Victoria Classic Boat Festival Sailpast and Race - Dorothy

Tara Smith

Dorothy is owned by the BC maritime museum and I am so incredibly grateful to get to skipper her. We motored from the causeway docks and paraded past the Classic Boat Festival Commodore aboard Midnight Sun. The classic race followed the sailpast, the start was off of Brotchie Ledge then to QV, white mark inside Clover Point and finish back at Brotchie. Unfortunately the wind was less than the predicted 10knots (that would have been ideal) and we had closer to 3knots of wind and a building flood tide. Our start was fairly good and we maintained a lane to weather of the two lead and much larger boats. The course was shortened to the white mark inside Clover Point. We rounded in third and then stayed inside the back eddy and managed to finish in second and corrected to second overall. Dorothy is so beautiful to sail and very different from my previous racing experience with sport boats. She has a jib and staysail on the bowsprit. The mainsail is a gaff rig and it has been very interesting to learn how to trim it. Running back stays and everything is beautiful bronze hardware and vintage looking new sails.