourth, after mostly second and third place finishes. It was close racing with some very different boats, showing that handicap racing is alive and well.
The Martin 242s held their North Americans at Cow Bay as part of the regatta and Michael Clements on Wicked won going away. Second was the always contending Dirty Dog with third and forth filled by two Orcas Island boats, Crazy I’s and Purple Martin, shaking up the usual pecking order. This fleet always wins the party, hiring a DJ and hosting the dock party on Friday night.
Cow Bay Regatta is run by a group of hard working volunteers, who come from all over. Brigid, a former local sailor, who now lives in from Oak Harbour, deserves special kudos though for coordinating everyone’s efforts over the past bunch of years. Way to go everyone!
Ed. Note: If any of the fleets (multihulls, Martin 242s) want to provide more specific info and pix, I’ll be happy to do a separate post. Just email me. Long live BC racing!