Long Sault, ON – Many yacht clubs are steeped in tradition. The Stormont Yacht Club (SYC) is no different. The original Enduro Race was a 24-Hour Race in dinghies. It started in the mid 1970s and ran 3-4 years. Usually six to eight boats participated with boats from SYC and other clubs. In the final year a nasty storm came through during the night and unfortunately brought the Enduro to a stop.
Fast forward to 2019 and then Fleet Captain, Paul Rodrigue, had a vision to resurrect the race. After seeing the Enduro Trophy at the club he knew he had to do something. The dinghies have been replaced with keelboats and the 24-hour timeframe would become 12-hours. In the summer of 2019 the Enduro race came back to life. Four boats ventured into the bay to start a 12-hour race around Sheek Island. The boat that completed the most laps around Sheek and passing in front of the clubhouse won. Even with COVID restrictions, SYC was able to successfully run the race in 2020 and 2021.
SYC is proud to say that the tradition continued with Enduro 2022! Very light winds would welcome 4 boats out into the SYC bay at 11am October 1 for the start. Mattea (Skipper Lynn-Marie Legault and crew Cory Petrie), Knot Normal (Skipper Scott Smith and crew Jeff Ridal), Essoin (Skipper Chris Williamson and crew Nathalie Desrosier) and Sylphide I (Skipper John Becker and crew Matt Becker, Matthew Ogonoski & Gabe Rosenbaum) were ready to get started.
They would race until 11pm and the boat with the most laps around Sheek Island would be declared the winner. Winds were so light that spinnakers were needed almost immediately. It would be 5 hours before the first boat would make it around the marker in front of the clubhouse.
The winds finally started to pick-up around 8pm and all boats reported great sailing reaching over 7 knots. Mattea crew member, Cory Petrie, reported waves past the markers in Devils Waters. The adrenaline started to kick in!
By 8:20pm Mattea and Essoin had completed 3 laps. Mattea completed her 4th lap at 9:30pm with Essoin only a couple of minutes behind. It was still a race to the finish! As we got closer to 11pm a boat crossed the mark but the support crew on the ground could not completely identity which boat. Was it Mattea or Essoin?
After some confusion and radio communication, Mattea was declared the winner at 11:10pm with Skipper Lynn-Marie Legault and crew, Cory Petrie. A hot meal was awaiting our exhausted but happy sailors in the clubhouse. What a day!
Mattea’s Skipper exclaimed: Mattea exceeded my expectations and clocked in at 7.3knts! Nightime with very high winds, big waves and little or no visibility, we were on a run. With an accidental jibe the banging of the boom, the sails lufting, the noise was deafening and it was eerie in the darkness.
For more information on SYC membership visit https://www.stormontyachtclub.ca/. The club is located at 17 Robin Road in Long Sault.
