HYC holds and wins CYA Womens Keelboat Nationals

By Cathy Harris

After a long and sometimes rocky road, the Womens Keelboat National Championship Regatta finally came to pass. In the end we had ten J22s competing, from four provinces. The kick off was on Friday with a full day of on land and on water coaching ably handled by Geoff Moore of North Sails/North U, and Ron Harris, John Marten, and Pete Amos all three of HYC.

The girls spent Friday afternoon practicing starts, mark rounding, and general boat handling in winds of fifteen to seventeen knots. Friday evening all competitors were invited to stay at the club and enjoy a great meal at the weekly HYC Carvery.

Saturday it was back on the water for the actual racing. The weather gods smiled on us and Ross Tellier, our PRO, ran five races in a variety of wind from five to ten knots. At the end of day one there was a tie for first, and only one point back was third. Saturday evening saw the entire regatta sit down to a delightful dinner, provided by The Grannies for Africa, and then music from The Moonlights.

Sunday proved to be a very light wind day and the competitors were kept on shore until noon, when the wind finally filled, and the race committee got one more race in before the deadline of two o'clock.

Results are as follows:

1st Nicole Bastet of HYC

2nd Marg Hurley of Nepean Sailing Club

3rd Melodie Gummer of Kingston

4th Gillian Thompson of Kelowna

5th Karen Albert of Toronto

6th Erin Harris of HYC

7th Karen Fowler of Bedford Basin

8th Marian Kuiper of HYC

9th Toni Hobbs of Toronto

10th Cathy Bredt of HYC

At the end of a busy and fun filled weekend, it was agreed that next years WKNC would go to Victoria BC, so ladies start now and plan plan on competing. For lots of pictures of the sailing action go to http://www.maysstudio.com/store/gallery.php?gid=388