The first day of the fall North American 5.5M Regatta got underway on Monday, August 22 on Georgian Bay in Midland, Ontario, Canada with a new trophy up for grabs. Writes Jennifer Harker

With enough boats in the fleet, the fall regatta was divided into classic and evolutions. The classics are vying for the trophy generously donated by German Theis Forst, while the evolutions are racing for the trophy generously provided by German Kaspar Stubenrauch.
Now, a new combined points trophy has been created by American William Turner, skipper of Firestorm USA 87. The North American Championship Regatta Trophy will tally all the points from the year to crown a North American 5.5M champion. Lending some history to the new trophy Turner explained, “My grandfather’s hardware has been repurposed for this trophy.” 

Turner launched this year’s races saying, “Let the games begin.”

And so they did.

With the winds non-existent the first race was delayed, however the intrepid race committee found some winds further out in the bay for the start of the race and the fleet had about 8 knots by race time.

Last minute changes saw Savage USA 75 and Summer CAN 80 head out down a crew member each. 

Savage was undeterred and hit the line leading the way, then capitalized on finding favourable winds and rounded the first mark with a sizable lead.

A strong downwind leg kept Savage’s clear lead but it was a crowded affair around the second mark with Nantoria CAN 22, O’Kelly CAN 79, Firestorm USA 87 and Pride USA 31 all within a short boat length of each other at the mark.

The next leg was a game changer with a lot of movement in the fleet. Summer School CAN 31 moved up quickly to overtake Pride before falling off. O’Kelly was pushing hard while Purple Haze USA 51 found a groove and a rhythm for a smooth leg. Firestorm USA 87 headed up the eastern side of the course to overtake the lead and wouldn’t relinquish it through the last three legs, finishing in first followed by Savage and Nantoria.

Both Summer School and Purple Haze are being helmed by guest skippers and crew.

The North American fleet has developed with a goal of rejuvenating the 5.5s. In a classic display of international cooperation, this spring Canadian John Lister and American Joe Strelow jointly purchased Summer School to ensure she remains actively sailing.

Many Midland Bay Sailing Club members are recruited to help fill the boats and Eugene Kokbas is experiencing the 5.5M racing machine after years of Shark racing. “This is my first time in a 5.5, first time in a wooden boat with the rudder attached to the keel.”  He called it a very fast learning curve to figure out how the boat runs, the angle of approach and how far you can push the tiller. “It takes very little movement of the tiller to make a big move,” he noted. “It was nice that there was light air to start, with a bit of time to figure out the boat and what it’s going to do. I think we did OK.” 

With darkening skies spawning squall lines running north, south and west of the course, Race 2 delivered gusty winds reaching 17 knots and speedy conditions. A clean start saw the entire fleet across the line within 10 seconds.

Pride continued her strong showing, leading the classic fleet for most of the day. “There was really great energy out there today,” skipper Joe Strelow said. “The spring regatta felt a little sleepy. Today did not feel sleepy.”

Foredeck crew Michael Bloor agreed. “I loved the winds today. When it’s good wind it’s really fun. In heavy wind you can make a little mistake and you can recover.

In light winds you can’t recover. It was absolutely fabulous.”
Pride’s crew took advantage of Sunday’s rigging day to test out some spinnaker strategy. Strelow said, “Yesterday we went out and played around with the jib down. It’s so much more stable, it’s not so much about speed but control.” Clearly the strategizing sessions paid off with two firsts and a second on the day. They attribute the second place finish to the onboard scramble to quickly fix a main sheet that came off, which cost them a position they couldn’t retake. But Strelow wasn’t two upset as Summer School would take first in that race.

“My boats [Pride USA 31 and Summer School CAN 31] are one and two which is super, I can’t complain there,” he said with a grin.
On the evolution side Firestorm registered two firsts and a third. “I was glad the breeze filled in for that second race and we adjusted accordingly and jockeyed for position,” skipper William Turner said. “Today was fantastic winning two races, but the best part was eight boats on the line, it was kind of crowded and stacked up.”

Foredeck crew Tal Hutcheson added, “It’s amazing to see how much the boats have tightened up. It’s great to see classics in with evolutions causing trouble.”
The third race of the day was another picture perfect start led by Nantoria with the rest of the fleet hot on her transom. She picked a perfect line to avoid the extra tack to the first mark, stretching her lead which she never gave up, improving her results on the day with a third, second and first.

With tighter races as crews familiarize themselves with the boats and each other, skippers can never be sure where the competition will be coming from and it’s anybody’s game this week.
 
 

It was a crowded start line all day as boats bunched for the line at the first day of the Fall North American 5.5M Regatta.
 

Dark skies and squall lines created some blustery breezes to keep crews on their toes.
 

Despite losing their skipper moments before racing started, Summer CAN 80 opted to race anyway and had an excellent day with Don Rethoret at the helm and Cheryl Thurley running the spinnaker.
 

Two firsts and a third on the day to lead the fleet left Firestorm USA 87’s crew all smiles.