Final Day CORK OCR

Today was the last day for OCR racing here in Kingston for the annual CORK regatta, where beautiful conditions have met sailors nearly every day. Wind was in true Kingston form in the 15 to 20 knot range by 2-3 pm and temperatures were late summery – cool in the mornings and hot and sunny by the afternoon. Yesterday the breeze kicked to 20 knots on the 49er course making for some fantastic sailing, and some even more fantastic wipeouts. Boats were cart wheeling on nearly every leg and it became a survival match to make it around the course with the boat upright.

Fleet leaders John Ladha and Daniel Inkpen were quick around the course, nailing 1, 1, 2 and 5 to the score board. Their final race was the windiest and the guys had a hard time keeping the boat up. We had a chance to speak with John by the launch after racing, “It was the kind of day where you have to just keep yourself upright and forget about the fleet, its all for yourself.” The guys are 11 points in the lead now with only today’s racing left to determine the winner in Theater Style racing and an experimental new scoring system. The Fleet is divided by current standings and raced in heats, with the winner of each heat moving forward toward the final race. In the end, the winner of the week is determined by today’s final results, not but the standings they have earned over the week. An enthusiastic Ladha says “The last race is all the marbles – its theater style and we have to win! Anyone can win but it has to be us!”

More traditional racing is taking place on the other OCR courses, with Olympians in the Finn and Radial fleets. Greg Douglas continues to lead Martin Robataille in the Finn, with only 4 points separating the two after 12 races. Surely with a little luck Martin will be able to pass his Olympic opponent and take the title of North American Finn Champion. In the Open Radial fleet Olympic 470 Sailor Luke Ramsay leads local boy Hugh McRae with 13 points versus McRae who has 47. It’s fairly safe to say that Luke will take the title at this regatta.

Final results will be available here on the CORK website and you can be sure to find photos of the Theater Style races on the Canadian Sailing Team’s Facebook page as well. As always watch canadiansailingteam.ca for in depth reports on all the action from CORK and other regattas coming up.