Sixteen boats competed on Kootenay Lake in the Gray Creek Regatta earlier this month.
Sunny weather resulted in steady winds that provided eight good races for 13 cruising sailboats. The five largest, fastest boats were in A Fleet and Nelson sailors Jim Reaburn and Dave Heath were first and second respectively, in Orbit, a J29 and Snooker, a Schock 35. Rossland’s Richard Streadwick placed third in Mischief , another Schock 35.
In the B Fleet, the Richard Deane family of Rossland and East Shore placed first in Windsong, a San Juan 21. He was followed by Jay Blackmore and Glen Foy from Nelson placing second and third respectively, sailing San Juan 30’s. In the Dinghy Fleet, two Hobie 18 catamarans held match races with Chris Jackson of Nelson ahead of Fritz Dau of Richland, Wash. Melissa Townsend was third in a home-built dinghy.
Overall winner was the Deane family in Windsong.
The 2012 event was organized by the Kootenay Lake Sailing Association based in Nelson with support from Lois Wakelin and the Lakeview Resort.