J/109 LIVELY Wins Susan Hood Trophy

(Port Credit, Ontario, Canada)-   The race was another classic Susan Hood that offered a little of everything except the traditional freeze at 2AM. The first leg varied from a close to a beam reach under an amazing lightning show from the surrounding storms. There was some healthy rain along this run and at times very heavy rain. By the time the majority of the fleet reached Burlington weather mark the wind was gone as a result of the storm front moving south. Some boats were becalmed for well over 1 hour. The wind did pick from the north west and provided an excellent spinnaker run down to Niagara under a star filled sky. From Niagara Mark back to PCYC was a close reach with winds gusting up to 25 knots which tapered off in the afternoon.

The course takes you from Port Credit YC to the Burlington Weather Mark, to Niagara Falls R2 and return to PCYC.  There were 77 boats competing this year, which is a huge increase from the 50 boat average over the last 3 years. Of special note was the very high level of competition in both IRC and PHRF 1. There were also a higher than normal number of first time competitors, which is always a great sign of things to come.  As the warm up race to the Lake Ontario 300, this year’s Susan Hood is a strong indication that the Lake Ontario O300 on July 18th is shaping up to be a very exciting event.

Leading the fleet home on handicap honors were a number of well-sailed J's.  The winner overall and taking home the  Susan Hood Trophy is Murray Gainer's J/109 LIVELY, they also won IRC Fleet overall and IRC2 Class.  In the IRC1 class, Bob Eckersley's J/109 BLUE STREAK finished second and was third overall in IRC Fleet.  Finally, John Trumpener's J/105 THE USUAL SUSPECTS was second in PHRF1 and second in PHRF Fleet overall.   For more Susan Hood Trophy sailing results.