Delta Lloyd Regatta, Holland

A group of 12 sailors from Royal Van competed this year in the Delta Lloyd Regatta from May 15th to 26th. (the SPA regatta)

This is the 4th year we've attended the event and seem to get a bigger group each year.

Race Team members were: Alanna and Isabella in the Radial , Andy, Kevin, Alexander H, Chris T, Luke and Abe in the Standard Rig. John Romanko in the Finn, Mike L in the Laser , Zak , Nicola on Boards were also competing.
(Kevin Black and Jason Rhodes were there coaching)

The weather cooperated and we had winds ranging from light but consistent to quite heavy on the final day, it was sunny a majority of the time. We rented 2 cottages down the road from the sailing site and had a good time cooking at home and playing cards or backgammon in the evenings.

This was the first time for Kevin, Alana, Chris and Alex and I believe they were surprised how much racing you get for your money at these European events!

This regatta is known for it's excellent race committee work and didn't disappoint this year. Races got off on time and 13 races were sailed by the Lasers and the Radials.

Alex and Chris are both just 16 years old and performed well above expectations with windward mark roundings in the top 10 at least once.

Mike Leigh excelled again after a slow start and finished 7th overall. He really is world class at this point!

All in all a enjoyable trip to Holland , we'll be back next year.

See results @ www.hollandregatta.org

Sigrid has all our pictures from the event.

Al

Opening Day 2008

The rain held off for the Race Team's sail by for this years sail past.

We had a big group of Opti's out with Tine leading the charge.

A smaller group of Lasers and Radials came out.

Commodore Cina Chen led the group with Kyle Martin as the closer.

Those that did sail were enthusiastic , with some of the newer members of the team participating.

Gabe had his brand new boat out for its christening sail.

Gorden Cook and Ben Remoker (Royal Van Olympic Rep) sailed there 49er .

AL

John Romanko Wins the Elvstrom Regatta in San Fransico

"Congratulations to the Canadian John Romanko who traveled all the way
from Vancouver to win the 2008 Isadore Zellerbach Perpetual Trophy. He
becomes the first sailor to win the Elvstrom Zellerbach in both a FINN
and a LASER having won in the Laser in 2006. In a tie breaker, John
beat 2002, 2005, and 2007 winner Darrell Peck who is also the current
North American and Masters North American Champion. 2007 FINN National
Champion Andy Casey finished third. We had 17 FINNS on the line sailing
two races Saturday and three races Sunday. I think all would agree that
by the end of race number five on Sunday we were thoroughly exhausted.
It was definitely a windy series."
Jeffrey S. Allen
FINN USA 27

Results are @ -file:///C:/DOCUME~1/OURVAL~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/1209941990361.htm

Images of Lasers and Radials from the Spring Dingys Regatta
Kevin, Alexander and Ricardo
Isabella, Diego and Jaime

The Spring Dinghy Champs - Victoria

This past weekend, the team traveled to Victoria for the Spring Dinghy Champs, hosted by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Saturday was light and a little bit rainy, with winds out of the North from the top of Cadboro Bay. The Lasers managed to get one race off, while all the other fleets on that course ended up abandoned for the day.
On the Opti course, there were 4 races held. They stayed out after the other fleets went in for the day and had 3 races in a southerly wind.

Sunday was another light day, with the wind starting out from the North, and throughout the day shifting right until it was coming from the south west. We managed to get 3 races off, in very light tricky conditions, with a strong current adding to the difficulty.
The Optis had 3 more races on Sunday, finishing up the regatta with 7 races.

Royal Van had a great showing with Ricardo Montemayor winning the Laser Full rig fleet, Diego Reyes winning the Laser Radial fleet, and Alex Shepard placed 1st in the 4.7's.

The results are posted at:
http://www.rvyc.bc.ca/results/1209944674.htm

We are back training at home now for a week or so, and then part of the team is off to Medemblik, Holland for the grade one event, the Delta Lloyd Regatta.