Canadian Radio Yachting Association

2000 IOM Championship

©2000

The 2000 Championships were held Sept 23-24, in Kingston as part of CORK. Congratulations to Peter Van Rossem the reigning Canadian National Champion four years running.

There’s an old saying that “it never rains but it pours”. It certainly poured on the first day of the IOM championships in Kingston. Those of us who had brought oilies quickly donned them while Cynthia Ormsby, always prepared, handed out very large green garbage bags. With holes for head and arms, they kept those who needed them dry. Just what every well-dressed RC sailor should wear. Clear plastic bags were handed out for the transmitters.
Sixteen stalwart sailors set about preparing their boats at the Confederation basin sailing site. Known as Block D to the locals, it has been the venue for quite a few championship regattas. We had sailors from Montreal, Toronto, Connecticut, Buffalo, Halifax and Detroit plus of course our local KYC radio sailing club members.
This event was once again held under the auspices of the CORK organization with Ross Cameron acting as Race Director along with his very able crew who all got just as wet as we did. Racing started around 10:30 am in about 7 or 8-knot wind, just right for a #1 rig. Just before lunch time, however, most boats were using #2 rigs and the wind created a light wave condition in the sheltered anchorage basin. Those who were slow to change down to a smaller rig were having control problems and one new IOM sailor, Marko Majic, had to miss a few races due to lack of a #2 rig.
We broke for lunch around 1 p.m., and stood huddled together under the officials tent trying to keep our sandwiches dry. During this time most sailors changed back up to #1 rigs, but several of us decided not to. This was a mistake, at least for the first race after lunch, as suddenly the wind went back to #2 conditions. We had a distinct advantage as we watched the #1 rig sailors struggle to control their boats. This was short lived however as the wind moderated, and we were all using #1 rigs by the end of the day’s racing.
Despite the weather Ross Cameron pressed on regardless and when he called it a day, we had 11 races under our keels. When we looked at the scoreboard we saw that Peter Van Rossem had won 10 of the races with a second in the fifth race. Al Dion, sailing a Eurica design, won that race. at that point in time it was anybody’s guess as to who would be in what position at the end of the regatta. Quite a few of the good skippers had recorded 17 point races due to rig failures or radio problems. Ron Watts, sailing his Ikon with his usual unruffled expertise, looked promising for second place.
The evening’s festivities included an excellent meal at the Holiday Inn overlooking the downtown waterfront. The rain continued most of the night and for an hour or so the next morning, but cleared in time for the first race on Sunday. It was a #1 rig day all day. Peter Van Rossem continued his winning streak in the first six races and in the next eight got one third, three seconds and four more firsts, an unbeatable record. The other first place finishers were Al Dion (1), Greg Van Rossem (2), Dick Hein(1), and Dick Stanford (1). The long windward leg into a watery afternoon sun played tricks on us older sailors whose vision is not what it used to be. The mark judge who had the advantage of binoculars was kept busy calling the sail numbers of boats which had missed the mark or suffered some other rule infraction. There were several collisions and calls for redress which fortunately were soon sorted out, not necessarily to everyone’s satisfaction. All in all we had a good day’s racing, and at least we were not getting wet.
Peter was the uncontested winner. Second place was fought for by Al Dion, Jake Leo and Ron Watts, with Jake Leo sailing into the second spot after some very good placings in the last few races. Al ended up in third spot with Ron only .25 points behind him for fourth.
Trophies were handed out by Ross Cameron at the Kingston Yacht Club as a late afternoon sun dried up the puddles and made it warm enough to sit outside and enjoy a very welcome jug of ale. The racing part of RC sailing is great, but the socializing part is hard to beat. We really enjoyed having our friends form across the border come to sail with us.
We hope that we were able to make them feel as welcome as Jake Leo and his club made us feel when we sailed IOMs with them in Connecticut.
Ross Cameron and his crew got several rounds of applause. Cynthia Ormsby was the recipient of a thank you gift from all the skippers in appreciation of her very hard work to make this regatta a success.

Final Results

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Last modified: November 24, 2005