Stormy Lake Ontario 300 Race

(Port Credit, Ontario)- Does this sound like a familiar refrain this past weekend, ranging from the Great Lakes to the Northeast Coast of America? Doohhh, let's get the crap kicked out of us after the start...and then continue sailing?  Only hours after the start on Saturday, July 17th of the Lake Ontario 300 from Port Credit, ONT, the skies darkened and a squall hit the 198 entrants, sending them scattering to the winds. Reported gusts of over 40 knots were accompanied by heavy rain and hail, leading to a very challenging 6 to 8 hours of very unstable weather, followed by total absence of breeze along the south shore half-way through the race. Fifty-three boats are recorded as having dropped out of the race.

Competitors from over fifty different yacht clubs representing the northern and southern shores of the lake from Hamilton to Quebec in Canada and Ohio to Rochester in the United States sailed this year's challenging race.  The Lake Ontario 300 yacht race course is a circumnavigation of the lake that starts at Port Credit Yacht Club, heads east and rounds Main Duck Island, then heads south to Oswego NY where it turns east along the south shore to the Niagara River mark before heading to the finish line at Port Credit Yacht Club. The race is a test of preparation, teamwork, navigation and perseverance-- all of it was pushed to the extreme this year.

Despite the challenging conditions, the large contingent of J's sailing were well-represented on the leader-boards in a wide variety of classes:

In the IRC 2 Divisions, Bob Eckersley's J/109 BLUE STREAK was third overall, just edging out by eleven minutes corrected time over Sheila Smith's J/109 PHOENIX that finished in 4th.

The PHRF classes were substantial in size.  Leading the fleet home in PHRF 1 were two J/35s!  Repeat offenders? Leszek Sieks' J/35 JAEGER was first followed by Mike Pietz's J/35 SHORTHANDED in second-- a clean sweep!  In PHRF 2, Paul Martini's J/105 ENDEAVOUR was 2nd and John Trumpener's J/105 THE USUAL SUSPECTS was fourth.  For more Lake Ontario 300 Sailing info.