Although it is going to be a full moon and warm weather, it looks like there is going to be good winds developing for this year's Lake Ontario 300 Challenge.

We've asked our friends at Weather Routing to give us a quick look ahead and here is what we've heard: "As for an outlook for the 12th through 14th: High pressure over se'rn Pennsylvania with a ridge over Lake Ontario on the 12th will shift se'ward through the 13th. The ridge will weaken overnight the 12th with a cold front moving through Lake Ontario on the morning of the 13th. Another, weaker cold front will track north of Lake Ontario on the 14th. Therefore, we expect S'ly winds of 2-7kts in the morning become SW-W'ly 5-10kts in the afternoon on the 12th, become W'ly overnight the 12th through the morning of the 13th of 10-15kts, then veer W-NW 12-17kts in the afternoon of the 13th, then become W'ly 10-15kts overnight the 13th through 14th. There is a threat for showers/squalls during the morning of the 13th and again overnight the 13th through the morning of the 14th."

Weather Routing Inc. is pleased to invite Lake Ontario 300 participants to sign up for a complimentary SeaWeather.net trial, available at https://www.seaweather.net/events.php?r=lakeontario. After you set up an account and log in, you will see a link to the event on the left hand side menu bar. You can also access this on a mobile device at https://mobile.seaweather.net/index.php. Here you can find specific weather graphics related to the event, including real time observations and wind forecasts. For event specific forecasts, please visit http://www.wriwx.com/clientproduct.php?id=6215.  If anybody has any questions on SeaWeather or are interested in a subscription after the LO300, please email [email protected]. 

Forgot something?

Mason's The Store Chandlery will once again be onsite for all your last minute requirements, race retail and chandlery items. Mason's will have an inventory and can do a quick run to the store if there is something not readily available.

If you wish you can pre-order regatta shirts with the race logo and your boat logo by contacting Morten Fogh at The Store Mason's Chandlery.

Although this year's IRC numbers are down from past, the competition in this fleet is looking very strong. Past winners IMXtreme and Lively as well as line honour winner Gaucho will be joined by the Farr40 Relentless from PCYC owned by Roger Ryall. Relentless has a great past as the boat that won the 2011 Canada's Cup when it was named Vincere skippered by Grant Hood, also from PCYC. 

The Farr 40 Vincere was raced as an RCYC challenge for Canada's Cup, which was held by the Americans since 2007. Vincere lost it's first attempt to reclaim the trophy in 2010 but in a tight group of races against tight competition, Vincere won it's fifth race by crossing the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Heritage, the American entry from Macatawa Bay Yacht Club in Holland Michigan. Roger has put together a hot crew and was very successful in this year's Susan Hood Trophy Race finishing 5 1/2 hours ahead of it's next competitor and is looking forward to taking on this year's Lake Ontario 300 Challenge.

CITY TV's ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

This Monday's segment on the CITY TV 6 pm news show will feature our very own Gene Joelson of Joely Rose, PCYC. 

Gene is entered into this year's Lake Ontario 600 and is a very accomplished Solo Sailor winning second place in the 2012 Solo Challenge. Tune in and watch his excellent promotion of the Lake Ontario 300 next week.

LO300 Solo Report

There are currently 15 Solo Sailors all set and ready to depart PCYC on the 5th Annual LO300 Solo Challenge. Of the 15 sailors, 12 of them are already GLSS members, while 3 sailors, Ken Tramposch, Mac MacKenzie, and Jim French, are all attempting the solo trek for the very first time.  Please be sure to single these three sailors out and wish them the best of luck when you see them at PCYC next week.

GLSS member Bert Barrett, aboard Upstart recently won Line Honours in a hard fought Port Huron Solo Mackinac Race, while another of our members, Geoff Cornish aboard Rouleur sailed very well in the Chicago Solo Mackinac Race. Three cheers to Bert and Geoff!!!! You did Lake Ontario proud!

Note to all sailors: All of the solo yachts will be displaying a very bright strip of reflective sail-tape material on their mainsails (both sides of the sail - above the second reef point) throughout the race again this year, This reflective material has been kindly donated once again by Brian Chapman and UK Sailmakers.  Brent Hughes will be on hand on board Pearl as of Thursday afternoon at PCYC, and will have the strips cut to length and ready to distribute to all sailors Friday morning, along with instructions on how to get it installed on the mainsails. Please be sure to see Brent ASAP. If you don't, he will find you at the Skippers Meeting and get it to you then.

LO300 Team Challenge Reminder

Once again Pat Sturgeon Yachts will be sponsoring the Team Challenge, which provides funds to our various Junior Learn to Sail or Junior programs.  Teams of 3 boats from the same club competing on the Main Duck Course qualify for this competition regardless of being in IRC or PHRF. For purposes of scoring this event all boats will be ranked overall in PHRF and the team with the lowest points will win.

Get your team together, give it a name and bring some glory to your club.

Submit your team names prior to registration to [email protected]

A special thank you to Pat Sturgeon of Sturgeon Yachts, a veteran competitor in this event and a great supporter of offshore racing.