Fall racing season for Powell River Yacht Club opened on September 8. Yachting and sailboat racing can carry a certain snooty nuance but this is, after all, Powell River, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Boats that race every Saturday morning are as varied as single keel, catamarans and trimarans, and anyone is invited to come aboard.
“Able-bodied is all we need,” said Terry Noreault, who’s been with the club since 2011. “We always have space for more crew and it’s a good way to get a feel about sailing and racing.”
The Saturday morning race is not a cruise. It’s a little more intense than sailing but that should not stop anyone from joining, according to Noreault.
“We take along people who are brand new and they’ve been okay,” he said.
The season opener featured 15-knot to 25-knot southeast winds.
Lauritz Chambers’ Una led through the start but Brian Kyle’s Séance took the lead, flying its big genoa sail and never looked back, easily crossing the finish line ahead of Una and Kim Brown’s Kindred Spirit.
The result upset the normal course of events, according to Brown.
“We’ve been standard in second place, that’s been where we’ve held our mark,” said Brown. “We try to win one now and then. Lauritz is the one to beat. He drives us crazy with his slippery little boat that’s always skidding across the finish line first.”
Experienced crew or newcomers just wanting to be rail meat, who move from one side to the other and hang off the rail to counteract the boat from heeling over, can join the races every Saturday morning at 9 am.
Anyone interested can meet at the yacht club’s white tower building near the new Canadian Coast Guard station and entrance to the sea walk.
For more information, go to powellriveryachtclub.ca.
