Olympian Sarah Douglas skippered WOMandate to win in the first J105 Women’s

On Saturday August 21 the strength of women’s sailing was on full display in the inaugural J105 Ontario Women’s Championships at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Lake Ontario, Canada.

The event was created by J105 Fleet4’s Doug Bullock and female J105 skipper Kathy Pask to lower the barriers to women racing in the fleet. Kathy’s goal was to encourage and welcome women sailors at every level to participate in the event. The result was twelve J105 boats and 96 competitors with an overwhelming enthusiasm with participation ranging from local club sailors, to Olympians and ages that ranged from 15 to 70 years.

The event would not have been possible without generous sponsorship and donations from lead sponsor Mike Mountford and Scotia Wealth Management & The Mountford Group, donations from Jessica Perraton from Yacht Charter Company (a regular J105 racer on Jamaica me Crazy), Susan Reisler, LUG Bags, and Todd Irving and again the generous Fleet 4 J105 owners who donated the boats for the participants to sail:

Early on the goal became to run a “Regatta for Women by Women” Felicity Rodness was the Regatta Chair, Kathy Pask as the Regatta J105 Organizer, Anne Sanderson as Race Committee and Lynne Beal as the Jury.

Close Competition

Photo courtesy of Jean Treadwell

On the day of the event, what looked like a no-wind day turned into champagne sailing and very tight competitive racing with boats finishing within seconds of each other in a total of four races. The skilled competitors and close finishes had the one of the largest spectator fleets cheering from the sidelines in which many said was some of the most competitive racing they’d watched.

Back on the lawn, the winners demo the “WO”  they added to the boat’s name Mandate to make “WOMandate

Each race saw a different winner and only 9 points separated first to sixth place.  In the end, Team WOMandate skippered by Sarah Douglas (just back from a 6th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics) and team Jenny Farrand, Mariah Millen, Ingrid Merry, Emily Merry, Ali Ten Hove and Mickey McLaughlin, who won the last race to edge out Team Hey Jude with Karen McRae skippering a team Charlotte de Heinrich, Laura Chalmers, Martha Henderson, Charlotte Scythes, Stephanie Hardes and Janine Clark in a tie breaker. 

Team Hey Jude – Karen McRae skipper –  finished 2nd

Team Sonic Boom, made up of team members Emily Sale, Brownyn Richardson, Joanne Prokop, Allison Boyd, Michelle Skutelsky, Kira Fulford and skipper Jen Patterson (Provan) finished 3^rd.  Full results here 

Party!

Once racing was finished the competitors transformed themselves from sweat and grit to glitz and glamour at the Tactics to Tiara sit-down dinner with a spectacular Island sunset. The success of every women sailor was celebrated from team biographies to team awards and each crew being personally introduced.

Next year’s Regatta Chairs, Michelle Skutelsky and Emily Sale will carry on the success of this fantastic event, that all believe has a very bright future.

2021 Ontario Women’s J105 Championships Regatta

Photos courtesy TillerTakes tillertakes.com