Jr Standard/ Radial Worlds, La Rochelle, France 2011

We decided after the good experience last year in Hayling Island , UK, that we would go again to the Jr Standard Worlds (under 21) this year in La Rochelle. The Mens Radials Worlds were held in conjunction.

We had Alexander Heinzman, Ricardo Montemayor and Kyle Martin in the Standard Rigs. In the Radial we had Alex Kroitzch, Gabe Frame and Cameron Ho.

The plan was to fly to Paris and drive down 400kms to La Rochelle, we ended up with 5 in the car with Alex H driving from Germany and meeting us on July 12th . Lilliah Martin (Kyle's Mum) had booked us 2 nice apartments right beside the marina and we were happy to have full kitchens in both. We did all our grocery shopping the first day and were out training for 4 days prior to the start of the event on the 18th July.

Of course the weather was sunny , warm and light breezes for the early training, that changed to the opposite by the weekend.
The wind came and eventually the rain and stayed for the regatta with the exception of the last day, when we still had plenty of breeze but with sunny skys, ( a nice way to end an excellent event).

The racing was pretty standard for a Worlds, 2 races a day running about an hour or so long, generally we started around noon, (they posted the schedule each night at 6).

The routine was awake 3 hours before sailing, then breakfast, then walk to the dock,get course assignment, rig the boats, get all gear to coach boat , sail to the race course, plan to be there 30 to 45 min before the first start , (the fleets were split into 3 starts).

So the racing commenced and it soon was clear that Ricardo and Alex were well in the hunt, (they were posting single digit results all thru the qualifying series). Kyle had also improved greatly since last year and was in the low teens many races.

The Radial boys were in tough with a high calibre fleet , (some were full rig sailors too old for the Jr Worlds), but improved daily and hung in till the end.

As the regatta heated up fine tuning was needed to increase boat speed in the heavy air, as well as a lot of work on starting techniques. The boys worked as a team each evening and as we got to the club each morning to help each improve, (it was a pleasure to have such a agreeable group of sailors).

In the end Alex H had a super event finishing 12th , (very close to the top 10), Ricardo was 20th and Kyle was 67th in a 147 boat fleet. Excellent results and both Alex and Kyle will have another chance next year.

Alex , Gabe and Cam learned heaps about big fleets at a worlds in heavy air and had very respectable results for their age and experience. Mostly I think it was the experience of living together in a foreign land competing against the best in the world.
With close to 300 sailors with many coaches and parents at the site and it was quite a spectacle.

Always nice to see our up and coming sailors representing the club in a fine fashion on the world stage.

Check out the results @ http://www.srr-sailing.com/world-laser-radial-and-standard-results/



Al Clark

Youth Worlds, Croatia 2011

Kyle Martin (Laser) and Natalia Montemayor (Radial) qualified to go to the ISAF Youth World Sailing Championships in Croatia July 7-16th. They both had a great experience and represented Royal Van admirably.

Here is the report from Kyle Martin
The 2011 ISAF Youth Worlds were held in Zadar, Croatia from July 7 - July 16. I was sailing radial, a change from my usual full rig so was hoping for big winds. There were two sailors, Natalie Montemayor and Kyle Martin from Royal Vancouver YC as well as a team in 420 and 29er from back east. There were 49 countries represented in the boys Radial fleet and 41 in the girls.
For the first 3 days there was check in, training, and a practice race. The winds were light, 3 - 7kts and the temperature was in the high 30's. The opening ceremonies were spectacular. They were done from a barge at night with a "Beatles Yellow Submarine" theme. I got to carry the flag for Canada so was taken to the barge by boat. There was an incredible fireworks display with hundreds of people from the town crowding along the sea wall to watch.
The first 3 days of racing were in the same very light wind and high temperature. The race committee managed to get off all the scheduled raced despite some long days on the water. By the time the lay day came around we were all starting to think that it would never get windy.
On our lay day we did touristy things. We walked in to the old part of town, which is still surrounded by ancient walls. We walked up the spiral stairs of an old bell tower and got an amazing view of the city.
Racing the next day (day 4) was in the same very light winds but for the last 2 days the wind came up. We had 16kts for the first race on day 5 building to 18kts for the second race. I finally got to hike and I led to the first mark and finished 5th. Day 6 also had wind, with me finishing a 9th in one race, so it was a great way to finish up the regatta. Natalia sailed very well finishing 21st overall with her best result a 3rd on the last day. I finished 38th overall. I had a lot more fun in the wind and was wishing the entire event was windy.

go to-> http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/ to see the results and news

Squamish 2011

The team has been busy after the end of Waves regatta, we had 2 training camps in Squamish , the first was run by Kevin Black with Alex Heinzman, Ricardo Montemayor , Gabe Frame , Joanna Moore and Isabella Bertold sailing, they had fresh breeze each day and all improved their heavy air performance. One goal of the event was to prepare for the Jr Worlds in France July 16-23.

Chris Cowan ran the second camp , July 11-17 , and had the 3 sailors going to the 4.7 Worlds in San Francisco later in the month, Adrian Vlasic, Graham Harney and Alex Fritz , they had a few days of no breeze but got in plenty of breeze training. We have developed a nice relationship with the Squamish YC and hope to do more camps there in the future.

Waves Regatta 2011

We had a real nice weekend of sailing July 1-3 , winds were generally light except for the last day in the morning when we saw 14kts for a bit .

Royal Van sailors were well represented in the event with over 40 sailors on the water for the weekend. We had 26 Lasers sailors in the 4.7 , Radial , and Standard fleets. 3- 29'ers , (a new fleet for us that has been developing over the past 6 months ) , 3- 420's and 10 opti sailors.

The battles were hard fought in all the classes with victory in the Laser going to Alex Heinzman by a few points over recent Laser Canadian Champion , Ricardo Montemayor , with Michael Schalka in 3rd .
In the Radial Isabella Bertold won and was closely followed by Natalia Montemayor and Joanna Moore in 3rd.
The 4.7 fleet was dominated by Royal Van sailors with Alexander Fritz prevailing over Jake Cullen , Hayley Linton 3rd.
Our next generation Laser sailors are doing the club proud!

In the 29'er class Sam Gustin and Ian Woodbury were the class of the field and ran away with first , counting mostly first place finishes, they have been very helpful tutoring the new sailors to our 29'er team coming out of our 420 team.
The 420 was won by Kia Meiklejohn and Heather Strain , with Royal Van having all 3 top spots.
Our double handed team seems to growing and developing at a great rate, thanks Alex Edgar and Kevin Black for your efforts .

The Opti fleet was won by Eric Lyall , with Andrew Moreno 2nd , thanks for the coaching from Anne Marie Kroitz

Next for us is a busy July with many sailors doing World Championship Events -
ISAF Youth Worlds in Croatia -Kyle and Natalia ,
Jr Laser worlds in LaRocelle France -Kyle , Ric, Alex H , Alex K, Gabe and Cam
4.7 Worlds in San Francisco- Graham Harney, Alex Fritz, and Adrian Vlasic

August brings a trip east starting with the Sail West in Gimli , then the 2 CORK regattas and ending with the Canadian Youth Championships in Halifax the final week .

Laser Canadians 2011 Lake Wabamum Alberta

Several members of the Royal Van Racing Team traveled to Wabamun, Alberta for the 2011 Laser Canadians over the past weekend. The event was very well run with great food and great racing. We were excited to have winds in the 14-20kt range, and big waves each day which made for some very exciting racing. Full rigs, Radials, and 4.7's each had their own separate courses. Each day we had a large group debrief, and I was quite happy to see how much the older and more experienced sailors were helping the younger ones.

In the full rig fleet Ricardo Montemayor and Kyle Martin dominated the racing. Ricardo Montemayor won 8/10 races, and Kyle Martin was very close behind with a convincing second place finish. The gap between Ricardo and Kyle and the rest of the fleet was significant.

In the Laser 4.7 class, Graham Harney, Jake Cullen, Rachel Spinelli, and Alex Fritz swapped turns winning races and fought hard for the top places. Graham Harney ultimately won the regatta after sailing a spectacular last few races. Alex Fritz finished in second place after unfortunately suffering from a broken nose on the last day of the event. Being a very small person, Rachel Spinelli had to work very hard and finished 3rd place overall. Jake Cullen, Hayley Linton, and Jim Donaldson each had their moments in the races and all seemed to be much more comfortable sailing in heavy wind. Hayley finished in 4th place, Jake in 6th, and Jim in 7th place.

Racing on the Laser Radial course was very exciting to watch. Each of our sailors had their moments at the top of the pack. In the end, Natalyia Montemayor finished 3rd, Joanna Moore in 4th, and Gabe Frame in 5. Adrian Vlasic finished in 9th place. Miranda MacGillivray finished in 13th place, and unfortunately broke her bottom section on the first day which never helps the results.

We're very happy with the results from the team. A job well done. This was a great event for our sailors leading into a busy summer season. Next up is the Waves regatta in Vancouver, followed by a training camp in Squamish.

Thanks to Royal Van members for their continued support.

Results for 2011 Laser Canadians can be found here:
http://www.wabamunsailingclub.ab.ca/Media/Multimedia/2011%20Laser%20Nationals.htm

Chris Cowan
Royal Van Racing

Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, June 6-11, 2011

We travelled from Holland to England to do the second of the World Cup events of our trip, a short flight over to Heathrow , then a 3 hour drive down to Weymouth in the south of the island.

Ric and I stayed in a bed and breakfast for the first 5 days then into a house for the remainder of the trip. Weymouth / Portland is a nice community by the sea that was a one point a military base. The British changed the harbour into a massive sailing complex designed for there high performance dingy sailers to best the world, (and it seems to be working). This is the site of the 2012 sailing portion of the Olympics.

The weather was quite sunny and warm prior to the first race but of course went back to cold and windy by day one. Again this regatta was characterized by strong winds and tricky geographic shifts and a nice tide running most of the time. A good place to run a regatta!

We did have delay waiting for breeze the first day and only completed one race. After that we sailed on schedule with an extra make up race on the Tuesday. We really found out who had been working the hardest in the gym all winter and Ric was sure that he needed to do more in that regard.

Ric finished again in the silver fleet and was quite ready to get home by the final day, plenty to take away from the experience, (he will be back in August for the test event ).

All the countries had their teams competing and Canada was no exception. Royal Van had all our Olympic hopefuls there, including Zak Plasvic and Nicola Girke in the RSX, Mike Leigh, Luke Ramsay and Alex McCorkendale in the 470, Bruce Millar in the 2.4, Isabella Bertold in the Radial, Alex Heinzman in the Laser, Hunter Lowden in the 49'er .

This was also a qualifier for many countries for the Olympic test event and Royal Van did very well to qualify Nicola, Zak, Mike and Luke, Isabella , Hunter and Ricardo . So we will be represented in both boards, the laser and radial , the 470 and the 49'er , very exciting times. A big thank you to the Corinthian Fund from all of our sailors pursuing their Olympic dream!

Delta Lloyd Regatta May 25-29, 2011

The Delta Lloyd regatta is one of the 7 world cup events held each year in the small town of Medemblik north of Amsterdam. I went to the event primarily as Ricardo Montemayer's coach. Ric has been busy at university for the last two years and has been sailing generally in the summers with training in Vancouver in the winter months. This past January he qualified for the Pan Am games in Mexico in November and the Olympic test event this August. He has decided to take the next year off school and take a run at the Olympics for Mexico. This was the first of 5 major events he has planned for 2011.

We had a real windy event this year , with many days winds pushing 30kts. We arrived a few days before the first race and had 3 days of good training. There were over 120 of the top sailors in the Laser class split into 2 fleets, With the exception of the 2nd day we saw winds 20-30kts, Ric got better with each day and I was impressed with his work ethic. In the end he missed Gold fleet by a few points and settled for more training with a high caliber silver fleet. We packed up the gear on the Sunday (Ric chartered his laser for all the events from Sail Coach and I chartered my RIB from Ben Remocker's company Port Tack Charter).

A number of other sailors from Royal Van were at the event, the teams of Luke Ramsay sailing with Mike Leigh and Andrew McCorkendale sailing with Oliver Bone from Halifax, in the 470. Hunter Lowden sailing with Gorden Cook from Toronto in the 49'er class . Zak Plasvic in the RSX class (he was 2nd overall! )

Check the results @ http://results.deltalloydregatta.org/

Al

Pacific Coast Championships

Royal Van Racing headed down to Seattle, Washington for the Pacific Coast Championships (PCC's). The weather was great and we experienced all different types of wind conditions. No full rigs in attendance from our team, but we were well represented in the radials and 4.7's. In the Radial class Natalya Montemayor finished in 1st place after an exciting and tight finish in the last race to seal the deal. Joanna Moore finished in 3rd place after dealing with some tricky shifting conditions on the last day. Alex Kroitzsch finished 4th place and won the last race on day 1. Cameron Ho finished up in 7th place and moved up and down throughout the fleet. Adrian Vlasic finished in 11th place, and Miranda MacGillivray finished in 14th.

In the Laser 4.7 fleet, Graham Harney finshed in 2nd place after fighting hard with SYC's Jack Toland. Jake Cullen finished in 3rd place, and actually won two races throughout the regatta. Connor Black finished in 5th place for his first Laser class regatta.

Well done team! Next stop for the Laser team is the Laser Canadians in Alberta.

Results for PCC's can be found here:
http://www.seattleyachtclub.org/files/Laser%20PCCs.htm

COSA Regatta

Royal Van Racing headed to Kelowna, BC over the May long weekend for the annual COSA Regatta. The event showcased light and shifty wind conditions. The start of racing on Saturday was postponed until roughly 1pm when one light, slow race was finished. Robbie Tulip was hot in the Optis, finishing in 1st place by quite a ways. Alex Fritz battled with Hayley Linton, but ultimately pulled ahead and won the regatta.

Sunday saw 4 races sailed, but had the last race abandoned for most of the fleets that were stuck at the windward mark. The wind was about 5-7 knots for those races so some decent races were sailed.

Next up is the Cultus Lake Regatta this weekend, followed by the Pacific Coast Championships in Seattle.

Until next time...
Chris Cowan

Spring Dinghy Championships

Last weekend Royal Van Racing headed over to Victoria for the annual Spring Dinghy Championships. We had good participation from our team spreading across six different fleets; Lasers, Radials, 4.7’s, 29ers, 420’s and Optis. Being only the 2nd regatta of the year, excitement was high and everyone was keen to get out racing.

Saturday brought winds of up to 20kts gusts with big shifts, and cold temperatures. Sunday remained cold with very light drifting conditions. On the Bravo course seven races were completed in each fleet. Races were long, especially for the Laser 4.7’s who experienced windward legs that were on par with a major championship regatta. In the 29er fleets Sam Gustin and Ian Woodbury showed their experience in the strong winds, but fell back a bit on Sunday during the light air, and ultimately finished in 2nd place. In the Laser fleet Thomas Roehrl remained consistent throughout the regatta finishing in the top five every race, and earning himself 5th place overall. In the Radial fleet Adrian Vlasic, Miranda MacGillivray, and Gina Chen all fought their way through the fleet. Adrian remained in the top 5 and finished with a 3rd place overall. Miranda sailed consistently and finished 8th overall, followed by Gina Chen in 9th. The laser 4.7 fleet was entirely from Royal Van. Hayley Linton sailed a very good regatta winning five races. Jake Cullen was following close behind, and also followed by Ben MacVicar, Jim Donaldson, and Connor Black.

On the Alpha course, eight races were sailed in the 420 fleet, and 9 races for the Optimist fleets. Kia Meiklejohn and Alanna Tacy sailed a good regatta and finished 2nd overall. Lief Pederson and Joren Jackson were close behind, followed by Heather Strain and Daniel Jay a few boats behind.

In the Optimist fleet Lloyd Lyall fought hard and was the winner of a tie-breaker at the end of the event to capture the 1st place finish. His brother Eric was only a few points behind in 3rd place. Tara Yuen finished in 7th place, Kyle Gerrard in 15th place, Henrik Moberg-Parker in 16th, Benjamin McMaster in 20th place, Katrina McCallum in 24th, and Luke Rushton on 25th.

Keep watching the results as our team will be busy throughout May. Next on the agenda is the COSA regatta in Kelowna, followed by the Cultus Lake regatta the following weekend.

Thanks to all Royal Van members for their continued support.


Chris Cowan
Race Team Coach