After yesterday’s distance race it was back to course racing and the typical shifty winds of Midland Bay that see a downwind leg quickly dissolve into a reach.

The day began with Savage USA 75 and O’Kelly CAN 79 in a tight battle for points for third, with first all but assured for Firestorm USA 87 – except that Nantoria CAN 22 wasn’t ready to settle for second place just yet.

On the classic side, it was a new day for Summer CAN 80 with her skipper onboard for the first time this regatta. All day she wasn’t just leading the classics, but often ahead of some evolutions, constantly pushing them to up their game. Pride USA 31 and Summer School CAN 31 continue their battle for top spot in the classic division with Purple Haze USA 51 making it interesting.

It is fantastic to see the whole fleet in contention every race.

Race 1 saw Savage take to the south lane while the rest of the fleet headed north east with Summer School, Pride and Purple Haze tightly bunched. Each point is critical for Summer School and Pride and they were looking for every advantage.

O’Kelly beat the fleet to the first mark, closely followed by Nantoria while Savage and Summer jockeyed for position at the mark.
After yesterday’s strong winds, today delivered light and shifty winds that just weren’t conducive to raising the spinnaker in Race 1. Nantoria overtook O’Kelly halfway down the leg and Savage was closing in while Summer maintained her lead over Firestorm. O’Kelly and Savage traded placed throughout the race but

O’Kelly would finish in second place behind Nantoria. Firestorm closed quickly on Savage and would move inside at the last mark to push into third.
Purple Haze was running hard in the race to the finish, reeling in Summer and just caught her at the line to win by a nose.

Continuing to shine, Summer led the fleet off the line in Race 2.

O’Kelly made it to the mark first but Savage rounded on her heels and with a speedy chute set turned in a strong leg and continued throughout the race to cross in second to make the points race very interesting.

At the second mark tight racing with skippers pushing for every advantage resulted in contact and penalty 360s for some boats. Firestorm would sail away cleanly and hunt down Savage to finish the race in first.

Race 3 continued a strong day for Nantoria, who with impeccable timing was first across the line at the pin and would never give up her place throughout the race to register two firsts and a third on the day.

Summer was second in the fleet for much of the race and would lead the classics to the line. Pride and Summer School battled it out throughout the race with Pride finishing ahead. Repairing some technical problems before the race, Purple Haze was late to the line but gamely sailed a lovely race.

John Lister on Nantoria called it another excellent day for the 5.5s. “Today was very tight racing. The wind shifts were unpredictable and kept everyone on their toes. It went from an expected downwind with spinnaker to a beam reach.”

He is also pleased with how the North American fleet is developing. “Both fleets are so close. The classics currently are tied for first, and third is just two points behind and there’s only three points separating first and second in the evolutions.”

Savage’s Dan Rossi agreed. “We’re all talking about how similar the boats are downwind in speed, you need to do some aggressive moves to find passing lanes.

Upwind it’s playing the shifts and staying out of the flat spots – and Midland Bay has lots of those,” he said ruefully. “It was an interesting day with shifts and change ups and the tightness of racing. We nailed the start and were leading the fleet and then went to fourth, then midway we changed it up again.”

The focus of the North American 5.5 group is rejuvenation of the fleet and igniting the passion for them. With borrowed boats, guest skippers, mixed crews and changing up positions within the boats, more people get to experience racing.

For today’s racing O’Kelly’s skipper Don Cameron gave the helm over to foredeck crew Chris Gooding, who is sailing with Cameron in his second 5.5 regatta.

Cameron said, “We had a second, third and fourth, and I laughed and told Chris ‘I do that badly’.” 

He said they had a few problems today but are looking ahead. “Generally we had a bit of bad luck today but we’ll be back tomorrow. We’re two points ahead of

Dan so we want to hold him off. We started one point ahead this morning and at one point we were tied. Dan needs a big day to catch us.”

Back at the helm of Summer, Dean Harker said, “It was a good day and fun to be racing up with the evolution fleet as well as classics. We were one crossing away from three firsts for the day.”

Purple Haze had it by a whisker at the line in the first race but Summer would lock up two firsts.

Don Rethoret who skippered Summer the first three days was also pleased with the day’s results. “It’s amazing what the boat can do when the crew that knows their jobs individually are on board. It was a good day.”

They agreed the conditions were perfect for Summer. “The wind we were racing today was excellent at 5 to 12 knots which is my boat’s sweet spot,” Harker said.
Onboard Summer School, skipper Eugene Kokbas had switched up sails – more of the borrowing and sharing that is a hallmark of the North American fleet.

“Everything worked well with all new sails today. We had a couple of close calls but there was no contact. We couldn’t catch Summer today now that the skipper is on board.”

Racing in his first 5.5 regatta Kokbas said, “I never get tired of this. We finished the day tied for first with Pride. I’m really enjoying the week.”
The race is still on as boats head into the last day of the Fall North American 5.5 Regatta on Friday, vying for class trophies as well as a season overall title.
 

Savage USA 75 sports another mixed crew of skipper American Dan Rossi and Canadian crew Jason Williams and Graeme Jay. After another day of lead changes, shifting winds and sudden flat spots, they still mustered smiles.
 
 
With her skipper Dean Harker back aboard, Summer CAN 80 flew through the classic fleet with two firsts and a second on the day and regularly mixed it up with the evolutions to push them.
 
 
No one is sailing away with the regatta as Day 4 produced some interesting results and close contests.
 

Nantoria CAN 22 hung in to finish ahead of Firestorm twice on the day.