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 Race Team Delivers Strong Performances at Opti Canadians

by Diane Coté

The HYC Opti race team returned home this week after a very busy two week schedule on the road that started in historic Kingston and ended in picturesque Lunenburg.

The 2011 Canadian Optimist Championships were last week at the Lunenburg Yacht Club. 84 Championship and 10 Green Fleet sailors from across Canada and Bermuda descended on beautiful Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to take part in 6 days of activities on and off the water.

Taylor Grant, who made the long trek with his HYC sailors: Jack Marten CAN1360, Chantal Bourque CAN1445, and Thomas Coté CAN 1401, was joined by Philippe Pasquin CAN1012 (CNDM), Heidi Timmons USA15050 (PCYC), Vincent Nalecz (PCYC) CAN1373 and John Thomas Kelly (PCYC) CAN1098 who needed support on the water.

Coaches Briefing

Taylor’s Championship fleet of seven sailors met up each morning after picking up their lunches and set out for open waters off Backmans Island approximately 2.5nm from the club.  Our sailors navigated the range of Atlantic weather from warm and sunny to torrential rain and wild wind conditions reaching 32 knots on Monday. On Tuesday blue skies delivered winds of 10-15 knots.

Wednesday was a lay day but there was Team racing for those who couldn’t get enough of being on the water. Sailors organized themselves into 2 HYC teams (recruiting extra talent from the Royal St. Lawrence Club) and headed off in light wind just off the LYC grounds for an afternoon of racing where the HYC team of Thomas, Philippe, Julien, Nick made it through the 4th elimination (out of 14 teams).

Fog in the morning on Thursday burned off before the teams set out but the high winds had returned. Friday and the last day of racing brought lighter wind conditions.

The organizing committee treated the sailors and parents to warm east coast hospitality. Despite an active schedule, we took a quick walk about Lunenburg (established in 1753 and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1995) and were able to see the traditional boat building technique used to create the Bluenose (1921), the world famous fishing schooner. The Bluenose II (1963) is currently being restored in Lunenburg.

All Taylor’s sailors turned out terrific performances:

Chantal Bourque finished 30th overall and brought home hardware for being the 5^th top Canadian female sailor. Philippe Pasquin placed 15^th  and in spite of injuring his elbow before racing started, Thomas Cote finished 35^th, and Heidi Timmons was 47^th.  Jack Marten, competing in his first Canadian Championship ranked 48^th, Vincent Nalecz was 60^th and John Thomas Kelly was 73^rd.  HYC was also represented by Justin Vittecoq who came 1st and Coralie Vittecoq who came 4th overall and was top female sailor.

This event was an exceptional experience for our young sailors who forged new friendships and enjoyed camaraderie with many competitors from other area clubs.

The next sailing event is the Quebec Championships at CVL September 10th and 11^th.

For more full results, visit:

http://www.opti2011.ca/results/championship.htm

For Articles and photos, check out:

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Cruising/Canadian-Optimist-Championship-Leaders-switch-after-day-3-of-racing_5198347.aspx

http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/Nearly-100-young-sailors-participate-in-2011-Canadian-Optimist-Champs/87715

Justin and Coralie Vittecoq 2011 campaign reach peak at Opti Canadians in Lunenburg

You may have seen Justin (now 11 yrs old) and Coralie (now 13) running around at Hudson Yacht Club a few years ago. This is where they started sailing in the summer of 2006. Sarah and Hannah Kennel first stimulated their interest in learning then competing the year after for the first time in the Green Fleet at Fruitbowl. Then Nicole Bastet took over in 2008 for their first real season in the championship fleet. At that point, they could not have enough learning to train and race so their season got extended after CORK by an impromptu trip to Lunenburg Nova Scotia for their first Canadian Championship experience. There they met challenging conditions resulting in a 63d (Coralie) and 87th (Justin).

Corali moving up to a Laser Radial

In 2009 and 2010 they had extensive campaigns with the objectives to improve their national ranking and earn spots on the Canadian Optimist Teams attending International IODA events around the world. With the help of many coaches (Lauren Laventure, Carmen Denis, Fran Bellocchio, Osvaldo Padron) at club racing programs, training regattas or clinics, and always proudly bearing the colors of Hudson Yacht Club, they went on and achieved their objectives. This year they participated in no less than 6 International Regattas of 90 boats or more, each time improving their year/year results showing constant progression. This lead them to go to Algarrobo (Chile), Los Angeles, Buffalo, Boston, Kingston and back to Lunenburg again.

There they met similar conditions as in 2008 but the results were different. Justin sailed a very consistent top ten finish in every conditions from light to heavy air, combined with excellent race management over the week (staying in 3d or 2nd position all week with different leaders) scooping the victory in the 11th race and consolidating his lead in the last race. Coralie scored 2 bullets and was a constant top ten finisher as well but drew more attention from umpires leading to a Rule 42 retirement on the last day. However this was not enough to put her out of the prizes round where Coralie gathered trophies for 3d Red Fleet (under 16 years old), 4th overall, and First Canadian Female. Justin won 1st overall, 1st Blue (Under 13) and 1st Canadian Male.

What is next? They are both qualified to represent Canada at next year's World's Championships in Dominican Republic, as well as the South American Championships in Argentina and North Americans in Mexico. 2012 will be a transition year for Coralie as she considers sailing a Laser Radial. She got a taste of it this summer participating in the wonderful Fruitbowl clinic where coach Rosie Chapman stimulated her appetite for this Female Olympic Class.

Justin in his Opti

Justin still has 3 more years in the Opti Class, depending on his growth rate (Opti racers need to stay under 120 lbs to be competitive). His next stop is the Junior Gold Cup in Bermuda next October where he will meet 15 of the World's National Champions and the Bermuda National Team in an invitational regatta during the prestigious Bermuda Gold Cup of Professional Match Racing where Canada will be represented by past Olympic Medalist skipper Terry McLaughlin.

While they are associated with different teams and coaches as they travel around, they always remember where it all started, in beautiful Hudson Yacht Club, and always feel at home when they come back.

Cyrille (Proud Opti Dad)

Opti Race Team at CORK 2011

by Jenny Marten

The 6 member team lead by coach Taylor Grant competed in the annual CORK regatta in Kingston, Ontario.  They had 5 team members racing in the championship fleet and one in the green fleet. 

Well done Jamie Kondejewski racing in his first big regatta finishing 8th overall in Opti green.

Congratulations to Joey Marten for finishing 2nd in the opti white division. 

Chantal Bourque was top HYC racer finishing 17th. Jack Marten was 32nd, Thomas Cote 40th and Matthew Kondejewski 41st out of 86 competitors.

Click here for full results

The team gets one full rest day (!) before heading out to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia for the Opti Canadian Championship.  Good Luck, go team!

2011 Labour Day Regatta

HYC wins at CYA's SailEast 2011 in Shediac New Brunswick

HYC Junior Race Team's Chantal Bourque (CAN 1445) took top podium spot in the Opti Fleet at CYA's SailEast in Shediac on August 7. Six competitors from Saint-Pierre & Miquelon representing France were not able to slow her down. Click here for full Results


Chantal was also  interviewed by Radio-Canada satellite mobile unit and her interview was broadcast nation-wide on RDI's French Television network.  http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlantique/2011/08/04/004-regate-voile-shediac.shtml

Women's Regatta - Sunday 7 August

Ladies! Time for the Fourth Annual HYC Women's Regatta!!!  Find your boats, your crews, and let's go racing!
What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon... and as is our tradition, please bring a plate of something yummy, to go with the always entertaining post-racing stories!

Call Margaret to register, or drop by the Office and fill in a chit.  (Only $5 per person!)
For more information, or to register online please see;  http://hycwomen.sailspace.net/

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.

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

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.

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

Racing Update

TUESDAY WHITE SAIL
Attention all sailors, due to circumstances beyond the sailing committee's control, tonight's White Sail (A1) will have to be canceled. The Hy Seas III will only be ready for the weekend, and the new Bosun can only start work this weekend (the Spring Regatta). 

WEDNESDAY SPINNAKER SAIL
Please be advised that tomorrow's Wednesday night race will go ahead as scheduled due to the fact that the RC duties are CVL's responsibility.

THE SPRING REGATTA
The Spring Regatta offers an excellent opportunity to shake off the winter blues and cobwebs and more importantly get your boat and crew ready for the coming summer of racing on Lake of Two Mountains. The Regatta will feature 3 races Sat and 3 on Sunday.  Don't forget that the 3 races on Saturday also count as the SAT A1 in the regular club series, so this regatta is doubly important for those wishing to get off to a quick start in the HYC racing series. The Regatta already has 13 entries as of last weekend, please do not miss out on this event, register as soon as possible. You may only register on line at:     http://hycspring2011.sailspace.net      It is fast and simple and NO COST!!

See you on the water!

Spring Regatta - Please Register

The Spring Regatta is scheduled for May 28 and 29 and is a wonderful opportunity to blow away those winter cobwebs and get your team working together as a well-oiled sailing performance machine.  Alternatively, you can also approach it as a weekend of fun and pretty relaxed racing and a good way of easing into the season.  Remember that the three Saturday races are also the Saturday A1 series.

The good folks who organize our regattas are testing out a new registration tool that we would like to use for Fruitbowl this year, so please take a few minutes to register by clicking here for the Spring Regatta Web Page.  You will also find the NORs there. There are no obligations associated with registering, but it helps plan for numbers and will allow us to test the software.  If you have any feedback on the tool, please email us at sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com.

Limited Crew Membership

If you wish to have a regular crew sailing with you in racing events, who is not currently a member of the club, this is possible through the Limited Crew Membership.

It's a great deal and allows the person use of club facilities on days when a racing event is scheduled.

It is the skippers responsibility to submit proposals for the Limited Crew Membership.  Please contact the HYC office for the forms and further details.

Sailing Calendar Updated

If don't have you calendar handy and are wondering when the next race is, you can always click on the link on the right of this page.  It's now been updated for the 2011 season.  There is also a calendar of external events.  Admittedly it's a little J22-centric, so if you'd like some dates added for other fleets, drop a note to sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com.

Spring Sailors' Meeting - Wednesday 13th April

Greetings sailors and welcome back from the chilly depths of winter!  The ice is melting fast, it's time to turn our thoughts to the upcoming season.

To kick-start that process, the Spring Sailors' Meeting will be held at 07:30pm next Wednesday 13 April in the HYC bar.  

Come and hear all about the sailing program for this season and have all your questions answered.

What series are planned?  

Are there any changes to the SI's?  

What inter-club competitions will be sailed?  

How many regattas are planned?  

Do we have a bosun? 

Sign up for your preferred slot for RC.   

See you there!

Fruitbowl 2011 News - Support Needed

The Fruitbowl 2011 Committee is already hard at work preparing for the all those youths(es) or maybe, as Joe Pesci (My Cousin Vinnie) would say, ‘Youtes’ descending on us for the wild and wonderful four days in July.

We are searching for a few willing (or unwilling) volunteers to head up some dossiers. We are looking for some one to handle Registration (left vacant because Helen Hodgson has moved to Chairperson); Communication is available; and the ever-popular....Sponsorship. The main sponsor has been found but some follow-up is needed for smaller donations and swag for prizes and coaches.

We are also hoping the some generous HYC member would be willing to give up some Airmiles to fly in a some of our invited coaches (you can never use those things anyway - ed)

You can contact Helen Hodgson at: hansworks2@gmail.com 450-451-0559 cell: 514-349-6413

Thanks,

Helen Hodgson