Chester Race Week Ends on High Note With Great Sailing Conditions

Chester Race Week 2013

Spectators gathered at the Chester Yacht Club in anticipation for the last day of Chester Race Week 2013. Newcomers and longtime race week attendees stood at the dock early in the afternoon watching the remarkable sails of the Bluenose fleet as they crossed the harbour during one of the final day’s races.

A wind shift prior to the last race of the iconic Bluenose class resulted in a race cancellation as the 3 p.m. closing time approached. Despite that, they raced seven times over the course of the week with Chase pulling ahead as the overall winner.

The Bravo fleet winners for 2013 are all repeat champions from last year’s race week with Defiant, skippered by Mark Gosine, once again winning over for the Bravo 1 course, Ping (Terry Schnare) for Bravo 2 and Sisu (Dan Pride) for Bravo 3. For the Alpha feet, Climax (Reece/Comtois) had a clear win for the Alpha 1 course and Tangley (Peter Coombs) scored best overall for Alpha 2. Also repeating its 2012 win was the Chester C sloop Ripple (Jim Rafuse) in the beautiful Delta Classics fleet.

Even though wind conditions weren’t as exceptional as the past two days, Chester Race Week 2013 went out with a bang as festivities continued on land well into the night for the closing ceremonies with awards presentations and live music.

http://chesterraceweek.com/2013/08/release-chester-race-week-2013-final-results/


Neptunus 650F Review

Neptunus 650F 400

By Andy Adams

Over the years Canadian Yachting has had the pleasure of doing several boat review articles on new Neptunus models and we are familiar with the qualities that Neptunus is famous for. They have all been exceptional yachts, but this is the one I would most want to own myself. It’s a personal choice and a matter of taste as to whether you would prefer to have a sedan express model or a flybridge but in my opinion, the flybridge layout offers some wonderful attributes.

We met with Neptunus Managing Director Jan Willem De Jong this past fall to take the new Neptunus 650F out in Lake Ontario. 

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Destinations

The Other Virgin Islands

Sunset off St John

By Mark Stevens

I was first seduced by the United States Virgin Islands during a ferry ride from St. Thomas to Tortola to begin one of our earliest British Virgin Islands charters nearly twenty years ago.

A perfect sunset off St. John with St. Thomas views for backdrop.

Clearing Pillsbury Sound, surrounded by voluptuous emerald mountains as the ferry sliced through royal blue waters, I was struck by the unspoiled ambiance of St. John, the island gliding past our starboard beam and the irresistible charm of a village called Cruz Bay visible from our quarter stern.

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