For the Love of an 8-Meter

In late spring 2023, Steve Reid, the Ontario, Canada-based owner and skipper of the modern 8-Meter-class sloop YQUEM, was forced, while racing, into a series of fast maneuvers off Toronto Islands that resulted in a collision that sank the historic 8-Meter SEVERN II. Although the event was traumatic for all involved, nobody was hurt, and the recovery that followed was remarkable.

It was a brilliant day with winds gusting between 15 and 20 knots; the seas were lumpy but not concerning. “The collision,” Reid recalled two months later, “was probably the result of a whole bunch of things that started going wrong.” The boats were on the first downwind leg of a double windward-leeward course. “We were hot on the heels of LAFAYETTE—another modern ’glass 8-Meter—and we’d been battling with them the whole downwind leg.”

LAFAYETTE was heading for the downwind turning mark but apparently mistook the finish mark—positioned in the same area of the course—for the turning mark and went for that instead. “All of a sudden, we realized that the [turning mark] was actually now upwind of us. So, we quickly got rid of the chute and turned the boat around.”

When YQUEM arrived at the mark, she was crowded in with another fleet and had to dodge and weave, eventually jibing. The jibe left Reid and his crew in a mess and working feverishly to bring the main in and get the boat into upwind trim. It took 10 critical seconds while they were on port tack. “I’ve counted it out on the video of the accident. We were concentrating on getting the boat going and didn’t even see SEVERN II coming across on starboard.” SEVERN II was steered by her owner, Cedric Gyles Jr.

YQUEM was forced to sail by the lee to get around the mark. They jibed around to start going upwind on port tack. “In a normal situation, there wouldn’t be a boat coming from that area—but there they were. We saw them a second before the impact. At that point we really couldn’t do anything. If we’d headed up, we’d have still got hit, and if we’d borne off, we’d have hit him head on. We were trapped. That’s how the collision happened.”

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