HYC Canadian Champions

HYC can be proud of the achievements of its sailors both young and, umm, well more mature.  Recently two teams have secured top spot in Canadian championship events, both at Kingston.

29er
Lauren Laventure and Emily Tang took top spot at the Canadian 29er championship sailed out of Kingston Yacht Club July 23 and 24, beating a very competitive fleet of 27 boats.  For full results click here.

J/22
Ron Harris, Pete Amos and John Marten won the J/22 Canadians sailed at CORK on July 9 and 10th.  HYC was there in strength with 7 boats. A very fun weekend was had by all. For full results, click here.

Junior Sailing Awards Banquet - Come Support our Young Sailors

WHEN: August 25th, 2011 at 1800hrs
WHERE: HYC Club House

MENU: Home made burritos, garlic bread, caesar salad, chips and salsa as well as desert and coffee. All for only 8$

HOW: Call Margaret at the office and book your tickets today.
450-458-5326

James Campbell
Junior Sailing Director

Monday - Resail for Wed B1

Reminder: this Monday 1 August is the date for the resail of Wed B1.  First gun at 7pm as usual.

Wednesday Burger BBQ in the Bar

Starving after racing? Take advantage of the Wednesday Burger BBQ in the Bar.  $7.95 for a burger or chicken burger platter... serving from canteen-closing to post-race time of approximately 10pm.  Don't order pizza...have a burger.

Cynthia Shin

Fruitbowl 2011 - Final Results & Surprise Announcement

Closing ceremonies for 2011 Mini Mont Royal Fruitbowl Regatta…and a surprise announcement for the 2012 Event.

Light winds - three to five knots - did not ease the challenge for the last day of sailing. The Bravo RC set an impressive course layout allowing spectators from the fireworks pier to the harbour pier to have front row seating for Sunday's Optimist races and to observe competitor's abilities to read wind conditions and compete for podium space. Sailors returned to attend the award ceremonies after four days of excellent sailing in challenging conditions.

The podium was occupied by the following stars:

Optimist Green Fleet

1. ☆ Marion Lafrance Berger - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
2. ☆ Philippe Bouffard - Club Nautique Deux-Montagne
3. ☆ Anna Morineau - École de Voile de l'Outaouias

Optimist Overall Championship Fleet

1. ☆ Justin Vittecoq - Hudson Yacht Club
2. ☆ Julien Brunet - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
3. ☆ Chantal Bourque - Hudson Yacht Club

Optimist Red Fleet

1. ☆ Julien Brunet - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
2. ☆ Chantal Bourque - Hudson Yacht Club
3. ☆ Justin Robichaud - École de Voile de l'Outaouias

Optimist Blue Fleet

1. ☆ Justin Vittecoq - Hudson Yacht Club
2. ☆ Jonathan Stranix - Pointe Claire Yacht Club
3. ☆ Robert-Junior Mochi - École de Voile de l'Outaouias

Optimist White Fleet

1. ☆ Joey Marten - Hudson Yacht Club
2. ☆ Liam Parnell -  Pointe Claire Yacht Club

420 Fleet

1. ☆ Nathan Lafrance-Berger/Antoine Pacarar - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
2. ☆ Veronique Fortier/ Julien Landry - Beaconfield Yacht Club
3. ☆ Tristan Khannizadeh/Nicholas Duschenes-Best - Pointe Claire Yacht Club

Laser 4.7 Fleet

1. ☆ Katherine Malette-Besner - Club Nautique Deux-Montagnes
2. ☆ Christophe Landry Bergeron - Baie de Beauport
3. ☆ Cal Gray - Gatineau River Yacht Club

Laser Radial Fleet

1. ☆ Rae-Anne Norwood - NSC
2. ☆ Holly McGarr - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
3. ☆ Alexandre Stranix - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club

for full results go to the regatta website

Get ready for Sail Central 2012!

Commodore Lee Grant announced that next year's event will be called Sail Central and will welcome sailors from Ontario and Quebec. This year, similar events are being held next week as Sail West is held in Gimli, Manitoba and Sail East, in Shediac New Brunswick. This unique format will allow for greater Ontario-Quebec competition.  All three events are Canadian Yachting Association sanctioned events. Hudson would host the event very two years alternating with the CORK facilities in Kingston on alternate years. We at HYC are very excited and proud to host this important event and we will be please to welcome you again next year.

Thank you from the Hudson Yacht Club to the visiting clubs and sailors who made this a great a memorable 2011 Mini Mont Royal Fruit Bowl Regatta.

Submitted by Hubert Bourque

Fruitbowl Saturday - The "Super Bowl" of Youth Training Regattas!

"The best ever of the 16 regattas held since their inception in 1996." enthused one person about the sailing so far. Sailors came back highly energized from their third day of of superb sailing under challenging conditions. This was truly the "Super Bowl" of training regattas since HYC's annual training event first started.  On the Optimist course, the green fleet did exceptionally well with few sailors needing a hand. The Opti championship fleet together with the greens completed four races quickly on an extended course. Winds were maintained at least at 12-14 knots with gusts to 18.

The 420s comprised a fleet of well prepared sailors facing 10-13 knots winds gusting to 19. Four 40 minute races were completed plus one 25 minute race. The race committee did an excellent job in managing to accommodate five races. Only six entries dropped in these challenging conditions.

The stars for the first day of racing are (provisional results as of 17:30 on July 23, 2011):

Optimist Green Fleet

1. ☆ Philippe Bouffard - Club Nautique Deux-Montagnes
2. ☆ Leo Roy - Baie de Beauport
3. ☆ Hyla Mosher - Hudson Yacht Club

Optimist Championship Fleet

1. ☆ Justin Vittecoq - Hudson Yacht Club
2. ☆ Julien Brunet - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
3. ☆ Justin Robichaud - École de Voile de l'Outaouias

420 Fleet

1. ☆ Nathan Lafrance-Berger/Antoine Pacarar - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
2. ☆ Veronique Fortier/ Julien Landry - Beaconfield Yacht Club
3. ☆ Samuel Eichhorn Bilodeau - BYC

Laser Radial Fleet

1. ☆ Rae-Anne Norwood - NSC
2. ☆ Alexandre Stranix - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club
3. ☆ Holly McGarr - Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club

Fruitbowl 2011 - Training in High Winds!

This is what sailing is all about!... and makes the HYC Fruitbowl Regatta the best dinghy sailing training opportunity around.

The past two days supplied challenging conditions for all levels with 15 to 20 kt winds. Competition was extensive in all fleets with 25-420 entries; 53 Lasers and 45 Optis.

For the Lasers, the theory acquired in the structured coach sessions was first aplied during the first day was perfected the second . Coaches Rosie Chapman (Member, British Olympic Development Team, Nova Scotia Team Sailing Head Coach), Greg Clunies (The Ontario Quest for Gold Sailing Team), Lee Parkhill (The Canadian Sailing Team in Lasers) said that they saw massive improvement from the first to second day. Specifically the second day showed the fleet sailing as a tighter group effectively applying what they had learned. All competitors tried hard to improve what they had learned and no one dropped out. Notably improvement was shown for downwind boat handling with less "submarining' and starts that had the fleet together "on-line".

The Opti fleet was a diverse group that was broken down into smaller groups. The instruction led by coach Robin Blanchard (Head coach for the Quebec Sailing Team for several years, recently training coach and instructor at CYA Learning Facility) focussed on upwind and downwind boat handling and more specifically mark rounding. The mark rounding covered the rules applicable during crowded conditions.

We expect Saturday and Sunday conditions to be equally challenging, and we are anxious - especially our competitors - to get out and show what we can do with what has been learned and applied. This is the 2011 Hudson Yacht Club Mini Mont-Royal Fruitbowl Regatta and this is what sailing is all about -learning how to sail better under the most challenging conditions.

Welcome visiting clubs and good luck to all sailors!

Submitted by Hubert Bourque

From the Protest Desk

by Dave Cobbett

A couple of interesting protests lately:

1 – Two boats – call them Blue and Red. Time of incident – about 15-30 seconds pre-start. Location of incident – about midway between RC boat and pin, and about ½ to 1 boatlengths below the line. Both boats on starboard. Blue was ahead and to windward. Red overtook Blue, obtaining a slight overlap on Blue. Red called Blue up, and Red responded slightly, then bore off again. Red again called “up”. At this point, Blue turned up, and the action of turning swiveled her transom such that her outboard motor propeller hit Red’s starboard hull between mast and prow. Red protested Blue under Rule 11 “On the same tack, overlapped”

Question: Was a rule broken here ? Did Blue (windward) fail to keep clear of Red after Red obtained an overlap from astern ? Did Red break Rule 15 “Acquiring right of way” and 16.1 “Changing course” by not giving Blue room to keep clear ?

The Protest Committee had to decide whether Blue had failed to keep clear of the leeward boat, or whether Red, in luffing up (changing course) had got so close to Blue that Blue could not respond without contacting Red.

The Protest Committee decided that the principal rule broken was 16.1 “When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear”. Inasmuch as Blue, in attempting to keep clear, could not do so without her outboard striking Red’s hull, it was actually Red who broke a rule. The Protest Committee therefore disqualified Red, even though Red had lodged the protest in the first place.

2 – The second situation involves 3 boats on a downwind leg….Boats,A,B and C. There are several stages to this protest situation.

Stage a
- Boat A – clear ahead and outside leeward boat.

- Boat B – clear astern and to windward of Boat A
- Boat C – clear astern and to windward of Boat B.

Stage b – Boat B overtakes Boat A to windward, and Boat C overtakes Boat B to windward, each establishing an overlap.

Stage c – Boat A calls to Boat B to luff up, whereupon Boat B calls to Boat C to also head up and keep clear.

At this point, Boat C refused to luff up, claiming that Boat B had no overlap. Consequently, Boat A protested Boat B for failing to keep clear, and Boat B protested Boat C for the same reason. There was no contact between any of the boats.

Boat B’s protest of Boat C was the only one recorded as received by the Protest Committee.

The protest was ruled invalid by the Protest Committee Chairman, on the grounds that a red cap was displayed, not a red flag., and that too long a time had elapsed before the cap was displayed. Racing Rules of Sailing Rule 61.1.a states “shall conspicuously display a red flag……..”. Nevertheless, this is how the rules might apply in this case.

Stage a: each boat is clear of the other.

Stage b: Now Boat B must keep clear of Boat A, and Boat C must keep clear of Boat B.

Stage c: Boat A is perfectly within her rights to luff Boat B, and as Boat B luffs in response, Boat C must keep clear of Boat B. Of  course, the boats that are luffing must give the windward boats time and opportunity to keep clear.

Now Boat C refuses to respond to Boat B’s luff, claiming no overlap. Yet Boat B claims that she had to pull in her jib which was flying on the starboard side, lest it hit Boat C’s port spreader. This strongly suggests that Boat C was NOT clear ahead, and definitely vulnerable to B’s luff (Rule 11).

Rule 17 “Proper Course” does not apply here, since Boat B overtook A to windward, and C overtook B to windward – not leeward.

Rule 15 applies:”When a boat acquires right of way, she shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat’s actions.”  In this case, Boat A acquired right of way when overtaken to windward by Boat B, and Boat B acquired right of way when overtaken to windward by Boat C – other words, both A and B acquired right of way by another boat’s actions.

So, did Boat C keep clear of Boat B ? Judging from the diagram accompanying the protest, all three boats could easily fetch the next mark, with Boat C needing to move downwind a bit so as not to overstand. But there was no real reason why Boat C could not keep clear of Boat B., at least not in terms of “proper course”.. The rules state that it’s not necessary to have contact in order for a boat to be found to have not kept clear.


However, in the absence of a protest by Boat A, really the principal factor in causing B’s protest, and the lack of a timely and official red flag hoisting, and the lack of contact or damage,the Protest Committee would likely have concurred with the decision to invalidate Boat B’s protest of Boat C.

Best regards,

Dave Cobbett

La Nocturne - The Night Race

Bonjour à tous,

Je me permet de vous envoyer une invitation pour la course Nocturne qui en est à
sa 10ième édition cette année! Tous les membres des clubs du lac des
Deux-Montagnes sont invités. La Nocturne aura lieu cette année le vendredi 5
août et le départ est toujours donné à 20h00.

Je vous envoie l'affiche de la Nocturne, l'avis de course, et la grille de
départs puisqu'il s'agit d'une course poursuite.

En espérant vous voir nombreux à cette régate et n'hésitez pas à communiquer
avec moi si vous avez des questions.

Julien Jéhanne

CVMO(Roughly translated into English)Hello everyone. Please accept this invitation for the 10th Annual "La Nocturne" night race.

All club members (HYC, CVL, CNDM & CVMO)of Lake of Two Mountains are invited.

The Nocturne will take place this year on Friday August 5th and the start will be at 20:00.
Please find attached the ad poster for the Nocturne, the NOR and the grid for the start times,
as this is a pursuit race with graduated starting order as per handicap.

Hoping to see you at this regatta and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Julien Jehanne LacasseCVMO

Etchells Canadians

by Allan Gray

On July 2-3, historic Pointe Claire Yacht Club on Montreal’s West Island hosted the 2011 Canadian Etchells Championships. Seventeen boats from Vermont, Windsor, Toronto and the Montreal area appeared on Lac St-Louis on Saturday morning jousting for space on the start line.

Saturday brought stupendous sunny weather, but light and shifty winds. Under the expert eye of PRO Madeline Palfreeman and her race committee, 2 races were completed resulting in a tie at the end of Day 1 between Hank Lammens and Jerry O’Brien.  That evening, the regatta committee and PCYC hosted a great dinner on the deck overlooking the lake as the sailors relaxed and enjoyed PCYC’s hospitality. They even timed the dinner to have Air France’s ominous and gargantuan Airbus fly over the club during dessert.

On Sunday, better racing conditions greeted the sailors. Winds gradually built in the morning and peaked in the 10-knot range, allowing 4 races to be completed before the 1400 hrs deadline. The racing was close, the leaderboard was in constant flux, but at the end of the day Hank Lammens, with crew Dirk Kneulman and J. Clark were victorious (these guys finally seem to be getting the hang of the boat). Second place honours went to Jerry O’Brien, D. Nuttial and B. Boston and the third place finishers were Allan Leibel, M. Wren and B. McFarlane.

In truth, the real winners were the members of Montreal’s Fleet 3, who had the opportunity to race against superb competition and meet their fellow Etchells Sailors.  Thanks go out to PCYC for being such gracious hosts, to Regatta Chair Dave Covo and his committee for their organizational excellence, and to Madeline Palfreeman and the Race Committee for setting fair courses in sometimes difficult conditions. Thanks also to all the sponsors who helped make the event possible, including title sponsor Ye Olde Orchard Pub.