King of Cadboro
Bay
Tom
Lowdon won the Citizen's Cup as Royal Vic YC's Sailor for 2002 by chalking
up the best racing record in the club. After winning approximately 70
percent of the races he entered in the highly competitive Cal 20 fleet
at the helm of Kelsib, Tom still believes he hasn't got it quite right.
"I have to beat the Americans," he said. "Their boats
point higher and have better boat speed." He continues to experiment
with tuning Kelsib's rig. But he must be doing something right as he
still uses sails dating from the '80s for most club events. "The
jib has quite a hook and back winds the main that's a bit soft."
But he did bring out his three-year-old Lietch McBride sails for regattas.
"Sailing's a real head game," he continued, "you have
to figure out how to beat the competition rather than just putting out
more physical effort." Tom won the Citizen's Cup once before in
1992.
For the past three years, his son Steve,
who just turned 17, has been his main crew. "My interest was waning,"
Tom commented, "Steve pushed me and rekindled my enthusiasm."
Steve takes the helm in some races and proved his potential by winning
the Cal 20 Juniors last year. Roger Meyercough joined Tom and Steve
for some races. Cal 20 class rules allow for between two and four crew.
Tom started sailing when he was about
11, "just fooling around in a Lightning, not racing." He crewed
on a Fireball in the early '70s, then crewed for his friend Mike Kelley,
first on Haida and then, in 1980, on Kelsib. He's been a Cal 20 devotee
ever since. When Mike died of cancer in 1987, Tom inherited Kelsib and
has never looked back. Why has he stuck with Kelsib? "It's a really
tough little boat that can handle thirty knots with no problems,"
he said. "And I enjoy the people in the fleet. They're a fun group."
When he's not psyching out the opposition,
Tom works as a cabinetmaker specializing in architectural millwork.
Queen of the
Ocean
Winds gusting as high as 80 knots battered
racers in the single-handed Route du Rhum race that started in St. Malo,
France, on November 9. While 21 of the 58 competitors were forced to
retire due to capsizing, dis-masting or hull destruction, 26-year-old
Ellen MacAuthur, the English sailing sensation driving Kingfisher (the
yacht in which she finished second in the Vendee Globe), sailed a near
perfect race. She had the best start, won the monohull 60 class, beat
the monohull record by two days and almost six hours, and crossed in
a faster overall time than all but one of the 60 feet multihull flyers
that started a day later. She completed the 3,546-nm mile course in
13 days, 13 hours and 31.47 mins.
By deciding to steer north of the low,
she escaped the worst of the storm in the Bay of Biscay that smashed
the bridges on three of the 60-feet trimarans. When she tacked, she
sailed farther than her competition south around the Azores High to
pick up stronger trade winds. She held the lead for the last two-thirds
of the race. In France, Ellen is called "Queen of the Ocean."
Mike Golding from Britain, who blew out
two spinnakers chasing her, finished second to Ellen, and Nick Maloney
from Australia won class 2 monohull, a race that has been traditionally
dominated by French sailors. Canada was represented by the venerable
71-year-old Mike Birch, who finished ninth in the monohull 60 class.
This was his seventh Route du Rhum.
Some racers found time to relax. During
a tropical squall, Miranda Merron, another English lass at the helm
of an open 60 monohull, collected enough rainwater in her mainsail to
have a bath. She finished sixth. But Ellen flew back to England soon
after to work on Kingfisher 2, the catamaran in which she will challenge
the Jules Verne around-the-world record, and, in her spare time, commentate
on the America's Cup for the BBC.
This was not the toughest Route du Rhum.
In 1986, the tempestuous Bay of Biscay forced half the fleet to retire.
Duelling Princes
and Princesses
Swiss solo sailor and winner of the first
leg, Bernard Stamm, won the second leg of the Around Alone in the Open
60 class. He covered the 6,880 nm from England to Cape Town in 29 days,
22 hours, 59.45 mins, which included five days holed up in a Spanish
harbour to wait out a storm. He finished approximately 16 hours ahead
of second place Thierry Dubois and 24 hours ahead of third-place Emma
Richards.
American skipper Brad Van Liew was also
a double-leg winner in the Open 50 class. Due to light winds after the
big boats finished, Brad took 44 days, 2 hours, 48.13 mins to cover
the same distance. Canadians Derek Hadfield and John Dennis finished
third and fifth respectively. The Open 50 boats also took shelter during
the storm.
Leg 3 to Tauranga, New Zealand, started
on December 14. Follow the race on www.aroundalone.com.
January Racing
Events
Jan. 4, Hot Rum Series II-1, RVAN; Jan. 18, Hot Rum Series II-2, RVAN.
