This year’s FAntastic Nepean FAll Regatta was held on Sept 7 and 8. A total of 32 boats, from three fleets participated: 505s, Albacores and Open Catamarans. The Ottawa river delivered big wind both days.
It was a perfect environment for hosting the 2024 505 Canadian Championships – see the write-up on the 505 class site. Organisers were happy to see boats from out of town, including Kingston, Toronto, and Aylmer. A total of sixteen 505s competed, a great turnout! Gate starts were used and the top three finishers were from Nepean, each with a total of 19 points. The winners were Deb Ashby and Dave Adams who scored first place in three races.
Participants experienced strong winds on both days. Saturday was rainy and stormy, with the wind veering by 135 degrees from south-easterly to westerly over the course of the day. On Sunday the winds were very strong, with gusts up to 26 knots. This was boat-breaking weather with one damaged cat safely towed home. We had focused throughout this year on training safety boat volunteers, and this paid off at FANFARE as they played an important role. The waves built up over the weekend, with whitecaps adding to the excitement. Only the most hardy of sailors stayed for the second race on Sunday.
Rick Nelson and his crew of volunteers and race bosun staff did an excellent job as the Race Committee. With strong and shifting winds, the RC’s use of different coloured marks worked well to keep up with the Saturday wind shift. One gybe mark was unexpectedly set ashore – and no we did not portage around it. And with three fleets on the same course, the Race Committee were kept very busy, starting, and finishing, a total of 22 races over the two days.
A special thank you to the Support Boat volunteers Eric Massicotte and Andrea O’Brien, and to Jennifer Holliday for her work on scoring.
Bravo to all the participants and a special thank you to all the volunteers and the club staff – we could not do it without you.
Please see the results page for the list of award winners.
See you at FANFARE next year – 6 + 7 September 2025
Note from the Fleet Captain – thank-you to Leo Evans and Evelyn Simpson for chairing FANFARE – you are a very efficient team, and you make my job easy! – Dominic
