On Monday July 14^th the Ontario Sailing Team van and trailer, laden with boats, spars and gear, began the journey westward to California for three major Laser/Radial regattas.  Dan Sprague and Evan Lewis drove the trailer out and arrived in San Francisco on July 17^th.  The first few days of sailing were used to acclimatize to the cool and windy San Francisco conditions in preparation for the North American Championships.  Prior to the regatta, all of the athletes participated in a training camp hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club and coached by Mike Kalin (CST), Bernard Luttmer (CST), Dave Wright (CST) and Brendan Casey.  This helped all the sailors fine tune their sailing and gain some local knowledge for sailing in the San Francisco Bay .  After four days and eleven races, in wind from 12 to 25 knots and a variety of tidal conditions, Canadian sailors took six of the top 10 places – Dave Wright 1^st, Bernard Luttmer 2^nd, Evan Lewis 7^th, Lee Parkhill 8^th, Chris Dold 9^th.   Click for Results  

 

After the North Americans, St. Francis Yacht Club hosted the Heavy Weather Laser Slalom.  This was a three day, double elimination slalom to test sailors’ boat handling as well as nerves.  All of the competitors were treated to classic San Francisco conditions making for some challenging racing. 

 

The second regatta, Pacific Coast Championships, was held at the Monterey Yacht Club.  Monterey is two hours south of San Francisco and is open to the Pacific Ocean , which allows large waves to form over the course of the day.  During the three days of racing nine races were sailed in much lighter conditions than San Francisco .  There were seven Canadians in the top including Chris Dold 3^rd, Lee Parkhill 7^th, and Evan Lewis 8^th.  In the Radial class, Claire Merry finished 3^rd.  Click for Results

 

The final California regatta was the US National Championships held at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach .  Prior to the regatta the team trained with the RVYC team.  During the regatta we had several races in the typical Long Beach sea breeze, which produced big winds and big waves as well as a couple light races to provide an all-round test of skill.  After three days and nine races there were six Canadians in the top ten including Chris Dold 1^st, Lee Parkhill 2^nd and Evan Lewis 8^th.

 

After thirty days in California and three regattas the team accumulated a total of six trophies and ten top 10 finishes!  We would like to extend thanks to Dan Sprague for his time driving to and from California and his on-water support.  An additional thanks to Ontario Sailing for their support with equipment and resources, which made this trip possible.  Click for Results

 

The challenging winds of Hamilton Harbour have once again proven that it’s a great place to hold a regatta when in early August the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club played host to the 43rd Shark World Championships. Forty-six Sharks, including two teams from Austria and one from Germany played the lifts and knocks in nine races over five days including a long-distance race on Lake Ontario.

The sailors from Germany and Austria using loaner boats demonstrated their sailing skills by finishing in the top third of the 44 competitors competing for the title of Shark Class World Champion. Other skippers and crew came anywhere from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Ottawa and Montreal and points in between.

The new World Champion is Dave Foy from Britannia YC, sailing ‘Crazy Ivan’. In second place was ‘Shark Poop’, skippered by John Koppernaes out of Nepean YV, third was Duck Soup, with John Dakin at the helm and representing Mimico Cruising Club. Fourth went to the Shark Meltemi from Kingston YC with Peter van Rossem driving. Rounding out the top five was Jeremy Crowder from RHYC aboard