September Blender Report
September in Calgary is usually beautiful. The days are warm, the nights are cool and the trees are starting to change colour. It is against this background that the 3rd annual September Blender regatta was held on the waters of Glenmore Reservoir. The event was co-hosted by Calgary Model Sailing Association and Glenmore Sailing Club.
The Blender is a sailing event for International One Metre (IOM) radio sailboats. This year, the scope of the event was expanded to include two full days of racing plus associated lunches, dinners and social gatherings.
Twelve skippers assembled on Friday evening or official measuring: the IOM class has strict rules on maximum weight and dimensions, sail size and build materials. Held in conjunction with Family Friday, the skippers were able to get through the measurement process while inspecting each other’s miniature yachts and enjoying barbecue burgers and bar service.
After a brief skippers meeting, races began on Saturday at 10:00 AM. Winds were light and shifty, even by Glenmore Reservoir standards. It became difficult to decide which end of the start line to start at as the wind could shift radically just seconds before the actual start. In several cases port tacker at the left end of the line managed to cross the entire fleet and make it to the windward mark without tacking.
At the lunch break, the skippers were treated to a white hat ceremony for our out-of-town guests: PRO Lawrie Neish (Saltspring Island), Roger Kibble (Saltspring Island) and Jerry Brower (Everett, WA).
After the white hat presentation and a tasty lunch, skippers headed back to the docks for more battle. Lawrie Neish banged out a bunch of races, totalling 16 by the time racing stopped at 4:30.
After retreating to the clubhouse, the tired racers were treated to margaritas – this is the ‘Blender’ regatta afterall. While skippers were enjoying this, Roger Kibble and his team of volunteer sous chefs prepared a fantastic barbecued salmon dinner, complete with all the vegetables and fixings.
The warm sunny weather continued on Sunday. Skippers found that the wind direction was generally the same, but it was a somewhat stronger version. Not #2 rig weather, but certainly in the puffs there were a few boats overpowered. Racing went non-stop until 2:30 when lunch was again served as the results were being tabulated.
After 30 total races over 2 days, it was the visitors who fared best. Jerry W. Brower took top honours followed by Roger Kibble. Andrew Baak rounded out the podium positions.
