Junior member Justin Vittecoq’s 2012 Optimist Sailing Season is on a roll...

Coming back from Argentina in April where he logged the best ever performance by a Canadian at the IODA South American Championships (55/165), Justin Vittecoq has been training in Toronto for the month of May with the ROWST (Right of Way Sailing Team) of Osvaldo Padron. He is joined by the best group of Optimist sailors in Canada (including his sister Coralie) getting ready for the upcoming IODA Optimist Worlds Championship in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic from July 15-26.

Part of their training is participating in the Quebec and Ontario Circuits of Junior Dinghy Racing. First stop was the Lilac Festival at RHYC in Hamilton. Justin won a first regatta for this year. 6 races were sailed in light to medium air allowing Justin to show his usual consistency earning top positions in every race.

After the Worlds, Justin and Coralie will go straight to HYC to participate in Fruitbowl/Sail Central, Justin with his Opti “Fastrooster” and Coralie moving on definitely to the Radial class. August will bring them to CORK and the Opti Canadians in Vancouver. Then some more training (and back to school…) before concluding the season at the IODA Optinam 2012 in Valle Del Bravo, Mexico. Spanish lessons taken during the school year will be helpful this season!

All Hands Were on Deck for the 2012 CYA Sail Central Championship at HYC Fruitbowl

What a concept! Pitch a tent and go sailing for four days with some of the top coaches in Canada to provide some mentoring.  As you improve, join the racing on the weekend to test your skills.

Despite a gentle breeze for the racing on Saturday it was consistent and allowed sailors to hone their competitive skills.  And they did compete; with 75 Radials, all on the line on Charlie course, there was considerable jockeying for position and a few false starts.  The black flag is used to indicate that another false start (OCS) will result in disqualification for that race.  And it was used after a few false starts, but somehow these sailors know how to hold the line and avoid the committee boats, when they have to. It’s quite a job to coordinate 160 boats on three courses, so congratulations to Ross Tellier our PRO and everyone on the Race Committee.

Choosing to host the inaugural CYA Sail Central as part of HYC’s FruitBowl was a great success this year thanks to the contributions of all our volunteers and staff.  With over 200 competitors and 30 coaches, it was one of the largest versions of FruitBowl we have hosted in years. We had a great turnout, excellent coaching, and great racing on the weekend with five completed races in every fleet, nice sunny weather, entertainment, a banquet and a great awards ceremony.  Hopefully members had fun too; with pool activities, the Friday BBQ and either sailing or watching the racing, it seemed like a great place to be.

For many young sailors, this event is likely the peak event of the summer sailing experience.  It goes a long way towards helping them meet the CYA’s objectives of Learn to Sail and Sail to Win.  A number of Olympic Team members are FruitBowl Alumni.

And how did HYC sailors do?  In fact, they did quite well. In the Opti Class Justin Vittecoq won first place and Thomas Coté, Chantal Bourque, Mathew Kondejewski were all in the top ten.  In Lasers, Jack Neilson came second and in the biggest fleet of all, with 75 boats, Coralie Vittecoq came fifth in the Radials.

Thanks especially to our Regatta Chair, Helen Hodgson (the FruitBowl Queen), and her Organizing Committee, including Evert Bastet, Hubert Bourque, James Campbell, Dave Cobbett, Phil Gribbin, Don Gillis, Marian Kuiper, Bernard le Duc, Al Leus, Cynthia Shinn, Simon Robinson and Ross Tellier. The Committee also received great support from all the HYC staff including Chris, Margaret, Matt, Stephane, Terry and the Security staff.

The support of the Commodore and the Board was also essential to the success of the regatta.  A special thanks also to our Food and Beverage Team including Cynthia Shinn, Cathy Harris, Bianca Grohmann, Patsy Gillis, Joan Hughes and all the Bar and Canteen staff.

Our sponsors including Mini Mont Royal, the CYA, FVQ, Tenaquip and May’s Studio also made significant contributions, as did all the clubs who not only sent coaches and sailors but also helped out with the Regatta.   This included clubs such as Nepean Sailing Club, Pointe Claire Yacht Club and our own HYC Junior Sailing Program and coaches James Gillis and Taylor Grant. Thanks also to everyone who lent their boats to the Regatta and to the Race Committee.  

Below is a list of the all the members of the Race Management team that made the two days of racing possible under the direction of our PRO, Ross Tellier. (If I have left anyone out, my apologies and please let me know).

2012 SailCentral@FruitBowl HYC Race Management Team                                

Ross Tellier  PRO	Nancy Donnelly	Sheryl O’Brien
Brian Corrigan    PIC	Pat O’Brien	John Nassr
Ron Harris	Tom Babcock	Monique Mair
Hugh Mc Dowell	Simon Robinson	Cyrille Vittecoq
Doug Mair	Cathy Bredt	Jim Freeman
Patrice Delhaes	Bill Bredt	Daryl Seaman
Jean-Luc Gosselin	Onur Bodur	James Campbell
Lloyd Hodgson	Jean Racette	Peter Miller
Debbie Hodgson	Madeleine Palfreeman	Kevin Thompson
Scott Lawrence	Stacey Gibb	Trevor Collins
Rick Frohloff	Charlie Taylor	John de Sevigné
Brenda Goldenberg	Amelia Robinson	Gunnar  Beauregard
Evert Bastet	Nicole  Bastet	Lynn Cooke
Marian Kuiper	Mark Laroche	Bob Hurtubise
Lee Grant	Bernard le Duc	Louis Levesque
Dave Cobbett	Femke le Duc	Helen Henshaw

Thanks again!  

Doug Meredith

FruitBowl 2012 - A Huge Success...

FruitBowl 2012 and the CYA Sail Central inaugural event was a great success by any measure (see details below, and the related Gazette article). HYC and its many voulunteers should be very proud of having put on a regatta of this size and quality, while keeping it safe, fair, and fun!

From Sail Past to the Olympics...

Sail Past is next Sunday June 10th. Let's do our club proud and have an empty harbour and all hands on deck.

Remember that there may be people who would love to get out on a boat for the occasion. Over the years we have had various boats that had standing invites - space allowing - for crew - even novice crew. Last summer we had none. Let's see if we can resurrect this kindly practice.

Now what has this to do with the Olympics?? We are proud to see that David Wright is bound for England sailing laser!! He had his start at HYC, as David's bio makes reference:

David was born in Montreal in 1981. From a very early age you could always find David near water. His parents were members of Hudson Yacht Club, and David loved going there to play on the beach or go Laser sailing with his dad.
When David was 6 years old his dad bought a 29ft cruising boat and they competed regularly at the weekend and evening yacht club races. Generally David would helm and his dad would trim the sails. His father recalled that David was never willing to give up - even when miles behind David insisted on finishing the race.
When David was 10 he entered the Hudson Learn to sail program earning his learn to sail levels. At 13 he joined the Hudson Yacht Club race team and raced a Laser radial, though it was quite a lot of boat for a small sailor. 

David has returned to HYC as coach at several FruitBowl events in recent years. We had a chat at one of them. He told me when his Dad's boat was not racing at HYC, it was Ray Anderson who took David under his wing as Ray had done with many many others. David asked me to say hello to Ray and to thank him, which I did at the time. 

A standing invitation is not for every boat or every skipper, but if you do - let us publicize it here - and who knows - you may be hosting the next Olympian.

And if you would like to encourage David, link to or go to his campaign site. 

Juniors on TV

Coralie and Justin Vittecoq featured here on an episode of VRAK TV shot at HYC.  Some great footage and an impressive story!

Follow the link, put up with the commercial, and then go to position 12:30 on the time-line.

http://www.vrak.tv/webtele/the-wanted-saison-4-34-19178/


Congrats C&J!

Race Management Seminars 2012 Levels 1 & 2

What: Race Management Seminars 2012 Levels 1 & 2

Where: HUDSON YACHT CLUB


When:
  April 21 level 1 0830 coffee 0900-1600
  April 22 level 2 0830 coffee 0900-1600

Registration with the FVQ www.voile.qc.ca. Follow Training to Officials to Registration form.
Or with Ross Tellier : email rjktellier@videotron.ca

2012 SLVYRA Handicaps Now Available

Just a note to inform you that the 2012 handicaps documents are now on line at the www.slvyra,ca website. The formulas and adjustment tables are not modified. I invite you to read and print these documents. The latest version of the regional list of rated boats is also available on the website. Please verify and validate your Club's boats from this list. If you find errors, corrections, addition or else, please let me know Salutations Pierre Marois SLVYRA Chief Handicapper

2012 CYA Women's National Keelboat Championship

Name: Norma Turner
Phone: 403-650-8334
Email: normat2012@sylvansailing.ca

Comments: Please forward this to any interested Women sailors.

CYA Women's National Keelboat Championship
August 30 to Sept 2, 2012
Sylvan Lake, AB

Registration opens March 1 on www.sylvansailing.ca

Learn from Home: North U Webinars

Want to brush up on your sail trim or racing tactics?  North U offers great seminars that many HYC members have attended over the years.  But now you can...

...Keep your slippers on and take a seminar from home.           

                         

Brand New this year!

North U Webinars feature the latest in sailing and racing technique presented in a full multi-media format by outstanding instructors. But now you can attend on-line, from anywhere.

Webinars are scheduled for Racing TRIM, Weather for Sailors, Performance Instruments & Expedition Software, and Bermuda Race Strategy. Learn all about it at NorthU.com

Follow HYC at the J22 Worlds

This week, HYC is represented by two boats at the J22 Worlds in New Orleans:  Jazz (Ron Harris, John Marten, Pete Amos) and Alternative Girlfriend (Trevor Collins, Doug Mair, Al Leus, Lauren Laventure).  Follow their progress during the 4 days of racing in the 64 boat fleet.

For latest results click HERE

Lake George Regattas Reports

by Jenny Marten & Taylor Grant

Two weekends back-to-back, two great racing classes, one fantastic venue – it must be Lake George time!  Every fall, The Lake George Club in Diamond Point NY plays host to J22’s and J24’s from the northeastern part of North America.

J22 Northeast District Championship
From September 23-25th, the J22’s had their Northeast District Championship with 40 boats competing.  HYC had 6 boats racing in the event.  Winds were very light and shifty on both days, but the RC managed to get 5 races in.

Overall results for HYC: 11th String Theory, 13th Jazz, 18th Broomstick, 21st Won Ton, 24th Jester, 38th Runs with Scissors.  
For full J22 results click here.


J24 Changing of the Colors

It was a different wind story from September 30th –October 2nd for the J24 event.  A 70 boat fleet made up the J24 Changing of the Colors regatta in Lake George, NY with 3 boats from Hudson making their way down: High Strung, Peacemaker and PuffDaddy! They had great wind both days with all the competitors opting to fly their blade Jib on Saturday with winds at 28 knots sustained and gusts well above 30. One race was completed before RC sent competitors in after a snapped mast and many ripped sails. Some of the locals were saying that they've never seen waves that big on the lake ever! Sunday provided great breeze in the upper end of the genoa with winds from 15-18 knots allowing for 2 more challenging and competitive races before packing up and driving home.


Overall results for HYC: 32nd PuffDaddy, 52nd PeaceMaker.  High Strung unfortunately couldn't compete due to health reasons.  
For full J24 results click here.

HYC ClubChampionship 2011

by Paul Laflamme

The Club Championship series featured just about everything one could imagine in a sailing series. Wind oscillations, velocity, tactical sailing, a protest, some turns being taken, and great display of boat handling and sail trim. The day started with the Wildcard race pitting Dave Cobbett and crew from High Strung (1B Class) against David Godin and the Won Ton crew (J22 class) and Trevor Collins with the Group Therapy gang (1A class).

The winds were at approx 7 knots and primarily out of the West and North West with a 10 degree oscillation. David Cobbett rounded 1st at the windward mark with D Godin and T Collins in hot pursuit, Godin passed Cobbett on the downwind leg and never relinquished the lead after that, thus winning the Wildcard and moving on to the Club Championship (CC) Series.

After a brief delay to bring the boats to shore the CC teams came out for the first of 6 races to determine the Club Champion.

The competition was hard fought with the points lead changing several times over the course of the 6 races. Taylor Grant and crew (Puff Daddy) won the first race in convincing fashion, David Godin won the with a fair margin in 2nd race, Ron Harris and the Jazz crew took the 3rd race with a comfortable lead. The 4th race was won by Alan Gray and the crew from Slim. David Godin won the 5th race by a good distance over 2nd.

For the sake of brevity I am not describing the 2nd through 6th place finishes for each race, but I can assure you that almost all of these finishes were fairly tight and more importantly were crucial to staying in the hunt for the top spot.

The oscillating direction and velocity of the breeze made the racing very tactical and demanding of the crew and skippers alike.

Prior to the 6th and final race 4 skippers and crew were still in the running to win the Club Championship. The 6th race saw David Godin and Allan Gray jump out to a substantial lead at the 1st windward and then further again at the leeward mark.  An unfortunate wind shift magnified their leads with the end result of race 6 having Allan Gray finishing 1st and David Godin 2nd.

After 6 races (one drop race allowed), only 1 point separated Godin and Gray from each other. The only thing left to do before a Club Champion could be named was to hear a protest that had been lodged during the 3rd race. The protest was submitted and the protest committee headed up by David Cobbett was convened. The end result of the protest juggled the scoring with Allan Gray and his crew of Jean Racette and Bernard le Duc being declared the HYC Club Champions for 2011. Bravo to Allan, Jean and Bernard and to all the other Club Championship competitors for a hard fought and exciting Championship series.

I would also like to thank the race committee members: Debbie Hodgson, Marian Kuiper, Larry Gray, Nick Townsend and son, Jim Freeman, Jim Simons for their great work. A note of thanks goes to Ron Harris, John Marten and Bernard LeDuc for organizing the J22s and a thank you goes out to the protest committee members, David Cobbett, Chris Campbell and Darryl Seaman for their work.

Best regards

Paul Laflamme

Senior Sailing Director

PS there is still a lot of sailing left, Fall series, the Frostbite, the Captain's Broom, the Thompson Long Distance Race, so we will see you on the water!