This past weekend the 12th district’s newest fleet hoisted their first regatta, and what a regatta it was. My crew and I arrived at the Royal Saint Lawrence Yacht Club on Friday morning. This is one of the oldest yacht clubs in North America and the facilities and the members were just great. We were met by the regatta organizer Ian Bruce and made to feel right at home. For those competitors that wanted housing it was provided with club members in most cases with-in walking distance to the club. Being that this was the first Star regatta for this new fleet, Ian wanted to make sure that the racing would be first class.

Ian made a call to his long time friend Mr. Jack Lynch of the Annapolis Yacht Club and invited him to be the PRO. For those of you that have had the pleasure of sailing in a regatta that is run by Jack you know the event will be run right, and it was.

20 boats launched on Saturday morning from 6 different fleets and headed out onto Lake St-Louis, which is part of the St. Lawrence seaway. The weatherman called for breezes building to 30 knots +. We started the 1st race in a nice 18 to 20 knot westerly and sailed course # 1. The breeze increased as we went up the first beat to the 25 kont range so the two reaches were a whole lot of fun. It's been a long time since I have sailed heavy wind power reaches.

The breeze stayed up thru the entire race and caused several break-downs. The race was won by Ted Haines/Larry Scott with Brian Cramer/Len Delicaet 2nd and Mike Feeney/Rob Bowers 3rd. Jack Lynch made the call that it was best to return to the harbor and wait until Sunday. I did not hear any one complaint about this wise decision.

Lots of work on a lot of the boats, but it seamed that there was enough parts and helpers around to lend assistance to those that needed it. Saturday night we were treated to a wonderful cocktail party at Ian Bruce’s house which just happens to be next door to the Yacht Club, which provided us with a great dinner. We were told that the city of Montreal was having a fireworks display in the downtown area, but I don't think many of us made it as most opted to let our heads rest on a nice soft pillow.

On Sunday we were treated to breakfast and then left the harbor to test our skills again. The winds had subsided to the 14 to 18 range, and the RC as expected was set up and ready to go right on time. We were treated to 2 very nice races with very close racing between the top finishers. I was sorry to see Mike Feeney break an upper intermediate at the start of the 3rd race and have to withdraw. He was one of the fasted boats and was poised to give Cramer, Haines and Ivey a run for there money.