‘We want to win’: Sailors chase national titles at Charlottetown Race Week

Sailors from across Canada and the U.S. gathered in Charlottetown to compete for national titles. Maria Sarrouh reports.

CHARLOTTETOWN - Sailors from across Canada and the United States gathered in Charlottetown this week for three days of competition with two national titles on the line.

The first races began Thursday under bright skies and light winds, with roughly 35 boats and their crews taking part across several fleets.

The J/70 and Etchells classes are competing for Canadian titles. For some, the event is also part of a bid to qualify for world championships in 2027.

“We want to win,” said Kelly Hansen, from London, Ont., with a laugh.

Hansen is at the helm of a J/70 – a small racing keelboat built mostly from fibreglass. His team includes one sailor from Rochester, N.Y., and two from Annapolis, Md., whom he met on the racing circuit.

It is a one-design class, meaning all the boats are built to the same specifications, with limits on what can be changed. That means results come down to preparation, skill and a little luck.

“It’s very, very close,” Hansen said. “You can get to a finish line around four boats and be either first or fourth, like within inches.”

About half the boats travelled from other provinces, but many of the sailors taking part are from P.E.I.

At the Charlottetown Yacht Club, Islander Stephen LeClair was rigging a boat owned by his longtime friend Randy Johnson. As bowman, he runs the foredeck and, in simple terms, helps “make the sails go up and down.”

“This is our sport,” LeClair said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I really enjoy it.”

The crew has raced together for nearly three decades in the J/29 class. LeClair said the boat can reach 13 or 14 knots, or roughly 24 to 26 km/h, under the right conditions.

Like others, he was hoping to finish first, though getting there has become more challenging.

“The competition really has gotten stronger over the years,” LeClair said. “So now, firsts are hard-earned victories.”

The sailors come from “all walks of life,” said Jim Thompson, Charlottetown Race Week chair.

“A lot of these people are ordinary folks. They’re carpenters. They’re house inspectors and electricians, engineers, nurses,” Thompson said. “They just love getting on the boats and racing with this high-tech gear.”

For more than 180 years, Charlottetown has hosted the mid-summer regatta in various forms. In 1874, it drew fast boats from towns and settlements along the coast. Over the years, commercial fishermen and professional sailors have competed alongside weekend sailors.

“They used to set up a grandstand on the waterfront,” Thompson said. “People would all sit on the grandstand and watch all the racing in the harbour.”

Now, the boats are more technical and faster, and the races unfold farther out. But Islanders and tourists still watch from shorelines around the Charlottetown Harbour.

For those on the water winning is far from the only reward.

“We come to these cool places,” Hansen said.

“I love getting out there on the water, and it’s just a great time with great people,” LeClair said.