Remember that scene in the Muppet Treasure Island movie where the ship got caught in the Doldrums …no wind, really hot, and everyone went a little mad? Well, it was kind of like that on Saturday at this years BMW – RNYC Race Week. No wind, DEAD CALM for more than four hours in the blistering sun. Not enough wind to move a boat but calm enough for a little swimming, a diving contest and “high seas” broadsides battle with water bombs and buckets of water. Or a chance to just catch up on your sleep. Mercifully, after lunch and before everyone drank all the beer they had on-board, the wind came up and the they had enough time to get one good long race in for the day.

Indeed, the whole week was a bit of weather craziness. Day 1 they raced in torrential rains, Day 2 was cancelled due to too much wind. Day 3 the wind was all over the place, swinging 180 degrees at one point …lots of sail changes that day, and Day 4 no wind for half the day. Everyone said they have never seen anything like it. Which is what makes sailing in Newfoundland a challenge (or adventure) even on a normal day.

Consequently I didn’t get a lot of hard core racing shots this year but did capture a bit of the fun that goes on when sailors can’t sail and had a blast, as always being a winch monkey on-board Greyling.  Thank you Dave and Heather for the boat therapy. Race Results can be found on the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club website and see gallery my below.