Categorized | General, NS, Wind/Kite

Chester Race Week

Posted on 10 August 2011 by SomeGood

Sail racing has a long history on Canada’s east coast as schooners raced one another to get fish to markets in Halifax and throughout New England. Outside of Nova Scotia the legacy of Canada’s sail heritage is best known via the much loved Bluenose, built in 1921, that adorns the Canadian dime. Most Canadians would not be aware of a sailing race history that predates the Bluenose by 65 years. Chester Race Week is Canada’s oldest sailing regatta with the first official documented race back in 1856.

The oldest North American regatta was hosted by the New York Yacht Club Regatta in 1845, which probably ranks Chester Race Week as the second oldest regatta in North America (*unconfirmed). Even the New York Regatta is somewhat of a newcomer compared to the Cumberland Cup in the UK which began in 1775.

Chester Race Week Cup

Chester Race Week, which runs from August 10-13th, 2011 appears to be at the top of her game as reported by the Chronicle Herald,

“With a fleet of over 132 yachts already pre-registered, this regatta may well be one of the largest ever,” Dr. John Curry said in a news release. “Now all we need is fair winds to provide good racing conditions.”

A photo of a painting from Chester Race Week 2009 by Rae Smith

Chester Race Week

Chester Race Week overview video 2009

The winds appear to be mostly modest with 10-15 knots being the norm from the latest Environment Canada Marine Forecast and the aside from a few showers Wednesday and Thursday the weather looks mostly sunny which should help the ever popular socials that go hand-in-hand with the regatta.

I had the pleasure of helping sail the Ramillies from Halifax’s RNSYS to Chester on August 5th with perfect sailing conditions. James and David Wilson shared the helm. We covered the 29 nautical mile distance in 4 hours with an average speed over 7 knots.