Ben Mohr Trophy Race Report
by Martin Herbert aboard the Kay D
Multiple forecasts all agreed that there would be rain and disagreed about everything else. Acting Fleet Captain Racing Greg Slakov had a report that the wind would die, so pulled the plug on the Walker Rock race. The popular consensus was to do the traditional Ben Mohr race, which is Ben Mohr to port.
At the start line it was the southeaster coming in with a slight bias to the club end. I ran the line to see if the wind was stronger further out; it was, slightly. While trying to consider my options and make a plan, the time ran out and the race was underway. Steller J nailed the start and led the fleet out of the blocks. Down the line, the rest of the fleet got good starts as well, and soon four closely-packed boats vied for the lead. Sorcery X, Shingebiss, Lark and Steller J ripped out of the harbour and rounded Ben Mohr in that order. Kay D and Saorsa formed the after-guard.
There was a beam reach segment off James Bay, but no-one was tempted, and the whole fleet sailed “no flying sails” for the whole race. Coming back by Prevost on the return leg, there was a little lull and a general dropping of wind strength which did not bode well for the Kay D, and the consensus aboard was that we were now truly in last place. A shift at Nose Point that caused us to have to tack against the tide felt like the nail in our coffin, and the big boats were now very small as our speed dropped to 2.3 knots. The wind did a 180 degree shift at this point and the leaders were having to tack back up the harbour. Lark played the right hand side and seemed to make big gains. The first four were still tightly packed and they must have been having a great race.
Boom! 90 degree wind shift and big black lines of wind racing towards the Kay D. Suddenly we were close reaching towards the finish line at 6 knots, 7 1/2 in the gusts with half the mainsail luffing. Maybe, just maybe we wouldn’t be last after all. Kay D was 5th boat across the line at 12.36.59.
Drinks and tall tales rounded out the race in the warmth of Shingebiss’ cabin. Thanks to Kristin Norget, crew on Sorcery X, for the photo’s and to Gyle and Mia for the libations post race.
PHRFBC Results
| PHRFBC | Finish | Corrected | Rating for | club | |||
| Rating | Boat | Skipper | Time | Time | Place | Next Race | points |
| 226 | KAY D (NFS) | Herbert | 12:36:59 | 01:50:39 | 1 | 226 | 100 |
| 162 | STELLER J (NFS) | Leitch | 12:27:44 | 01:52:13 | 2 | 162 | 83 |
| 120 | LARK (NFS) | Woolcock | 12:24:24 | 01:56:11 | 3 | 120 | 67 |
| 113 | SORCERY X (NFS) | Slakov | 12:23:34 | 01:56:37 | 4 | 113 | 50 |
| 102 | SHINGEBISS (NFS) | Keating | 12:25:53 | 02:01:06 | 5 | 102 | 33 |
| 198 | SAORSA (NFS) | Gray | 13:19:00 | 02:33:00 | 6 | 198 |
Club Rating Results
| Club | Finish | Corrected | Rating for | |||
| Rating | Boat | Skipper | Time | Time | Place | Next Race |
| 179 | KAY D | Herbert | 12:36:59 | 01:58:05 | 1 | 170 |
| 108 | LARK | Woolcock | 12:24:24 | 01:58:24 | 2 | 102 |
| 123 | STELLER J | Leitch | 12:27:44 | 01:59:01 | 3 | 120 |
| 107 | SHINGEBISS | Keating | 12:25:53 | 02:00:08 | 4 | 110 |
| 62 | SORCERY X | Slakov | 12:23:34 | 02:06:50 | 5 | 68 |
| 240 | SAORSA | Gray | 13:19:00 | 02:24:32 | 6 | 249 |
