In the late '90's I was a very active racer with the San Juan 21 fleet. I chose not to race 'Kiss because I ddn't want to unneccessarily stress my gear and I wanted experience on the larger boats.

Why don't I race anymore you ask? Well, the downhill spiral started in 2000 when we held the San Juan 21 Nationals at Ghost Lake west of Cochrane, Alberta. I was working the foredeck as usual and we raced really really well. Our Spinnaker sets and gybes were flawless. We took third overall and because we were beaten by two American Boats we were "Top Canadian" which was a great feeling fo me because I seldom win much of anything. However, there was one particular local/unpopular chap who beat us in two races and we beat him cleanly in one. I say "cleanly" because he was protested by one of the American boats for flying an illegal spinnaker. He was using something from his C&C 25 I think. Personally I didn't care what the verdict was because I was more concerned with my own personal performance on the foredeck. As it turned out the American's won their protest which cleared the way for my boat. We were quite happy with the turn of events. At the end of the regatta my boat was awarded plaques for third place and all was well.

But things changed drastically when I was busy getting Celtic Kiss ready to tow to Nova Scotia. Apparently the protest was appealed and he won. So without even knowing what was happening I was told to hand in my plaque!!! I was appalled and outraged at this sneaky turn of events!!! I simply said sorry can't give you my plaque because it's packed in boxes and ready for transport to Nova Scotia. At the time I was hoping to make a permanent move to NS and my crewmates told me to keep it as a souvenir.

To my dismay I found myself back in Alberta in Spring 2001 but got back into the racing scene with the San Juan 21 fleet. Again I was invited to do the San Juan 21 Canadian Nationals only this time with another sailor. Initially I had voiced my hesitations to the captain and after some coaxing I found myself on the race-course in the foredeck position. This captain had never flown a spinnaker up until race day!!!

He said to me "Rob I don't know anything about the chute so you just tell me what to do." I still remember the cheers from the other boats when we did our set for the first time and it was like I had never lost a step. As expected we were lagging behind in the results but I didn't particularly care much about placing well. My philosophy is that if the boat isn't damaged...it's a good race. We were having a great time until we all crammed together in a drifter on the start line. Everybody got into a mess where we got to a point that we we rubbing next to another boat yet we were trying to avoid someone else. Tempers were flaring and I just yelled out and told people to simmer down and not get excited. We eventually got enough headway to tack away from the mess and get ourselves into clear water. (swimming would have been faster). Anyway once we tacked we found ourselves on "Port" and guess who was barreling down on us on "Starboard"?? You guessed it the same idiot from last year. Notice I said barrelling? We were barely moving and the other boat was zipping along at three knots. He made it a point to yell out to us "Starboard boat make way for me". OK here's the rub we are well aware of our responsibilites but because of our lack of boatspeed we can't maneuvre. We were sitting ducks. Though he had PLENTY OF ROOOM TO PASS US us he made it a point to yell so the race committe could hear him "I am being forced to alter course to avoid collision" We all knew what he said was a load of crap and yet he got away with it and that was proven when he did NOT alter course but fooled the race committee. We did our penalty turns and continued on with the race in a vain attempt to catch the distant fleet. We got a nice little puff and found ourselves in the middle of the fleet again. We called ourselves the "Comeback Kids". During the same race we found ourselves in a similar situation. One of the competitors was blown around by really fickle winds and found himself doing a 18 degree turn. So now he (Doug) is sailing toward us on a port tack while we were on starboard. Doug could hardly move so we had to skirt around him. Even though Doug was about 50 feet in front of us on a collision course I yelled out for all to hear " DOUG EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE ON PORT TACK WITH LITTLE HEADWAY AND WE'RE ON STARBOARD TACK WITH MOMENTUM WE WON'T PUSH OUR RIGHTS ON YOU" and then in a really loud voice "ITS CALLED SPORTSMANSHIP!!!!!!"

So the next day we completed the regatta and won an award for our Spinnaker flying accomplishment, I humbly retired from racing. Since then my nemesis has moved to Ontario and it was discovered that because he was membership chairman thought it OK not to pay his membership dues for the last 5 years that he lived here. So by rights, as I see it, because he was NOT a club mamber he could not represent the Glenmore Sailing Club at either the Wednesday night series or any sanctioned regattas his efforts should be stripped from the record books. Kinda like an Olympic Athlete on Steroids. So as you can probably tell I've been turned off racing. Like I said before I don't care much about my placing but absolutely despise being cheated out of something by someone of "questionable" calibre. But I may make a cameo appearance at the Hobie 16 Trapseat Regatta in Kelowna B.C. prior to my trip back to NS.

Back to sailing in Alberta. Another poster is considering coming to the Glenmore Resevoir. The Glenmore Res. is "OK" to sail on if you live close by because it's convienent to get to. The downside to the Glenmore is that because of silt from the Elbow River, only half of the lake is navigable and you'll cover it all in about 45 minutes. Boat storage could also be a big headache for you too. Because it's part of the city's drinking supply we are ruled and regulated to death. If I were you, I'd go to the Calgary Yacht Club out at Chestermere or to Ghost Lake out by Cochrane. Chestermere is small and shallow but thieir clubhouse is actually active on the weekends. Ghost Lake is absolutely spectacular to sail on. The water is deep and because it's glacial water ..it's very cold but the scenery is spectacular and unlike the other lakes you can anchor, eat on the water, drink alcohol, and have fun. One thing though about Ghost Lake. Half of it is on the Sarcee Indian Reserve and you are not allowed to beach on the south side of the lake unless you have band permission. To get aroud that I used to anchor and sleep on the boat. My biggest regret is I didn't spend more time on Ghost Lake prior to taking "Kiss to Nova Scotia. However there are camping spots available beside the marina.

Here is the link for the Ghost Lake Yacht club and to the Calgary based CL Dealer who is also a seasonal employer for me.
http://www.ghostlakeyachtclub.org/
http://www.sailwest.com/