Salt Spring Photos

Salt Spring Photographer John Cameron

You are here: Home / Archives for 2015

Elizabeth May and the Debate

Elizabeth May, Sannich-Gulf Islands

Elizabeth May signs appeared on Salt Spring Island the day the 2015 federal election was announced. She and her merry band of volunteers were first to the sign posts. And I noticed the campaign office is already open on Salt Spring.

And was it just me or did she not—once again—seem to be the voice of knowledge, experience and reason during the (August 6th MacLean’s) debate?
Unlike the others, it seemed she wasn’t reading from a prepared script but actually knew about everything she and the others were discussing.
Perhaps she should be involved in more than just this one debate?
Lucky to have her representing the Gulf Islands.

 

First to Finish Doesn’t Always Win

Ogopogo and Marda Gras at RSI 2015

So here’s the thing. The first boat to cross the finish line doesn’t necessarily win a sailing race. Round Saltspring 2015 was scored using the Time on Distance formula and the distance used was 42.0 nautical miles.

Each boat has an assigned handicap. In the photo above the little boat, a ‘Left Coast Dart’ with 5 sailors on deck (Ogopogo) has a handicap of 114 seconds per mile. The big boat, a ‘Santa Cruz 52’ with a million sailors on deck (Marda Gras) has a handicap of -9 sec per mile.

What this means is that for every mile of the race, Marda Gras needs to be about 2 minutes ahead of Ogopogo. Marda Gras needs to finish about 84 minutes ahead of  Ogopogo.

In the photo above, about a third of the way into the race, Marda Gras needs to be far ahead of Ogopogo. 

Marda‘s elapsed time on the Round Saltspring course was 8:28:18. Ogopogo‘s elapsed time was 9:16:02.
Which boat finished ahead on corrected time?

—

By the way baaad kitty!’s elapsed time was 08:28:43, her corrected time (based on her handicap over 42 miles) was 07:48:09. And that was the fastest time overall.

 

Round Salt Spring 2015 at Southey Point

Round Salt Spring 2015

1:35 pm Round Saltspring Island Sailing racers approach Southey Point. (curiously positioned at the north end of the Island)
The event has attracted about 100 boats for many years. The course is about 42 miles around Salt Spring Island (for a crow); sailboats of course go much farther than that depending on wind direction, wind strength and even the tides and currents.

This year, the super-fast catamaran Dragonfly flashed across the finish line at 6:14 pm. An hour or so later many of the faster boats were also back for dinner on the docks.

Close quarters during Round Saltspring 2015

Tricky spinnaker work at the bow.

Watching RSI 2015 from the shore

Photos by John Cameron

Photographs of Salt Spring Island and areas reachable by ferry and road (and sometimes off-road).

Browse the Photo Blog:

The latest seven posts all on one page

Recent Salt Spring Photos:

View Everything:

Find photos by month or category