Laser Worlds 2009

A strong team of Royal Van sailors qualified for the mens Senior Worlds Championships.

Mike Leigh, Luke Ramsay, Abe Torchinsky, Andy Wong, Ricardo Montemayor and Alex Heinzman.

The regatta was preluded by ten days of training , with upward of a hundred competitors doing "rabbit" starts. fantastic training, especially for the Jr members of the group.

The event was started in perfect sunshine and a eighteen knot sea breeze. Two races were sailed and the results were good for Mike and a few of the others.

The second day dawned with a dense fog, we went out and tried racing thruout the day but in the end one race was held that remained and the other was tossed in a protest , all in all the day was a near loss for most.

The Saturday morning we saw a solid 18 plus knots of breeze and a schedule of three races.
All the money was on the line on this day. The fleet was to be split into Gold , Silver and Bronze.

Mike sailed very well and entered the gold fleet portion of the event in 7th, Luke and Abe had touger days and were in the middle of silver fleet, Andy, Alex and Rick were at their first worlds and were in the bronze fleet.

After the final qualifying day we had to store the boats away indoors in anticipation of a hurricane, (that never amounted to much). Three 75 minute qualifying races with a few hours of putting boats away made for some very tired sailors by days end.

The Sunday was alot of waiting for the hurracane to blow thru then monday was more waiting on the water for wind that never appeared.

Finnally we were back to racing on the Tuesday with 3 good races, (10-14 kts) and then 2 races on the final day in 14 to 18 kts.
Both of these days we sailed out thru the fog to find our race course.

The final scores showed the top sailors being at the top and the rest falling in line. This is , in my opinion, the tougest sailing regatta on the planet and the sailor that wins it must be skilled and fit in every possible way.

Mike Leigh had a very solid event finishing 10th, Luke finished 6th and Abe 10th in silver , Rick, Alex and Andy gained valuable experience for their next wortlds.

A sucessful event that was tough because we had plenty of delays and our share of fog, but not unusual.

next year the worlds are in the UK and the team is off to more events to try and qualify.

Al

Canada Games 2009

Day 1

The first day of racing took place in light to no wind in PEI. We started the first race with a solid 6 knots which lasted for one race for the double and single handed sailors. Both the fleets races a second race, the double handed finished the race, the single handed did not finish, it was cancelled half way through.

In the 29'er, Jonathan Scott and Mark Pataky had a great day, finishing in 2nd and 3rd after having led in both races.
In the single handed classes, both Kevin Grierson and Isabella Bertold won their races. Kevin won by only a few inches over Nova Scotia while ISabella was far ahead despite being last at the start.

Day 2

The wind stayed longer today and we got 3 races in for the single handed sailors and 4 races for the double handed sailors. The light breeze which blew 4-7.5 knots and shifted left throughout the day gave for some good light air racing.

In the single handed class female class, Isabella Bertold continues to dominate and sits 1st overall with 3 first and one second place. She was over early in a start and went back with 3 other boats and sailed herself back to a close second race. In all the other races she as dominated from start to finish.

In the single handed men's class, Kevin Grierson sailed a solid 3 races and finished with a 3, 1 and a 4th. .

Jonathan Scott and Mark Pataky had a rougher day and are sitting 4th overall.

So far, Isabella is 1st overall, Kevin is 3rd with another 3 days of racing to go.

Day 3 at the Canada Games

The single handed sailors raced 3 excellent races with hiking conditions in all of them.

Isabella Bertold was over early in the first race, but went back and came back to win the race. She also won the next 2 races easily. She is sitting first with 6 points after having won 6 races and one second. There are 3 races to go.

Kevin Grierson finished second twice and won the last race. HE is also first overall, but tied in that spot with Nova Scotia.

Mark Pataky and Jonathan Scott got a 2,3,4 and are tied in third. One more race for them to sail today.
We have two more days to sail. We have a great team spirit and feel great about the way we are sailing.

Final Report

Canada Games 2009 is over with a complete series of races finished a day early.

Thursday gave us excellent breeze and our sailors worked hard to either extend their leads or hold on to a medal.

In the Laser Radial class, Isabella Bertold easily won the first 2 races and went in.

Kevin Grierson won all 3 races today with great distance and claimed the gold medal so Royal Van swiped the single handed gold medals.

In the 29er class Mark Pataky and Jonathan Scott got a 3-3-4-4 and got the bronze medal, well done!

The regatta was run by excellent race committees and our sailors and coaches are looking forward to 2 days with taking part in the games and watch other events.

For pictures and complete results, please go to www.teambc.org

Tine

Opti North Americans 2009

Event report by Alexander Fritz
North American Optimist Dinghy Championships, Boca Chica, Dominican Republic
June 26th to July 9th

After travel by bus to Seattle, flying overnight to Newark, NJ to meet up with some of the other Canadian team members, the final flight took us to Santo Domingo, DR. Boca Chica is just 15 minutes away from the Las Americana’s Airport, in the South West of the Island.

Arriving at the airport, it was hot and very humid. We arrived at the hotel Hoteur, which was accommodations as well as event site in one for all competitors, coaches and parents. While the hotel was older, rooms were ok and more importantly food was good and plenty. We were told not to leave the hotel grounds and in fact it had armed security guards all around, even at the beach where all the equipment and boats were stored. The people we met everywhere were very friendly though.

The Canadian team consisted of 11 sailors, the biggest in recent North American Optimist Championships for Canada, since there was no 2009 Canadian Euro team this year. Our coach was Fran Bellocchio from the Nova Scotia based “COAST” and Rhode Island based “FAST” Optimist teams. Fran arranged a 4-day on-site race clinic to get us used to the sailing area, and conditions. It also allowed us to checkout our boats early and we were first to measure everything.

Some other countries had already arrived for training, some as much as 2 weeks earlier, including from Japan, Germany, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

Where we initially thought we would sail inside the bay, behind a huge protective reef, we learned from the other teams quickly that in fact we would sail on the outside in open waters, which meant a long sail/tow as well as big 2+ meter swell and current. The swell was so bad that some sailors and later many parents on the spectator boats became seasick.

Winds during the training days were light – usually 8-10kn. With the steep swell it was tough to make the boat go fast, sometimes you couldn’t see the marks or other boats would come up on you last second. It was constantly steering up and down the waves.

It was also hot and humid, we all definitely had to hydrate and some of the sailors on many teams had trouble getting used to the conditions, having upset stomachs and trouble sleeping. During the event several sailors even ended up in the hospital for infusions.
The Opening Ceremonies were done on an old Military Base but very nice. Over 200 sailors attended the event from 26 different countries around the world. Overall everyone cared a lot for the sailors, they had even built huts for our gear and to provide shade at the beach and all kinds of food and fruits were plenty.

Racing days were long because of the daily tows out into deep water. Once the regatta started winds actually increased significantly, especially in the afternoon when on some days major local thunderstorms developed. The increased wind unfortunately also increased the short choppy waves developing white caps slapping into our Optimist from all directions and sail & bail was key.

Fran always setup a debrief after dinner with video footage of the day. We learned a lot from that and also laughed about some of our mistakes, its good to see yourself on TV doing things you don’t think you actually are doing, or doing good things you don’t realize. For example Fran had also taped one of my starts where all was going well except the last 5-8 seconds where I accelerated way faster then the boats around me and I got an OCS. Starts were very critical and many sailors were very aggressive.

On our lay-day the Canadian and Swiss teams together booked at trip on open trucks into the interior of the country, which is part rural, part jungle. We went to a big waterfall for swimming and a BBQ. Because it was Sunday it was crowded with local people.

While driving along the often gravel country roads, I was shocked about the poverty we saw and kids begging not for money but school supplies, simple pencils and paper, books. The Swiss team had anticipated that and came prepared. The truck would stop along the small villages and we all together handed out all kinds of things to kids often not even having shirts or shoes. It was certainly quite the contrast to us lucky kids sailing and being able to go to school at home.

Overall the event was very well organized and good facilities, going home I will miss the warm water and beautiful white sandy beach. I learned a lot, made a lot of new friends and certainly improved my sailing, especially the starts in a big fleet.

I also want to sincerely thank the RVYC Corinthian fund, which helps support my training and attending an international event like this. I hope I have the chance to go back to the Dominican Republic, and next time I will for sure bring lots of school supplies to hand out to the kids there.


Results @http://www.optinam2009.org/app/do/results_view.aspx?id=1123

Laser Europeans 2009

Mike Leigh , Abe Torchinsky and Ricardo Montemayer attended the Laser Europeans in Sweden from Aug 1 to 8th, with Kevin Black as their coach.

The group did a training camp in lake Garda the week prior with some world class sailors. All in preparation for the upcoming laser worlds in Halifax beginning Aug 20th.

It appeared to be generally a light air event that was hard fought with the best in the world in attendance. Mike ended up 20th with a few tough races and Abe 57th in the gold fleet.

Ricardo sailed in the youth europeans and ended up third in the under 19 portion of the regatta. A very good result! Way to go Rick!

Results are @ http://www.nordicweek.se/resultat_2009.asp

The boys fly direct to Nova Scotia for the build up to the Worlds.
We have a big team this year who have qualified: Mike, Abe , Rick, Luke Ramsay, Alex Heinzman and Andy Wong.

Kevin black will be coaching, Good Luck Guys !


Al

Opti Worlds daily report

We finally had a start and the first race got off with a mountain of OCSs in 5-6 knots. Max and Devan got off the line with excellent speed and space, while Linor and Laura were shot out the back and there is no catching up at the worlds. There are some very aggressive sailors on the line with regards to skulling, something Cameron experienced as a Polish sailor propelled away from him.

The jury catched one or two per start. Cameron also had a great start but was caught over early. There weree about 40 OCS boats in race 1. Race 1 was short with light air and shifts and puffs coming in from both sides. Our sailors got some of the shifts and missed others. The downwind stretch was tough too.

The second start was great for most of our sailors. Devan was in start one and struggeled a bit to get off the line. The rest of our team were front row. THe problems arose as the race progressed with no wind and puffs coming from the left. There were boats going upwind, downwind and reaching all within 100 metres of eachother. Max rounded the reachmark in first, but the wind collapsed and he lost 25 boats.

The last two fleets did not even complete the whole course, it was shortened at the bottom mark. All our sailors sailed their best race in race 2. We are back on shore with postponement, hoping for wind. As we are watching from our bed, it is glass out there. Cameron and Linor are the only ones who know their scores, they were both OCS in race 2. It was impossible for the others to tell as fleets were all mised up and coming together in huge lumps of different fleets.

The sprits are great, we are improving from one race to the next.

Hope to get another race in today.

Tine

Canadian Youth Championships, Victoria 2009

Aug 6th 2009

2009 Canadian youth championships Report
by Francois Hebert BC Provincial Coach.


The Royal Vancouver yacht club Laser race team was at the Canadian youth championships in Victoria BC from Aug 1st to 6th 2009.
Over 150 competitors from 7 provinces were competing at this event at Royal Victoria Yc. Light air predominated during the event with an average wind speed of 6 knots.
!3 Athletes from the Royal Van Race team were present in the Laser and Laser radial Classes.
Very tricky conditions were the story of the week here in Victoria. Strong tides combined with light and shifty winds made the game quite complex at times. The race committee did a great at getting the sailors racing. 15 races were completed in the 5 day series.

The smart sailors with consistent starts and slightly more conservative tactics did well.


Alex Heinzeman sailed a solid series, capitalizing on his local knowledge of Victoria, won the laser full rig with a 14pts lead. Ben Scott sailed well, however a few mistakes combined with an episode of food poisoning, kept him away from the top spot.

In the Laser radial male Dominic Fritz sailed a good series coming in 4th place only 2 pts from 3rd. Good tactical decision combined with good light air boat speed allowed him to reach this result.

In the Laser radial female Joanna Moore, despite a few inconsistencies and a protest, had a respectable top 5 finish, reaching her pre-regatta goal of top 6

Results:
Full Rig:

Alex Heinzeman 1st
Ben Scott 2nd
Kyle Martin 8th
Chris Tulip 9th
Sebastian Fritz 11th

Laser Radial Male

Dominic Fritz 4th
Eric Servais 6th
Tony Henderson 7th
Alex Kroitzsch 9th
Gabe Frame 13th

Laser Radial Female

Joanna Moore 5th
Natalia Montemayor 8th
Alex Ninow 10th

For Full Results see http://www.rvyc.bc.ca/results/1249600705.htm

Optimist Worlds 2009 , Brazil Update

Day one started with no wind, continued on with no wind and ended up with postponement back on shore. We started the day with breakfast and a coach's meeting. After a team meeting, the sailors were sent on the water in no wind. The wind came from the north at about 2 knots for 5 minutes at a time before dying every time. After a few hours of meeting new friends, eating (Cameron) and hanging out we learnt a few things: the lunches provided were not for people and that the water is extremely dirty. The sailors are not allowed to wash their boats with soap, so the dirt will just add up over the next 7 days.

Back on shore the sailors went in the pool and it is actually nice we have overcast so we do not get as hot. There is a slide with a great pool right beside the boats, so the sailors are getting wet regardless of lack of on water racing.

All our sailors are in great spirit. Speaking English and most of the sailors at least one more language helps in communicating with other nations. There are 47 nations present here. The sailors are divided into 6 groups, sailing against eachother two against two groups at a time.

We are hoping for better sailing tomorrow,

Tine

Optimist Worlds 2009 , Brazil

The first official day of sailing brought us 4-6 knots from 145 degrees which meant from over the hills in the small bay we are racing. The hills are steep and the wind comes down in puffs, making it a challenging place to sail with quick shifts from both sides of the course.

Our team plan was to go on the water 3 hours before the practice race for extra time, but the organizers had the ramp closed off so we had to wait with everybody else. As with most practice starts at Opti Worlds, the sailors are not just pushing the starting line a bit, they are miles over. This was also the case today, but all our Canadian sailors came back and the coaches organized for a third start where the coaches were on the line keeping the sailors back.

It was hard to tell how it went as sailors were joining in as they saw fit, but we learnt that even the heavier sailors can point high because of no waves and that the puffs came from the sides. We also learnt that the water boat (to give the sailors water on the water) never came and other minor things. The pin boat has a very long achor line despite the entire bay being 4 meters deep only.

One hour late, the opening ceremony started. The pictures will come soon. We looked like a great team with by far the best jackets. Our pants were left in the room, it was too hot. The opening ceremony was right on site, small and efficient compared to many the other years. Then we had a team meeting and a de-brief before dinner. We love the meet down here and are experiencing a new juice every day just about.

Stay tuned, racing starts tomorrow. We have not been told what fleet the sailors are in yet, hopefully they have that sorted out at the coach meeting in the morning.

Tine

Radial Worlds Photos

Women's Radial Worlds 2009

Royal Vancouver YC sent a team of women sailors to the Radial Worlds in Karatsu,Japan this year.

The group consisted of Keamia Rasa , Isabella Bertold and Jennifer Spalding.

We flew from Vancouver on July 18th to Tokyo and traveled to Karatsu via a local flight and a subway, instantly appreciating the heat and humidity of Japan in the summer months.

The plan was to arrive for the early boat charter and get as much time on the water to be acclimated to the local conditions. Isabella came a few days later on route from the Youth Worlds in Brazil (she finished 4th!).
I had chartered a coach boat and we were on the water by the 20th, giving us a week to get sorted.

We trained with the other Canadian women as well as some of the other countries.
Everyday at 2 pm the race committee had a organized practice race, which was great and unusual.

We saw every wind direction and strengths of 2 to 15 kts . There was a few days of sunshine but most days it was overcast and trying to rain or just raining hard, (there was flooding in many placers in Japan while we were there).

We all felt confident as the regatta approached that good results were possible.
We took the day before day 1 off and attended an excellent welcoming party , where the Japanese hospitality was in full display.
Day 1 of racing started with arrival at the club at 9.30 then on water at 10.30 first race at 11.30.,(I attended the coaches briefing at 9).

All our sailors were in the second start, so it was easy for me to observe the whole race.
Keamia made her mark early and sailed an excellent race through out finishing 4th, Isabella and Jen were solid in the mid teens. This race we saw the wind from the north at 8kts with a number of good oscillations.

The second race the breeze had picked up a bit and the current had switched. It turned into a go right parade and continued thru the race. Our girls were caught left and struggled to get back in the hunt. Jen got flagged on the bottom reach.
Day 2 saw more of the same wind direction and similar patterns, as in go right or at least rightish. Boat favored most every start. The wind was 8 to 12 from about 25 degrees.

We saw the first of the ocean swell that rose to 10 feet from time to time.
Isabella continued to get good races in and had an 9th the first race , Jen caught up and just nipped Keamia in 14th , so all was well for all 3 to get in Gold fleet.

The second race the wind went left at the start and temped many to start down at the pin , but as we saw before it was important to get right by half way up and all 3 of our team was stung by this , Jen got a 2nd flag on the run and had to head in.
Day 3 was stronger breeze from the north again and big swell, classic racing conditions, and overcast as usual, near raining from time to time.

My group had been in the blue fleet, second start for the last few days but today Keamia was in the first start. This mad it a little tougher to follow all. Thank goodness I had a good RIB!

The day started promising with a 16 and a 17 for Isabella and Jen and a 20 for Keamia , not great but qualifying scores. Jen was still very much on the bubble and needed a good final race.
The 2nd race was more of the same, the top girls knew the routine and really put on a boat speed clinic, with large separation in the fleets , Isabella had another decent race ,19th , Keamia was 9th to the top mark and ended 21st with a few unlucky events, but made gold fleet comfortably. Jen was 29th and missed the Gold fleet by 12 points, a shame.

Keamia is excited because her starts have been excellent and much discussion has been tossed around at our end of day debriefs regarding eliminating small mistakes. Isabella is very fired up, she is top Canadian at the moment in the low 30,s and
I think she can move up, she has had the most mature regatta to date I believe, she deserves it for all the hard work she has put in for the last few years!

The 1st day of gold silver split racing was another solid wind day out of the north again, actually at between 30 and 40 degrees consistently with pressure of 15 to 20 kts and good size seas

Isabella worked very hard after a tough first beat and climbed back to as good as 19th and ended in the low 20’s, she was saying how physically and mentally exhausting the gold fleet is!
Keamia had a tough start followed by a not too hot result but was keen to go again.
This regatta has been characterized by the need to get a good start, normally near the boat then a quick tack and hike hard out to the right side or right corner, depending on your nerve.

Jen was at the front of the sliver fleet all day and was on form against a few highly ranked women.
The second race of the day was just as tough and Isabella and Keamia pushed as hard as they could, but arrived at the weather mark towards the back and ended the race in the 30’s.

This put Isabella in 30th and Keamia 41st, Jen was 3rd in the Silver.
So we rode our bikes (the regatta organizers arranged for every competitor and coach to have a bike to ride for the regatta!) to the club for the 2nd day of the split and low and behold wind same direction and building to solid teens in speed, a bit like Groundhog Day!

Isabella had a couple of cracker starts but unfortunately she had a port tacker foul her and she ended up capsized, then later in the race she had to do a 720 so she was only ahead of a few boats, she keep her sprits up and finished the 2nd race with a 23, even with a very sore back. Keamia struggled again and stayed in the 30’s most of the day.

Jen again had excellent downwind speed and sits in 2nd in her fleet.
The final day of racing we mere met with overcast sky’s, wind building to 18kts out of the north , actually around 25 degrees , so a little left of usual, and good size seas.

Pretty close to a groundhog day. The Finnish girl won the opening race and headed in , having the regatta won. Isabella had an excellent start and went to port heading to the favorite right corner. She didn’t quite have the wheels and rounded the top mark in the high 20’s , Keamia was close behind her and had an excellent run only to go thru the bottom gate the wrong way , and fell back to the high 20’s. In the end Isabella had a low 30 and a high 20 to finish the regatta in 32nd place overall, an excellent result for an 18 yr old .

Keamia was in the low 40’s and would have liked to be the top 40% to receive the national team card that Isabella did.
Jen fought hard to the end and finished 3rd in the silver fleet.

All in all a true test for a classic world championship, where the leader were fast, fit and started well.
Our team went home with a solid list of things needed to reach their goal of being top 10 in the world. Training begins shortly to get ready for Scotland next July.

Thanks to Royal Vancouver YC for all the support

Al Clark