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!

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)