For Tim Rann and the crew of his boat, Amazing Grace, the Swiftsure Yacht Race was the height of the racing season.
Rann, a member of the Schooner Cove Yacht Club, was one of 185 entrants in what is known as the premier yacht race of British Columbia.
The race took place in Victoria’s inner harbour, in blustery conditions that saw one sailor swept briefly overboard and another boat running up on some rocks.
Rann and his crew were able to secure a 29th placing overall in their division.
“We were about halfway up the fleet,” Rann said. “We were pretty happy with that result.”
Happy perhaps, but the crew of nine experienced sailors may well have placed even higher, had disaster not struck in the early hours of the morning.
“We blew a spinnaker at 3 a.m. and it wrapped itself around the rigging,” Rann said. “We spent an hour and a half clearing it out in big, rough seas.”
This was the third Swiftsure outing for Amazing Grace and, with no Van Isle 360 race slated for this year, Rann said the competition was likely to be the pinnacle of this year’s racing adventures.
“We had a ball,” he said.
• The Admiral Yanow Navy League Cadets Annual Ceremonial Review (ACR) is set to kick off on Monday, June 11 at 7 p.m. at Parksville Elementary School.
Rev. Brian Kirby asks that everyone be seated at 6:30 p.m. with the review beginning at 7 p.m.
That’s not the only chance to see local cadets strut their stuff. The RCSCC Esquimalt Sea Cadet Annual Ceremonial Review is set for Wednesday, June 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Qualicum Beach Curling Club. Kirby asks that everyone be seated at 6 p.m.
• Boaters from the length of Vancouver Island converged in Nanaimo on June 1 to 3 for the eighth annual Nanaimo Floating Boat and Marine Trade Show.
The event featured 3,500 feet of dock space in the downtown boat basin in Nanaimo, with exhibits from both Island and mainland yacht brokers and marine suppliers.
The event also featured charters, entertainment and displays by the Marine Search and Rescue and Power Squadron.
Boats on display included both new and old, small and large. It also showed off some of the latest in marine supplies and equipment.
• Today is World Oceans Day, where around the world people celebrate and honour the oceans, taking action to protect the oceans and the marine life they contain.
The theme this year is Youth, the Next Wave for Change. World Oceans Day Canada (WODC) urges people to conserve water, reduce emissions, protect waterways and keep all shorelines clean.
For more information visit www.WorldOceansDay.ca
• The Schooner Cove Yacht Club held the 25th anniversary of its popular Race Around the Rocks Regatta, held in Nanoose Bay June 1-3.
The Race Around the Rocks included two days of racing around the islands and marks off spectacular Schooner Cove near Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island.
The new 40 nautical mile marquee race, the Lasqueti Island Race sailed on June 2, crossing the Strait of Georgia and sailing around Lasqueti Island.
