CanAm 2.4mR Series Finale at Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club

The CanAm 2.4mR series has been running on the west coast of Florida since December. 19 boats joined in for the finale last weekend at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club. The fleet included Olympians, Paralympians, Canadian and American National Champions so I decided it was a great idea to join them for the weekend.

The first day was breezy with Alan Leibel from Canada going well until the second race when he broke his gooseneck. He was among good company as Dee Smith missed a couple races due to a forestay breaking as did I for a boom end falling off. With a couple of boats getting OCS in the third race Toronto sailing friends Darrell Suderman and Mike Hren made the early running. With the notable exception of Paralympic Silver medallist Jackie Gay taking the second race.

With no discards the race was on to keep letters to the minimum with some catching up to be done by many. Everybody was back on the water for Saturday's racing with was lighter and shiftier, which is much more common for the Charlotte river. Close racing ensued with Mike taking the first race and then the Paralympic flagged sails of Bruce Millar and Dee Smith fighting it out for the second race with Dee just winning. I wasn't far behind getting a 2,3,4 for the day.

Louise Anstey from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in BC was showing that time in the boat isn't always necessary consistently finishing inside the top 10.

Sunday was a battle of when the gradient breeze was going to die but Race Officer Dr Roger Strube did a great job to get 3 races in. It was light with the tide running strong. Dee collected the 3 bullets from the day but with myself, Alan, Bruce, Darrell making it difficult for him.

Darrell took the regatta followed by Bruce then Dee. The overall series was won by Alan. With the local 2.4 builder Tony Pocklington taking second and Dee managing third.

The class owes it thanks to the Commodore and all at Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club for a great event. The fleet has been based at the Club since mid-December and the hospitality and warm welcome has been great. Special thanks to Roger, Martin Holland and their team for some great racing.

The fleets are growing across the North American continent in no small part to having an American 2.4 builder. Tony allowed many of us to sail through chartering boats but also through his immense hard work in helping organise the regatta. The inaugural CanAm series was a great success and it's a great way of getting warm in the winter.

Overall Results: (top six)

1st Darrell Suderman
2nd Bruce Millar (RVYC)
3rd Dee Smith (STC)
4th Megan Pascoe (Weymouth SC)
5th Mike Hren (Ashbridges Bay YC)
6th Alan Leibel (National YC)