Early lead for defenders

At Canada's Cup Farr 40 match racing in Toronto

Top match racers have descended upon the Great Lakes to compete for the Canada's Cup. The original Deed of Gift for this trophy dating back to 1897 states that it is "...for friendly competition between sailing yachts, representative of yacht clubs of the two nations bordering on the Great Lakes." This match race between the US and Canada, has taken place sporadically over the years and was last competed for in 2001 when it was won by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's Terry McLaughlin defeated Robert Hughes representing the Bayview Yacht Club.

The event is now sailed in Farr 40s and this year Robert Hughes' Heartbreaker team from the US representing the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club is challenging the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's Team Defiant led by Terry McLaughlin on the latter's home waters off Toronto.

Some heavyweight names have been roped in. McLaughlin is an Olympic silver medallist and was skipper of Canada 1 challenger for the 1983 America's Cup. This year he won the Knickerbocker Cup. Andy Horton is his tactician. Meanwhile the Americans have John Kostecki calling tactics.

Day one

The first day of the Canada’s Cup brought a lot of different conditions, breakdowns and postponements. The first race was postponed for an hour this morning due to big breeze and rain. Once the first storm passed through Team Defiant took an early advantage leading at the first mark and extended when Team Heartbreaker blew up their spinnaker and had to go without a headsail while they switching kites.

There were a couple of course changes as the breeze shifted and even a moving mark. Heartbreaker would close the gap but Defiant’s lead after the first leeward mark would be too much to overcome. Heartbreaker asked for a redress due to the moving mark but
was denied due to the fact that it didn’t affect the result of the race.

Race two of the day was postponed briefly while Team Heartbreaker did some repairs.

The second race of the day would be an exciting one with a good even start with Heartbreaker getting Left first and then a tacking duel would ensue. A few squalls passed through and changed the wind conditions from breezy to shifty which kept the boats tight. Defiant would lead most of the race and was able to hang on for a nail biting two second victory.

The forecast looks better for Sundays racing. Defiant will be looking to extend their lead while Heartbreaker needs to get their first win to keep the Canada’s Cup within reach.

After day one:

Team Defiant 2