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!