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

Set Your Sights on the Canteen

Starting June 24^th, the new season starts and we’ll be up and running.

This year, we’re targeting the Tuesday and Wednesday racing crowd with some dinner box combos, ready in under 10 minutes.

Come on back to the canteen!

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!

Racing Starts this Week!

Tuesday 24 May - White Sail A series.

Wednesday 25 May - A series, together with CVL.

The first boats are in the water and racing is getting underway this week. 

First gun: 7pm

Let the games begin...

First Sail

The club was busy this weekend with many boats launching and several crews taking advantage of the fine spring weather to tune-up in advance of the racing this upcoming week.

If you havn't booked your launch date, do so soon.  The season is short, so take advantage of every day you can.

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.

Crew Bank Sign Up

If you're a skipper building your crew for this season, or a sailor looking for a ride, check out the Crew Bank link on the right of this page.




For those who signed up last year, let us know if you still want to be on the crew bank or if any info has changed.

Send any updates to sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com

Keelbolt Maintenance Bulletin

Courtesy of Waterline Systems
There aren't many maintenance areas that are more important, or more often overlooked than keel bolts. This is true for every boat, but particularly so for J/22s, J/24s and J/80s, all of which routinely hoist the boats in and out of the water using the bolts.

Failure of any keel bolt is bad, but most bolts are part of a massively redundant system, where the failure of any one bolt is rarely immediately catastrophic.  For boats that are hoisted, the failure of a bolt holding the lifting gear can be catastrophic and has the potential to lead to the loss of the boat, or much, much worse.

While this article is being distributed to USWatercraft and J/Boats customers, it applies to virtually all production boats, regardless of builder or brand.  If they use Stainless Steel keelboats and most of them do, it applies. Feel free to pass it along to your friends and fellow boat owners.  It's pretty important.


Click here for the full article.

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.

Judging and Protest Committee Seminar

Are you interested in honing your skills as member of a protest committee, or just learning the basics of what happens at a hearing?

If so, then come to a seminar to be held by Dave Cobbett

Date: Saturday May 7

Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 noon

Place: the HYC Clubhouse

See you there!

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!