Ontario squad also victorious at Canadian championships at Charlottetown Race Week
A Charlottetown race team skippered by businessman Peter Toombs on HeadFirst 3 won the Canadian Farr 30 championship Saturday at Charlottetown Race Week.
An Ontario sailing team with the regal name of “Rex” was crowned Canadian J 70 champion at the regatta. The two titles were awarded at the end of three days of racing.
Twenty-seven boats with 175 sailors participated in this year’s East Coast Docks Charlottetown Race Week.
“I am ecstatic the Canadian title has been won by an Atlantic Canadian boat for the first time. I hope it will help expand our fleet,” says Toombs.
The HeadFirst 3 team will compete for the North American Farr 30 title at Chester Race Week next month in Nova Scotia. Toombs’ five-year plan is to attract enough interest in the class to bring the world championship to the east coast.
He is a confirmed One Design sailor, progressing in his sailing career from the smaller soling to Etchells and J-29s.
One of Toomb’s crew admits their local knowledge may have given a slight edge.
“We are familiar with the currents and exactly where the channel begins and ends – that definitely helps,” Jonathan Ross says.
But he also says Toombs is competitive and pushes the crew to work hard and take racing seriously.
Toombs agrees.
“That’s because to sail well at a high level, it’s all about the people Charlottetown Race Week filled the outer harbour with sails for three days.
on your crew when you want to win a championship, not just the equipment.”
The J 70 champion boat is skippered by Scott Weakley of Port Credit, Ont. This is his third Canadian championship. His crew included longtime friends Mark Goodyear and Rene Serin of Toronto and Peter Wickwire of Halifax. He credits his success to the amount of time he spends in the boat.
“We do a lot of regattas and get humbled pretty quickly when sailing with professionals. But that makes you better. As for winning a third title, we are lucky. You always need a little luck to go Rex crew Canadian J 70 champions, from left, are Mark Goodyear, Rene Serin, Peter Wickwire and Scott Weakley.
with experience in racing.”
Two other classes also sailed at Charlottetown Race Week.
Randy Johnson of Charlottetown and his crew on “Satisfaction” won the J 29 class. Also, a group of seven boats of varying sizes sailed under Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) rules. Larry Creaser of Chester, N.S., goes home with the class win for his new J 100 “Young Blood” with a crew that included his two sons and local sailor Peter Williams at the helm.
Charlottetown Race Week cochair Helen Blake praised the two race officers, Brian Todd of Nova Scotia and Nathan Frederickson of P.E.I.
“They deserve a lot of credit for dealing so well with the huge range of sailing conditions and keeping the fleet racing all three days,” she said.
“We couldn’t have asked for better weather or more enthusiasm by all the volunteers that make Race Week possible. I was particularly glad to see young crews among the competitors and hopefully they have had so much fun they will be back with us again next year.”
Blake has been working on a partnership with the organization Sailors for the Sea. Charlottetown Race Week will be aiming for certification as a green regatta. The international organization is promoting ways to help sailors reduce their environmental impact. HeadFirst 3 crew, from left, are Topher Kingley-Williams, John Whynacht, Jonathan Ross, Peter Toombs, Adam Roy and Graham Roy. Missing was Darren Jones.