Boat Handling Demo

October 28, 2009 – 12:59 pm
Here is a youtube video that shows basic boat handling in a Club 420.  Watch it carefully and you might pick up something. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccpu7luV-kQ

Some of the Lessons from 50 Years of Junior Sailing

October 18, 2009 – 3:55 pm
These are excerpts from the reflections of Paul Heineken, Junior Committee Chair of the St. Francis Yacht Club  in San Francisco, CA based on 50 years of junior club sailing experience.  The excerpts are from an article which appears in this week's Scuttlebut website (see link below).  I thought the reflections were worth a read as we think about how best to get us all sailing and having fun doing it: " 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 ...

Koci Reports on Masters Experience

October 14, 2009 – 1:38 pm
Rob Koci, who was this year's winner of the Mid Ontario Radial class, spent two years preparing for the World Masters Championships held in Halifax this past September.  Rob had set himself a goal of winning the Grand Master Radial Championship - to be the best in the World and recognized as such in Halifax.  He threw himself into training and drove all over North America to compete.  There was rarely a regatta that our team attended, from Ottawa to Sarnia to Florida,  where Rob was not also there and rarely a regatta for which we were absent where his name did not pop up in the result sheet .  He trained and he sailed and he posted regular diary entries on the Laser District 3 website of the ups and downs, hopes and aspirations of having set a goal and worked towards achieving it.  He didn't win in Halifax.  Despite some fabulous races ...

Fall CORK Marks End of a Great Season of Racing

September 23, 2009 – 1:48 pm
This past weekend, members of the SLSC Race Team, instructors and past instructors took to the usually rough waters off Portsmouth Harbour in Kingston for the end of season grand finally Fall CORK regatta.  This year Fall CORK was also Ontario Sailing's Provincial Championships for Laser, Radial, Club 420, 29er and Optimist classes, capping off the Ontario Sailing 2009 season series. Well, although the competition was great, the winds were not CORKlike and the weekend turned out to be a lightwind and patchy affair.  In the Club 420 class, the Regatta pitted sailors from Ontario against each other, and others from Nova Scotia and Quebec...and the Maritimers proved that they come from a good seafaring stock by taking the CORK Gold medal  (Adam Taylor and Dan Baker) and the Silver medal (Henry Machum and Andrew Burns).  In the Ontario Championship, it was Adam McDonald and Rhys Cameron of Buffalo Canoe Club taking top ...

SLSC Sailors Qualify For Provincial Championships

September 17, 2009 – 6:18 pm
The Amy DesBrisay/Kate Thomas and Owen Thomas/Sean Clynch teams have been selected by virtue of their race records this summer to participate in the Ontario Sailing Provincial Championships which are taking place this weekend.  The Championship will be sailed at Fall CORK out of Portsmouth Harbour in Kingston where the winds normally blow this time of year.  The Regatta will be the OS Provincial Championships for each of the 29er,  420, Laser,  Radial and Optimist classes.  The top 420 crew of those that have qualified will be crowned Ontario Sailing's 2009 Provincial 420 Champions.  In the Championship, our qualified sailors will face stiff competition for the Ontario crown from crews from the Buffalo Canoe Club (Adam MacDonald and Rhys Cameron), Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (Will Jones and Kevin Wiersman), Burlington Sailing & Canoe Club (Emma DeLeew and Victoria Restivo),  Sail Parry Sound (Andrew Parkes and Stephen Winkworth) and others.  Good luck to our guys ...

Masters Worlds drift to an End

September 6, 2009 – 1:34 pm
After 18 days of competition, the Laser Worlds drifted to an end Saturday on St. Margaret’s Bay with races abandoned because of shifty and light winds.  "It’s a disappointing last day," admitted event manager Duncan Enman, "but both the Seniors and Masters had some incredible racing days on St. Margaret’s Bay." For Grand Master Richard Roberts, the abandoned races secured for him an outstanding top 10 in the World for the Radial class against international competitors from Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and the U.S.  This is a truly great accomplishment and one that rewards Richard for the enthusiasm with which he has taken up his training and racing in preparation for this event.  It clearly showed in the results and Richard has done our club proud. For Rob Koci, the abandonement of races took away his medal opportunity and his shot, albeit a long one, to be crowned ...

Masters Are Nearing the End

September 5, 2009 – 1:29 pm
If there was a perfect day for sailing, it was Friday on St. Margaret’s Bay just outside Halifax, NS. For the 300 athletes from 27 countries competing in the 2009 Nautel Laser Master World Championships, the day provided ideal conditions for racing. Under sunny skies and with a steady breeze of 16 to 18 knots, it was a day to test endurance, skill and strength. ...And on that perfect day, Richard Roberts moved up one spot in the Radial Grand Masters Fleet to top ten, with two fine finishes of  9th and 11th.  Richard and the other Masters have one more day of racing; for Richard, one more day to hold that top 10 in the world status.  It makes those of us who have sufferred defeat for years at the hands of Richard feel much better. For Rob Koci, whose exploits have been followed on this site, it was a very good ...

Masters at Sea – With Wind…

September 4, 2009 – 9:47 am
The sea breeze returned to St. Margaret's Bay - and with an early start all fleets got two races in on Day Five of the Masters' World Laser Championships.  Under sunny skies and winds up to 16 knots, it is reported to have been an excellent day on the bay.  Our Richard Roberts inched up in the Grand Masters' Radial Fleet overall standings to 11th, knocking on the door of top 10.  Richard had a 23rd in the first race of the day, his drop race, and an excellent 8th in the second race of the day, his best finish to date.  Our friend, Rob Koci had a less good day with a 3rd followed by a 22nd, a finish that he cannot drop because he had an OCS earlier in the regatta, in a race where he had crossed the finish line in first.  For Rob this last race of the day ...