Sailing against stiff competition largely from the U.S. college ranks, Amy DesBrisay and Kate Thomas sailed hard in tough conditions but fell short of their goal of a top 50% of the fleet finish – a result that would have qualified them to sail in the World Youth Championships in Turkey this summer.  

Amy and Kate were the only Canadian girls team to give qualifying a shot.  They had a few good races in the top half of the fleet, including a 13th place, but unfortunately some less stellar races held them back from attaining their goal.  But as lone Canadian girls, they can look at themselves proudly as trailblazers for other Canadian girls’ teams that, over the next few years,  will follow them in trying to meet the very tough Canadian Youth Team qualification standards set by the Canadian Yachting Association.

Adam Taylor and Daniel Baker of the Lunenberg Yacht Club in Nova Scotia were the top Canadian team at the regatta, finishing 32nd in the fleet of 86 and, as such, Adam and Daniel are off to Turkey to represent Canada in the boys 420 class of the World Youth Championships.  A huge congratulations to Adam and Dan.

Amy and Kate have trained with Adam and Dan in Nova Scotia.  The boys also came to Kingston this past Summer to sail in the CORK regatta and they beat all comers including a contingent of Americans, a significant confidence booster for the talented duo.  Adam and Dan will represent Canada well in Turkey and will be great ambassadors for their country.

For Amy and Kate, the Regatta was a good learning experience.  They participated for the second time in this international regatta against some seriously good sailors from all across the States.  They attended the Regatta with 3 other Ontario teams and two teams from Nova Scotia, all coached by Canadian Olympic team 470 sailor Oliver Bone.  Oliver gave all of his charges great feedback and lots of encouragement, all of which contributed greatly to the experience.  From a Club perspective, what the girls pick up from these experiences, they will be able to pass on to their fellow SLSC sailors in Summers to come.  

Kudos to Amy and Kate for being such sailing adventurers.  They have done our Club proud.

A Brief History

It is called the America’s Cup after the boat America, which in 1851 obliterated the 14 fastest British boats in a race around the Isle of Wight, winning the trophy that would become the America’s Cup.  Since then the America’s Cup has featured some of the most famous races in sailing history. It is the oldest trophy in international sport, too much history for me to cover here.  If you want more America’s Cup History.

Race Format

The America’s Cup is raced in a format called match racing.  There are only two boats on the course, racing only against each other and not the clock.  The tactics employed are very different from traditional fleet racing.  The format produces some amazing close races that make great TV viewing.  The format even has its own set of match racing rules, which if you are knew to this racing  format are good to know.

The Boats

The America’s Cup races have been sailed in an eclectic style of boats.  In my mind the most famous match up being the first America’s Cup held in San Diego, of a 18 metre catamaran Stars and Stripes against the massive 27 metre monohull New Zealand.   This bizarre match up marked the end of the 12-metre era of racing and would see the era of the America’s Cup class arrive.  For the 33rd America’s Cup the boats again are going to be a wild match up, the size of boat set to be 30 X 30 metres, with both teams choosing multi-hull designs.  Expect some very fast racing.

How to Watch

It sadly looks like there will be no live TV coverage of the race in North America, but live streaming via the official site will be available for free.  Racing is in Europe so you will have to be up early to see them.  So here are a list of other places to get some information, video and photos of the racing.

• Official America’s Cup Site – features latest news, loads of photos and live coverage
• Cup Info – features news coverage and photos
• America’s Cup News - news coverage

I hope you will take the time to check out what shaping up to be the fastest America’s Cup ever.

James Wisener

Hosted by Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne, Australia, Sail Melbourne officially kicked off the second season of ISAF’s Sailing World Cup. Conditions on Port Philip Bay were outstanding with winds in the upper teens and huge waves greeting the international competitors.

The Laser class was the most hotly contested class at this year’s event with 43 competitors from 19 nations. The international flavour was evident after the first days racing with 8 countries in the top 10 overall in the Laser class.

Leigh claimed victory in the Laser class, with his fourth place in the Medal Race enough to give him a two-point win over American Clayton Johnson.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better Medal Race,” said Leigh. “I kind of figured that Clayton and I would have a little bit of a pre-start match race, we were playing cat and mouse out there. But once we got underway he went left and I went right and I just had him at the top mark.”

“It was tight the whole way and came right down to the final downwind, there was nothing between the ten of us the whole race,” he said.

Beijing Paralympic gold medallist, Canadian Paul Tingley won the final 2.4mR race, and in the process won the regatta ahead of Michael Leydon (AUS) with Peter Russell (AUS) third.
 

“Today was great, I won the race and won the regatta,” said Tingley. “The wind was a little more consistent and it was more about boat handling out there, going into the race I kept it simple, I knew if I could win the race the overall win would be mine as well.”

“I started at the pin end and had good speed off the start, I made sure I protected the left and covered Michael throughout the first half of the race until I had a good lead,” he said.
 

See the action first hand at http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/home.html

Footnote:  Information from CYA website

The Youth Worlds is ISAF’s longest running event, having been held every year since 1971.  Over the past 10 years the Youth Worlds has grown in size and is now consistently attracting around  250 sailors from 60 nations.  Open to competitors aged 18 and under in the year of the championship, it is now firmly established as the world’s leading event for youth sailors.

For the 420 class, the selection regatta for the Canadian team is the U.S. MidWinter Championship Regatta being held at Jansen Beach, Florida from February 12 to 15.  Canada will send a maximum of one all boy and one all girl 420 crew to the Youth Worlds.  To qualify, a 420 team must be the top age eligible Canadian crew plus finish in the top 50% of an experienced and extremely competitive fleet at the U.S. Midwinters.  No Canadian girl team has ever met the required selection criteria to represent Canada in the 420 class.

Greg Tawaststjerna, then an SLSC sailor,  twice represented Canada in the World Youth regatta in the early 1970’s when the regatta was in its infancy.  Greg sailed a Laser.  This year, almost 40 years later,  Amy DesBrisay and Kate Thomas will be among the group of Canadian sailors seeking a spot on the team, sailing in the 420 Class. 

For those sailors that meet the selection standards,  it will be off to Istanbul, Turkey, in July.  Istanbul is the host of the 2010 Youth Worlds. This year’s Youth Worlds will include a celebration of the 40th anniversary edition of the championship.  What an experience that would be!

An invitation and much encourgement is extended to our Sturgeon community of twirlers and scrubs, toddlers and seniors, watchers and skaters, puck carryers and stay at home defence types: come out for some off sailing season exercise and much chatter and some banter.  For more information, car pooling, directions and advice on matters of import or otherwise, call Larry at 887-2821 anytime after the 26th of December from 5:30 a.m. (when he gets up to make coffee for Leslie) to 9:15 pm (when he brushes his teeth and climbs into bed).

The Commodore

Amy and Kate are off to Jansen Beach Florida in February to sail in the Club 420 U.S. Midwinter Championships, the selection regatta for the 2010 Canadian Youth Team.  In Florida, other members of the Development Team from Buffalo Canoe Club and Royal Hamilton Yacht Club will be joining the girls along with a contingent of sailors from Nova Scotia.  The Canadian sailors will be coached by Canadian Olympic 470 sailor Oliver Bone.

Congratulations to the girls on making the Development Team and good luck to them in Florida.

http://game.finckh.net/indexe.htm

I am thrilled to report that, the day after Toronto won the bid for the Pan Am Games, SLSC has won its bid to play host to the 2010 National Laser Masters Championships.  On Saturday November 7, the North American Laser Class Association approved SLSC’s bid to hold the National Championships (a three day regatta) from Friday July 23 to Sunday July 25.

Being chosen to host this regatta is an honour for our little (but mighty) club.  In our application to the Association, we emphasized our long history of Laser racing and as host of Laser events.  This is what we told the Association as part of our covering email:  “We have had many years of hosting Laser sailors at our regattas.  Since 1972, our Club has hosted the Mid Ontario Championship Regatta, one of the consistently largest Laser regattas in the province.  In 2008, we hosted the Provincial Laser Masters Championship Regatta.  In 2009, we were the host of the District 3 Laser and Radial Championship Regatta…Our Club has a reputation for fine hospitality.  Our regattas are a community effort and we would welcome the opportunity to play hosts to the Canadian Masters in 2010.”

Rob Koci, who was copied on our application, added his two cents worth in support.  Rob sent an email to the North American Association that contained the following:  “And may I add my approbations to [SLSC's application].  Sturgeon Lake Sailing Club is one of the most hospitable clubs in District 3, and to make matters even better, close to the best, if not the best, at ensuring top quality, consistent race committee work.  I heartily endorse this club as an excellent choice to host the Laser Masters Canadians.  The regatta will be a pleasant memory for all who attend for years to come.” (editor’s note: ‘approbations’  is  a fine word).

So we have our work set out for us:  to host Canadian and international Lasers sailors the only way we know how – A community effort, lots of input from lots of people, and welcoming enthusiasm like no other host club.  Masters sailing is so great because it is a celebration of sailing as a lifelong activity and, in Richard Roberts, we have our own international level Master sailor to cheer on. 

This will be a smaller regatta in terms of numbers of sailors than our Mids Regatta, but the quality of the sailing and the depth of the sailors’ experience will be a treat to watch.

We are proposing to provide beds for the Masters sailors and their spouses at cottages and to provide communal dinners and breakfasts ashore and sustenance on the water for sailors.   All this will require that  full community effort of volunteers of which I spoke: registration folk, race commitee people, safety boat operators, lunch makers, dinner and breakfast cooks, servers, the results  team, the harbour master crew, traffic cops and direction providers, sign erectors, and bed suppliers among others.  The planning will begin early in the new year and we are looking for donators of beds for weary masters and helping hands to complete our tasks.  Please send offers of both to info@slsc.ca.

Thanks in advance for your help in what I know will be another memorable SLSC event of which we can be proud.

Hugh

“ My family says I’m permanently arrested at the sailing instructor level of development. What follows are my reflections on the locations, changes, experiences, and lessons learned over five decades:

1950’s
As a barefoot kid in Pine Beach, N.J., I got a “teaser” ride with a bunch of kids on a Lightning. I loved it, but couldn’t afford the $5 to join the junior program, so for the rest of the summer I watched from the beach. This fanned the fire to sail, and led to the first lesson: Make junior sailing accessible.

1960’s
During a high school summer, I sold myself as a sailing instructor to a summer camp in New Hampshire. (No US Sailing Certificates then.) After preparing by memorizing the “Golden Book of Sailing,” I got the kids safely sailing Sunfish dinghies. But the key discovery was integrating water games with the sailing. For most 10 year olds, pirate, sponge tag, bucket attack, etc., are far more fun than racing–but sailing well improved each team’s attack. The second lesson: Make it fun.

As a college student, I took a summer job on the south shore of Long Island at a club with a hot new fleet of International 420s, complete with trapeze and spinnaker. That was the third and easiest lesson. Sailing fast is more fun (and trapezing beats hiking).

The summer before medical school, I landed a job as the head instructor at Royal Bermuda YC. A summer in Bermuda, accompanied by my Finn Dinghy, was a wonderful experience. Competing in the Finn Gold Cup against the likes of Paul Elvstrom was icing on the cake. Lesson #4: Keep the instructor happy and let him or her race every now and then.

1970’s
On the Charles River in urban Boston-Cambridge, MIT had a great racing program—sailing tubby Tech Dinghies. As a busy medical student and resident, this was the only sailing I had time to do. Soon I learned that the slow Tech made the “small pond” much bigger, and proved the next lesson (#5): Competition is what makes good racing, not the boat.

My move to San Francisco occurred at the birth of the local Laser phenomenon. Don Trask built Lasers and junior sailors sailed them to their limits. John Bertrand, Jeff Madrigali, Paul Cayard, Craig Healy, and many others pushed each other such that the whole group excelled. They went on to win world championships, proving the next lesson (#6): When kids are ready, challenge them against the best.

1980’s
The most competitive kids from all over the Bay Area took advantage of the StFYC’s Junior Program because it offered the only full-time coach and the best racing opportunities. The team traveled to regattas near and far, with logistical support and coaching; it had great success. The lesson (#7): To succeed at the top, there must be a good coach.

1990’s
Other yacht clubs with good beginner programs built stronger upper level programs with coaches and traveling teams. The kids that started with them stayed. High school sailing teams aligned their kids with the club near their school. The high school regatta schedule filled spring and fall weekends that had been used for open (Laser) competitions. [With other clubs having built their racing programs at the top], the number of highly competitive juniors joining StFYC dwindled. The lesson (#8): Successful junior programs build from beginner to advanced levels.

2000s
By 2000, the Optimist Dinghy arrived on the Bay. It offered an international class that was inexpensive and far more forgiving in Bay conditions that the El Toro. Where previously most StFYC beginner instruction took place at Tinsley, beginner Opti sailing expanded at the City Front. Upper level Opti kids began traveling to highly competitive regattas. The Opti was a great overall change, but by creating a racing format for very young kids, it discouraged other kids who were just too young.

The 29er skiff created another opportunity. It is a high speed trainer for the Olympic 49er, a boat that relishes the Bay’s conditions. For kids 12 and over who have grown too big for an Opti, it offered a fun, fast platform and great competition. I’ve had the joy of racing a 29er with both of my kids, and with a number of other juniors, and witnessed how it reinvigorated their interest in sailing. This lesson hasn’t changed in 50 years: There is no substitute for FAST and FUN…

The Future
Fifty years ago, sailing wasn’t accessible to me, and today that is true for most local kids. Under the Club’s new lease, it’s obligated to extend junior opportunities to non-members through community outreach programs. With the generous support of the StFYC Foundation, a variety of options are planned, including the following: 1) day sails on the Blue Water Foundation’s IOR sloop, 2) scholarships to our City Front programs, 3) enlarged and diversified HS sailing practices, and 4) beginner windsurfing clinics.

Having learned all these lessons, the plan now is to put it all together. Look for more kids on the docks and around the junior room. It’s the future of the Club.”