Mids West 2011

We drove to California Saturday morning the 19th of March, with the Opti trailer (7 lasers and the Joker Rib).

Kyle , Alex and Adrian came with me in the truck with Ric , Nat Becky and Gabe to fly in thru the week.

We had an eventful drive down, seeing snow in three different locations along the way, Adrian was most shocked to realize that California gets snow.

We arrived Sunday night in a epic rain storm to the Marina del Rey hotel and parked the trailer for the night. The sun came out in the morning and we began training, that continued with the arrival of Ric and Natalia on Tuesday and Becky and Gabe on Thursday.

Feeling pretty comfortable in the light breeze with large rolling waves, all that was left was some racing to see if we were up to speed.

The regatta started with a nice breeze that built through out the day and made it to 15kts by the end. Becky won the first race in the Radial with Natalia and Gabe close behind, 1,2,3, Royal Van , they were very excited. Ricardo and Kyle were well in the hunt after the first day with Ric getting the rust off after a while off with school being a priority. At the end of the first day Natalia was 1st , Gabe 2nd , (Becky had to go in before the 3rd race because her knee that she operated on at Christmas was feeling sore), so she was down the board with a DNS, Alex was doing well with his best race in the 3rd windiest, Adrian was sitting mid fleet and was performing above expectations being his first Radial regatta.

The second day was lighter and we saw 4 races around 4-8kts. Ricardo put in on a clinic and scored 3 firsts to lead the fleet going into the last day. Kyle flirted with the top 3 a number of races and right on the top 10 mark. In the Radial Natalia continued great consistency and had 2, 2nds and a 4th to put her well ahead of the rest, Becky struggled with the breeze and again was forced to head in because of her knee, Gabe didn't like the conditions as much as the first day and continued to learn how to make the boat go fast in light air (our sport really in the most complex). Alex got to the weather make in the third race in the lead and extended thru out the race to score his first win in a major event (very exciting). He had a good day and was in the low teens. Adrian kept his spot around mid fleet and was learning heaps.

The final day looked bleak with low clouds and not a spec of wind but it cleared up after a short postponement, and we eventually swa 10kts of breeze.

Ric stared the first race well only to have his number called for being a premature starter, he went back but could only get to the high teens , actually quite impressive considering he was a minute behind at the start. He still needed one decent race in the top 10 and the regatta was his. Kyle kept sailing well and finished the event in 10th overall.

Natalia sailed another solid race and wrapped up the event with a race to spare, (she decided to race the final heat),She was very impressive through out the series and we are very excited for her for the summer's events, including the youth worlds, (Kyle is also going to the ISAF regatta).

Becky finished strong and should be encouraged by the good races she had and we look forward to seeing her on the National team by end of September. Alex finished strong and ended in the low teens a personal best for him. Gabe also did well in the high teens and will work on his light air finesse over the coming weeks. Adrian was just fired up to be in the event and says hes keen to do more (he's just 15 and has a bright future).

Ricardo showed his pedigree and won the final race and sealed his winning position in the regatta and we are also excited for Ric for his summer season , including 3 major European events (Delta Lloyd, Scandia Sail for Gold, and the Pre Olympics).

So really exciting times for the team and the Montemayor family! Can't remember the last time a brother sister won the two events at a major Laser Regatta in North America (or even the World).

We had nicer weather for the drive home and got in Monday night the 28th of March, another winter season finished and now a 6 week break from long trips. We will continue training on the weeknights and though each weekend leading into the Summer season where we have an ambitious plan to dominate the North Amercan events, with any luck.

Results are @ http://www.calyachtclub.com/files/2011_LMW_S1-9.htm

Al Clark

March Madness 2011

The annual March Regatta was sailed in classic easterly conditions over the weekend of March 12-13.

We had a good turnout of Royal Van sailors in Lasers and Radials. 4 races on Saturday and 3 on Sunday were run splendidly by James MacDonald.

Results are @ the Royal Van web site

Women's NA's 2011

Isabella Bertold was the lone Royal Van competitor at the event this year in Fort Lauderdale Florida. (Becky Power had hoped to go but her knee was not fully recuperated from surgery at Christmas).

The regatta was well run as usual by Tom Lihan, and the three day series went off with out a hitch. Generally a lighter than average affair with a tight battle between two of the top Radial sailors in the world, Paige Railey and Marit Bouwmeester.

This always a nice event because there a a handful of the best girls racing in a smaller than average fleet, excellent training !

Isabella finished in 6th and showed brilliance in up wind speed and tactics from time to time. She scored two OCS's and had to carry one, so some work to do on the starting front but all and all a worthwhile trip.

Results are at http://www.lyc.org/files/radial11.html

Mids East 2011

The third regatta of the Florida winter trip was Laser Midwinters East held in Clearwater Florida, Feb 24-27.

The annual event has seen plenty of cold weather over the last few years but was back to normal this year with temperatures in the high 20's most days.

The racing began with a clear day and light breezes from the south. The Lasers and the Radials were split into two fleets each for qualifying races on the Thursday and Friday toward the final gold and silver fleet racing on the weekend.

There were 200 boats on the beach the first morning, ( 80 Lasers and 107 Radials, 15 4.7) , all sailing out the channel for the first race at 11 am.

Alexander Heinzman competed in the Laser Class and had been in Florida since early December training and competing. He accomplished the goal of making the National Sailing Team last fall in Kingston at the National Qualifying Regatta.

Luke Ramsay was competing in the Radial class, which is unusual because he was one of the highest ranked Laser team sailors on the national team for the last few years.

Luke decided to make a change and sail in the 470 class with Royal Van's Mike Leigh and he had lost a lot of weight to get to the proper size for a skipper. (The perfect weight for a Laser is about 80 kg and a Radial is about 68 kg).

Isabella Bertold had planned to sail but had a bronchial infection that caused her to jump on a plane and get home.

Becky Power was also hoping to attend but the healing of her knee operation over Christmas was going slower than hoped.

I took this opportunity to sail with the team during the event as we had plenty of on water support in coach boats from, Erik Stibbe , (based out of Vancouver) and Steve Mitchell of the Canadian National Team.

Alex began the regatta with a win in the first race and showed how all the training over the winter was paying off , he continued to impress all thru the event and I sailed near him a number of times and he showed me clearly that he will be a force on the National Team for years to come.

Alex finished the regatta in 11th and was hurt by an OCS where he finished 3rd. He is off to Europe to train and compete for the months of March and April.

Luke's skills in the Laser transferred well to the Radial class as he was very quick around the course even in the lighter air the first day, he was blazing fast in the solid breezes the second day and was held back by a OCS in a race that he won, in the end he had another OCS in a Gold fleet race and finished the regatta 10th.

Results are @ http://www.regattaprocessing.com/CLWYC/LMWE11/index.php

We packed up the trailer on the Sunday afternoon and began the long drive home, I had Chris Cowan again to help with the trip. The drive was uneventful (the way I like it) and we were back at Royal Van for training the next weekend.

The team has continued training at the gym on tuesdays and thursdays and on water on the weekends.

Since daylight saving time kicked in we are back on the water during the weekday evenings.

We are off to the Laser/ Radial Midwinters West regatta in LA , California next and the 4.7 Team is heading to a training camp in Puerto Vallarta Mexico for the week.

Miami OCR 2011

The second World Cup Regatta of the 2011 season was held in Miami from Jan 23rd to 29th.

Chris and I drove the trailer with 6 Lasers , the Joker RIB and a Finn on the roof. We had great weather the whole way down and arrived for the beginning of the national team training camp on the 14th.

Royal Van had 14 sailors in 8 classes, Bruce Millar in the 2.4 class, Hunter Lowdan/ 49er , Andrew McCorkendale/ 470, Zak Plasvic /RSX, Nicola Girke / RSX Womens, Mike leigh, Luke Ramsay, Alex Heinzman. Kyle Martin, Ricardo Montemeyer/ Laser, Natalia Montemeyer and Isabella Bertold / Radial , Rob and Allan Cullen /Star

After a week of training the regatta was set to begin with hot weather and good winds on all the courses. Racing starts on the Monday and runs through till Friday , with the Medal races scheduled for the Saturday, (Its always a big deal to qualify for this race).

The team performs well all week and in the end Luke , Hunter, Zak and Nicola qualify for the Metal Races, and end the event with a bang getting to sail on the final day when a majority of the 700+ sailors from over 50 countie are packing up their boats.

Results are found at the Regatta web site - http://rmocr.ussailing.org/Rolex_Miami_OCR.htm

The Laser team moves to the next event in Fort Lauderdale, the Wonen's NA's on Feb 18th to 20th , then on to Clearwater Florida Feb 24 to 27th

Thanks for the support
Al

Christmas Camp 2010

Day one of the camp was good with wind, (some years we have been shut out), and we had a total of 30 or so sailors in Optis, Lasers, 4.7's and 420's

The weather was seasonal, about 5C , and overcast. We had Alex K , Gabe , Ben and Cam in the Lasers.
We did a buch of starting practice and lots of mark roundings.

The second day , Sunday we had a breeze that seemed to be fading so the Laser group decided to tow out to the straight, where we found a frigid northerly, Isabella , Ben , Gabe and Thomas were out , we spent 2 2 1/2 hours at it, (thank goodness the sun came out later in the day) .

Day 3 saw a proper easterly , with 10 -14 kts of breeze, we did alot of mark roundings , mixed with some long up and downs , Gabe, AK, Isabella and Ben were out in the Lasers

Day 4 seemed a little more "balmy" than the last few days, we had a solid easterly again and batted 1000 for the camp, 4 for 4 ! Could be the first ever.

Gabe made it 4 for 4 too and I'm thinking of a proper prize for the dedication, AK did 3 days , Ben did 3 too and Bella was in for 2 days

The Opti's,420's and 4.7s had a good turn out all thru the camp and we were thrilled to have Eric's wife Jenny coach the double handed team for 2 days, (nothing like a Gold medalist to get their attention).

All in all a very good camp , only the Laser team has training thru the next few months , see the rest of the team in March.


Al

Laser/Opti crossover

Bruce Millar wins 2.4 North Americans

Here is a report that was on SailKarma:

The 2.4 metre North American Championship was held at Edison Sailing Center Dec. 9 - 11. The fleet of Olympic and Paralympic champions where greeted with bone chilling COLD temps and rain. Twenty boats traveled from all across the US, Canada and two British ladies to compete in Ft. Myers, Fl.

Day 1, after a brief poll to race or not, this hardy (crazy) bunch of sailors completed 4 races. Very tight racing in a shifty 7 to 12 kts. With a strong ebb providing some interesting results. Bruce Millar ( Vancouver, CAN) found these conditions to his liking as did Allan Liebel ( Toronto, CAN) ending the day tied for the lead. A WARM welcoming reception was held at Royal Palm Yacht Club , a good time was had by all.

Day 2, Much warmer but no wind…. After a lengthy postponement 3 races completed under sunny and warmer skies.. Daily winner Megan Pascoe of Great Britain sailed smooth for 8 pts, Helena Lucas (GBR) consistency of (3) 3’s for 9 pts. And Johnny ( NO OCS’s) Ruf sandwiched a 8th with a couple of bullets. Edison SC founder Ross Webb provided a Great BBQ for all sailors and volunteers.

Day 3, FOG and no wind… An hour delay and the fleets off to races , well only one. Paul Tingley (Halifax, CAN) wins his second race of regatta.

Bruce Millar is the new North American Champion, followed closely (tied) by Paul Tingley with Megan Pascoe placing third. Regatta sponsor Mark Bryant Sailing presented contestants with spar, rudder and keel covers. PRO and Edison coach Mike Alexander along with his gang of kids did an outstanding job organizing and completing 10 races in trying conditions.

Way to go Bruce

Al

Prize Giving 2010

Another huge extravaganza of a prize giving with so many highlights I just couldn't count. Winners of a wide assortment of categories went up to collect their prizes. The new members were honored as well as club champ winners.
Our new 4.7 team was made mention of. The coaches were thanked as well as the parent volunteers. All and all a great evening with a real nice spread of food put on by the Club.

Thanks Tine for organizing the festivities again this year.

Al

Club Champs 2010

The annual club champs were held in conjunction with the Blue Nose Regatta at Kits YC over the November 6-7 weekend.
We had a good group out with some of the new members, Matt and Alec , also some of the 4.7 team, Adrian and Alex Fritz sailing radial rigs.
The wind was next to non existent on Saturday , with rain later in the day. Sunday the sun came out and a OK southerly developed.
Isabella, Joanna , Gabe , Alex Kroitzch, Alec , Adrian, Alex Fritz and Natalia in the Radial Fleet.
Ricardo, Ben, Thomas, Matt, Alex Heinzman and Kyle in the Standard Rig Fleet.

Results aren't available from KITS yet

Al