The team had planned a big trip out east this summer, starting with the CYA Youth Championships which was held at Neapean Sailing Center in Ottawa from Aug 1-4th. Kyle Martin, Alex Heinzemann, Joanna Moore, Gabe Frame, Alex Kroitzsch, Sophia Miller-Vedam, Tom Roehrl and Dominic Fritz flew out to compete in the regatta.
Sailing on the Ottawa River was really tricky. The first couple days of racing was really light and shifty. The sailors were all very patient though with lots of waiting on the water for wind to get some races off. The last day of racing started off light, but there was a super quick switch and it got up to 18 knots for part of one the races. It was really great to have a bit of wind finally!
The kids learned very quickly they had to stay on their toes and keep an eye out up the course looking for the puffs and shifts. On day two the wind shifted to the south and now the puffs appeared to be dominated by the clouds so we all spent a lot of time looking up trying to figure out which side of the course would be favored for the next race. The other key to success was looking a long ways up the river to see what would be coming down to the course for that race.
Alex Heinzemann dominated in the Laser fleet, having just come back from the Youth Worlds held in Turkey. Kyle Martin also got off to and exceptionally good start and sailed one of his best regattas. At the last minute Dom decided to switch over to full rigs for this regatta, as it was the Youth Worlds qualification event for 2011. It was a bit of a change but he was sailing really well and getting on great in the new boat. Tom also sailed well, having great starts and some really good results.
In the Radial girls fleet, Joanna Moore was also at the front of the fleet. Sophia was learning lots; it was a very big learning curve for her as this was her first ever away event and her first ever National regatta.
In the Radial boys fleet, Alex Kroitzsch was a bit up in down with his results but he had some great races, and Gabe Frame was putting in a strong showing with some really great moments and really good starts.
In the end Alex H finished 1st, Kyle finished 2nd and qualified for the 2011 Youth Worlds which will be held in Croatia. Tom finished 8th overall and Dom finished 12th.
Joanna sailed a great last day and finished 1st in the girls fleet, and Sophia learned lots finishing 25th. Alex K and Gabe also had an exceptional last day and moved up to finish 5th and 8th respectively in the boys fleet.
Jen
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