Easter Camp

Royal Van's annual Easter camp wrapped up this past weekend. The camp was well attended and lived up to its reputation of always having a large Optimist fleet. Nearly 35 optis took part, as well as Lasers, Radials, 4.7's, and a few 420's.

We were lucky to have two nice days of weather before the rain and cold returned, but all of our sailors were keen to be out there. The optimist fleet was split into two groups- novice, and racing fleets and the all the Lasers sailed together. On the Saturday, the Lasers sailed several races with any varying factors to keep it interesting.

Next up for the team is Kitten Cup happening at Royal Van this coming weekend (April 30/May 1). Then followed by a trip to Victoria the following weekend.

More reports will follow as our events unfold.
Until next time...

Chris Cowan

Elvstrom Regatta , April 16-17

Two weeks after our trip to California we decided to head down the I5 for the Elvstrom Regatta in San Fransisco. This is an event we have been intersted in going to for some time and was a good chance to reaquaint ourselves with the bay. Kyle Martin and Alex Shepard sailied in the Laser , Cameron Ho in the Radial and Alex Fritz in the 4.7, (I sailed as well in the Laser).

We had a good trip down and stopped at West Coast Sailing for some gear , arriving in SF the Friday evening. Racing started the next morning at 11 and we had 3 good races with the breeze building through out the day.

The Sunday we saw classic SF conditions with winds peaking in the high 20's and 3 races again. A highlight was Alex Fritz getting 2nd overall in the 4.7 class , The team fought hard and finished every race, (Cam missed the start of the last race after a wipe out but sailed around the course anyway).

I ended up winning the Laser class , remembering that its better to stay upright (than not) to win races.

Results are @ http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=3932

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 American events, with any luck.

Al Clark

Laser 4.7 Update

The Laser 4.7 Team has been busy since beginning the 2011 season at the beginning of March. We are pleased to welcome new members to our team including Jake Cullen and Connor Black. We began our March training with regular Thursday evening and weekend training. Unfortunately English bay had other plans for us as a few of our days came with lighter winds than expected.
On March 20, Jim Donaldson, Graham Harney, Jesse Liu, Rachel Spinelli, Alex Fritz, and Coach Chris Cowan headed to La Cruz, Mexico to train at the International Sailing Academy (ISA). The sailing venue is approximately 15mins north of Puerto Vallarta, and all boats, housing, and meals are provided in the price. Training each day was a mix of everything from drifting conditions to heavy air. The wind typically starts building each day around 11am, and by 12:30 the wind is usually blowing anywhere between 15-20kts. The kids sailed for six days with a focus on both windward and leeward mark-roundings, and finishing the camp with some starting practice. The benefits of a six day camp were evident near the end as each sailor made huge improvements in their sailing. This was a great way for our kids to spend spring break and we’ll definitely be back next year. A huge thanks to Tanya Chamberlain for chaperoning this trip- your help was greatly appreciated.
Next up for the team is our annual Easter Training camp running through the Easter Long weekend, followed by Kitten Cup, then a trip to Victoria the two weeks later. Keep an eye on the results of these events as our kids are hoping to show how all their hard work has paid off.
More reports will follow as events and results unfold. Be sure to check out the Royal Van blog, and Facebook page: Royal Van Racing, for all the latest details about what the team is up to. A huge thanks to all the Royal Van members for all your continued support.
Chris Cowan
Training@royalvan.com

Mids West 2011 final day and prize giving

Ricardo and sister Natalia get their prizes for winning the West Coast Laser Midwinter Championships

Royal Van 470 Campaigns

Andrew McCorkendale has teamed up with Oliver Bone from Halifax to campaign for the 2012 Olympics , they teamed up last August and have spent lots of time in Miami this fall and Winter then they are off to Europe this spring.

Mike Leigh and Luke Ramsay have ended Laser campaigning and begun a 470 Olympic class career. They have both lost copious amounts of weight , (the boat requires the all up crew weight to be 300 pounds total).

Luke went to Australia right after the Laser Mids East regatta, and began a month of training in preparation for the European regatta season.

They have a boat selected from a German builder and sails from Japan on order, we hope both teams the best of luck this year and may the best team qualify for the London 2012!

Go to-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CAN-Two-Eleven/102427376496824
http://www.mikeandluke.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Leigh-and-Luke-Ramsay/153554274702598

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