BOWSER FAMILY RETURNS TO HYC IN STYLE

Seventy nine keel boats started the 68th annual Labour Day long distance race under sunny skies on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The traditional starting line was off Ile Cadieux and the fleet got away on time in a gusty southerly breeze resulting in a fairly fast race. The slightly shorter course this year, plus fast sailing conditions allowed the fleet to get back to HYC in lots of time to enjoy the onshore festivities. As the boats crossed the finish line in front the crowded terrace they were serenaded by the Caribbean Steel Band who played until the BBQs  were ready. As is tradition at HYC a large team of volunteers took over and cooked more than 260 steak dinners for the hungry sailors. Just when everyone was ready to relax, the rock and roll band started and kept the party going late into the night.

The off shore breeze put a premium on keeping a clear lane and focusing on boat speed and all those who succeeded  were rewarded with good finishes. This year the RC decided to shorten the race distance to the pre-1978 distance to encourage everyone to finish the race. This, combined with great sailing conditions resulted in 79 boats crossing the finish line.

Ted & Karen Bowser with their daughter Emily sailing a Shark were the overall winners of the Lake of Two Mountains Challenge Cup for the long distance race. They hadn't sailed here in 20 years but showed that sailing in Mallets Bay hasn't hurt their performance as they won Sunday PHRF 3 as well. Second place on Saturday was HYC's Ron Harris and crew who also won Sunday PHRF 1B/2 fleet. Third place Saturday went to George Stedman sailing a Shark from PCYC. Line honours for the Long Distance race were won by Alain Molimard from CNDM on board his Viper 640. All the results from the weekend can be found on the HYC website which also includes the J 24 Quebec
District Regatta.






                                                              

                                                        
The weekend wasn't only about big boat sailing. The ever active Soling 1M fleet held it's annual Sunday regatta and sailed 10 races just west of the Webb Pier much to the delight of the crowd on the terrace. Top three sailors for the day, 1st, Paul Switzer, 2nd Bill Croft and 3rd John Lowther.

Kevin Thompson winner  Corvette Cup

Sailors relaxing after the Long Distance and enjoying our sponsors products SLEEMANS and MOUNT GAY

                                                                                           

Sunday J 24 Fleet racing

Thanks to all volunteers and to all the sailors who attended, see you next year!

Etchells Quebec Championships

Pointe Claire Yacht Club hosted this year’s Etchells Quebec Championships on the weekend of July 5-6, and Hurricane Arthur stopped by to make sure the racing for the eight boats--two from HYC--was interesting. On Saturday, winds built from 18-32 knots during the three races. During the 3^rd race of the day, in 30+ knot winds, one Etchells had its mast snap, two lost their vangs, and one had a spin halyard shred apart. Sunday’s breezes were more moderate, in the 18-24 knot range and three more races were completed with a slightly diminished fleet. In the end, HYC’s Scott Lawrence, Kevin Thompson and Frank Clarke aboard Quill won the championship by a single point over PCYC’s Stephane Arsenault. Thanks go out to PCYC and Hurricane Arthur for making this one of the more memorable regattas in recent memory.

SAILPAST 2014

The annual Sailpast was finally held on June 22nd after a two week weather delay. The weather was perfect for the shore side activities, warm,  sunny and just a gentle breeze. The large contingent of Past Commodores, led by Pete Stephenson (1964) was introduced and warmly applauded by all in attendance. After Commodore Hodgson introduced the board of directors and thanked all the volunteers he presented Bill Hansen with a life time membership award. Following  the flag raising  and officially declaring the Club open, Commodore Hodgson boarded his yacht for the review of the fleet.

Ed Bergeron

Commodore Hodgson

Past Commodore  David Law

Colin May

Past Commodore Ross Tellier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Thompson, Past Commodore Gord T.

Approximately 40 boats took part in the Sailpast, the winners for showing the best spirit of the day went to David Law and crew for the powerboats and Nick Townsend and family for the sailboats. Once the review was completed, the Race Committee quickly prepared the course for the annual Commodore vs Vice Commodore Race

The race started on time but quickly turned into a drifting contest as the breeze faded to zero. However, the Vice Commodore's team led by Colin Scotcher managed to sail, drift and motor to a slim victory, earning
their leader the traditional dunking in the lake.
.

Past Commodore Paul Laflamme

Past Commodores, Scott Lawrence, Chris Poulter, Mike L'Aventure

Lauren Laventure's 49er FX World Report

Hello!

I have just returned from the World Championships for the 49erFX in Marseille, France. It was an amazing and eye opening event.

We arrived in France three weeks before the event started, and spent that time setting up our boat and training at the venue. The sailing venue was at Prado Plage, about a 10 minute drive away from the city of Marseille. We had a small apartment right across the street, which made commuting there every day into a 2 minute walk (amazing!).

Once we got our boat sorted and set up (three days of preparation), we were able to get out on the water for some training with the rest of the Canadian Team and our two coaches that came to the event: Mark Asquith (National Team Coach) and Rob Frost (Ontario Sailing Association Coach).

There are three general wind directions in Marseille: The sea breeze, the offshore breeze and the mighty mistral. We got a good taste of the mistral breeze during training. This direction can crank out winds of up to 40 knots, with massive swells, topped off with some nice choppy waves. Looking back, we are simply happy to say we survived some of those days…We took some pretty hard falls and got knocked around quite a bit. Most days, the majority of the boats that made it out had to come back in with theirs sails taken down (from all countries, even some of the top men!).

Of course, come event time, the wind decided to calm down and we spent a lot of time waiting on shore for the afternoon sea breeze to fill in. From about 1pm onwards, the wind would slowly build before beginning to shut off again around 6pm.  During racing, the wind would usually pick up somewhere between 5 to 8 knots, then begin to die until we could not race anymore.

The first three days of the event was the qualifying series. This consisted of 30 minutes races, where we raced in two 26 boat fleets. In the three days, we only managed to get 5 races off total. This means 4 races counted, while each boat got to drop their worst race. We had a great qualifying series and managed to sail consistently. Our races averaged around a 10^th place, which placed us in 19^th overall and into the Gold Fleet for the rest of the event (the top 20 boats). Our goal going into this event was to qualify for Gold Fleet. We were extremely excited when this happened! We were very nervous awaiting results after the last day of qualifiers, and when we got the news we had made it into the top 20, we were so proud of our accomplishment!

For the rest of the regatta, we only sailed against the top 20 boats in Gold Fleet. This proved to be an amazing and challenging experience. Erin and I are a new team, and we have been sailing the FX full time now for only 4 months. Although we sailed and performed quite well, the regatta opened our eyes and pin pointed our weakest areas.  What we discovered was that our starts proved to be our major downfall in the Gold Fleet. The FX is a difficult boat to manoeuver and we struggled to keep our position on the line when were under the pressure of the final minute before the gun. This made working back through the fleet very challenging as these top sailors are hard to catch! It’s always difficult to start a race off behind the pack! But that is exactly what this type of event is best for, to expose your weaknesses and discover your strengths. Although we struggled on the start line, we were pleased to have found that we have excellent boat speed and fairly consistent manoeuvers. Overall, we finished in 20^th place out of a fleet of 53 boats, and we were second North American team.

Going into our fall training, we now have a solid idea of what we need to work on to be able to advance ourselves in the international fleet. More start line work, more heavy wind experience and more training in the gym! Worlds was an amazing event and we are looking forward to continuing our quest towards representing Canada at the 2016 Olympics.

I want to give a very special thanks to the Hudson Yacht Club, whose donation through the Corinthian Fund helped me attend this event. It helped us tremendously!

Lauren Laventure

Hudson Yacht Club J22's invade Lake George

HYC had a great showing of 4  J22’s at the annual  J/22 Lake George Open/Northeast Championship Regatta.

Trevor Collins  with Alternative Girlfriend, Ron Harris  with Jazz, David Godin with Won Ton  and “the Gillai” with Over fought the good fight and finished well.

Saturday started off  with heavy breeze in the first 2 races and the afternoon races were cancelled as the wind was gusting to 30 kts.  The first 2 races races on Sunday were sailed in  light and shifty breeze, then the  wind  kicked up for race 3. 

Overall, David Godin and crew (Yves Godin and Marco Bourgois) finished 5^th , Ron Harris and crew (Cathy Harris, Cynthia Shinn, Tammy Gillis) finished 7^th, the Gillai (James, Andrew and Donny) finished  9th and Trevor Collins and crew (Alexandra Collins, Doug Mair, Jessa Chenier finished  12th. 

Three boats, Jazz, Alternative Girlfriend and Won Ton  will be going to to Newport, RI to compete in the J22 worlds, starting October 1^st.  5 days or racing with almost 80 boats…all on the same starting line.  Should be good for some great photos!

 HYC hosts Arthritis Society

A big thank you to Hudson Yacht Club for allowing the Quebec Division of the Arthritis Society to host on Sunday, September 22^nd  a 10^th anniversary celebration of its Camp for kids  with Childhood Arthritis. The Camp, located in Rawdon, annually welcomes approximately 45 kids, aged 8 to 16 years, with rheumatological diseases for one week in the summer. Games, health care and other aspects of the Camp are tailored to their specific needs. A team of health professionals, working in the field of rheumatology also remains on site. The Camp allows the kids to participate in the same activities as those experienced by unaffected children at a pace that suits them. Moreover, this environment offers them the opportunity to express their pain and their limitations without being judged.  Many volunteers help to make the Camp possible, including medical specialists. Dr. Sarah Campillo, Rheumatologist (and also President of the Arthritis Society – Quebec Division), and Gillian Taylor, a rheumatological nurse specialist, both from the Montreal Children’s Hospital who co-founded the Camp.

More than 25 club members responded enthusiastically to our request to help get our campers, their siblings – and parents – as well as our invaluable volunteers out on the lake on sail boats so that they could experience the thrill of sailing, a sport that many can manage – as they witnessed firsthand in 10 to 15 knot winds! Former Hudson Yacht Club Commodore Gary Nash and his wife Teresa of, ABC Completions, sponsored the BBQ with the support of our local IGA Poirier & Fils. Commodore Marian Kuiper started the speeches off with a few words about our beloved HYC. Former Alouettes player, CFL Commissioner, Hudson resident and HYC member Senator Larry Smith engaged the kids in a discussion about what they want to see at their camp next year – not surprisingly “boating”!

A special thank-you must go out to HYC volunteers who made it all happen:

Alex Bergeron

Frank Clarke

Dave Cobbett

Brian Corrigan

Nancy Donnelly

Barb Dunnigan

Lee Grant

Allan Gray

Jonathan Humel

Michel Jutras

Bob and Sarah Kennell

Marian Kuiper

Mike and Derek Lagimodiere

Alan and Susan Lombard

Jessica Lombard

Peter Miller

Logan Murphy

Gary, Teresa and Daniel Nash

Amelia Robinson

Ross Tellier

Skip, Anne and Kyle Tetro

And, for lending their boats:

James Campbell (and the Martens)

Larry Gray

Taylor Grant

Simon Robinson

And special thanks to the professional support of Derek Patino, HYC Manager and Jim McKenna!

In Canada, arthritis currently affects 1 in 6 people, making it one of the most common chronic diseases.  Lesser known is that 1,500 children in Quebec suffer from childhood arthritis. Children with severe arthritis must  at a very young age to overcome challenges including living with pain, fatigue, separation from family and friends during hospital stays, limitations of the disease in terms of physical activity and recreation pursuits, often leading to depression and isolation.  In addition, they must follow a strict exercise regime and take their medications without fail.

The kids, as you will see in the attached photos, loved the experience. We may have converted a few to the sport of sailing too! Thank you on their behalf!

Elizabeth Kennel

2013 Club Championship

Saturday’s events went off smoothly! The day started off with a little delay while the wind settled into place for the Wild Card race. David Godin, Dave Cobbett, and Ron Metcalfe took off the start line in a light 5-7 knots and completed the twice around semi final race in just under an hour. As there were no PHRF 1A qualifiers, the two first boats across the line continued on past the Wild Card.

So without further delay, the Wild Card winners, Ron Metcalfe & David Godin, joined the Club Champ qualifiers Ron Harris, Taylor Grant & Jean-Luc Gosselin for a 5 race round robin thrilling afternoon of racing. By the start of the first Club Championship race, the wind was still oscillating around the Westerly forecast and by the second race was settled from the West and building above the forecasted 7 knots. The positioning of qualifiers changed throughout the afternoon as crews boarded different boats for each race.  By the end of the 4^th race, there was a leader in the standings, however we had to run the 5^th race as there was a slight chance that a change in position would occur. In the end, Ron Harris and crew completed the days event and were awarded as the 2013 Club Championships!

 Congratulations to Ron, Cathy Harris, Peter Amos and Stephane LePage

A special thank you to all that lent their boats, Darrel Seaman, Jim Freeman, Colin Scotcher, Derek Lagimodiere, and Peter Frohloff – we would not have been able to have our event with these generous members.

Kt

 

HYC Junior Sailing grads continue to perform well on the International Stage

Lauren Laventure and Justin Vittecoq both started  sailing at HYC and now continue to compete at the national and international level. Lauren has teamed up with Erin Berry and is actively campaigning a 49erFX while Justin has graduated from Optis to Bytes. The following articles describe just how busy they have been.

The Hudson Yacht Club has played a huge part in my sailing career. Here is an update on my recent endeavors. Over the past three months my skipper Erin Berry and I have been training hard in Kingston, Ontario with the rest of the Canadian Sailing Team and our coach Mark Asquith. It has all been a very exciting learning experience in both boat handling and in self-management with sponsorship applications and money management. The hard work is definitely starting to pay because we brought home the Canadian Championship title for the first 49erFX  Nationals, we just placed 3rd at CORK OCR and we finished 2nd at the US Nationals in New York. We are now in Marseille, France for the 49erFX Worlds (Sept. 21-29). Our goal for our first major World-Class event is to place in the top 40% but also to make it into the medal race!  It is going to be a hard regatta but we are very excited for the big fleet experience and to see how we match up against the top ladies on the extremely competitive European circuit.

-Lauren Laventure

Please check us out at www.berrylaventure49erFX.com or on

Facebook: Berry Laventure 49erFXSailing

And feel free to ask us anything!

Thank you again for all of your support.

  Meanwhile Justin just finished 6th in the Byte C11 World Championships in Newport RI. Check out the link below for the full regatta report

http://www.bytechamps.org/pages/home.asp?EventID=25

HYC Sailors Dominate Top Ten at Labour Day

            

Hudson Yacht Club's annual Labour Day Regatta was held last weekend and  several local boats had strong performances during the 3 day event. The big attraction of the weekend is the annual long distance race, 68 boats started the race in a 6-8 knot  NW breeze. The first stages of the race showed promise of a nice reach up the lake, however once the leaders passed Oka the breeze started to fade and the wind became very light and flukey for the remainder of the race. Many racers suffered from the Quarry Point blues but patience and persistence were the order of the day and eventually the early leaders snuck away for good finishes.

Hudson Yacht Club sailors had a successful day  by placing five boats in the top ten final results. Leading the way was Allan Gray with crew Bev Bethune, Jean Racette and Katie Gallagher who won line honours as well as first overall on corrected time. Jenna Chenier and Peter Amos with their children Andrea and James Amos finished in second place by a mere 6 seconds, while third went to Dave Lowther of PCYC.  Additional HYC top ten results were Paul Lafllamme 6th, Bernard Le Duc 9th and Ross Tellier 10th.

Fleet racing and the J24 district regatta continued on Sunday and Monday. The 1M Soling Fleet had a fun regatta on Sunday as well, which provided great entertainment for those relaxing on the terrace.All the results can be found on the website under regattas.  Congratulations to all the prize winners, and thanks to the race committees for all their hard work.

Board of Directors Soling 1M Challenge

On August 18th the Soling 1M Fleet invited the Directors of HYC to enjoy an afternoon sailing their model boats in a fun challenge series. Several fleet members graciously loaned their boats and coached the directors in the art of model sailboat racing.

Once the directors had a chance to get used to handling the
boats they were ready for the racing to begin.  Conditions were perfect
and the racing was close as the directors tried their best to control their boats.

Commodore Kuiper tried valiantly to defend the title she'd won last year, however new comer Kevin Thompson (Senior Sailing Director)
showed his skills and is  the champion for 2013.

Everyone had a great time and the Directors would like to thank
the Soling 1M Fleet for a great day,  especially those who loaned
their boats and coached the sailors.

Junior member Justin Vittecoq’s 2012 Optimist Sailing Season is on a roll...

Coming back from Argentina in April where he logged the best ever performance by a Canadian at the IODA South American Championships (55/165), Justin Vittecoq has been training in Toronto for the month of May with the ROWST (Right of Way Sailing Team) of Osvaldo Padron. He is joined by the best group of Optimist sailors in Canada (including his sister Coralie) getting ready for the upcoming IODA Optimist Worlds Championship in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic from July 15-26.

Part of their training is participating in the Quebec and Ontario Circuits of Junior Dinghy Racing. First stop was the Lilac Festival at RHYC in Hamilton. Justin won a first regatta for this year. 6 races were sailed in light to medium air allowing Justin to show his usual consistency earning top positions in every race.

After the Worlds, Justin and Coralie will go straight to HYC to participate in Fruitbowl/Sail Central, Justin with his Opti “Fastrooster” and Coralie moving on definitely to the Radial class. August will bring them to CORK and the Opti Canadians in Vancouver. Then some more training (and back to school…) before concluding the season at the IODA Optinam 2012 in Valle Del Bravo, Mexico. Spanish lessons taken during the school year will be helpful this season!

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