Monday, June 25, 2012

Waves Regatta

Waves regatta was held at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club from June 23nd to June 24th. I finished 2nd out of the 24 Boats entered in the event. The full results can be found here.

Most of the regatta was sailed in light winds out of the west. It was really tricky sailing with lots of current as there always is on Waves weekend, you had to go the the beach to get out of the current but if you went too far you would run out of wind. We got eight races off in total over the two days. At the end of both days we got into the hiking straps.  I was happy with where I finished and this was by far my best Waves Regatta yet.

Next up for me, I am off to the Gorge for the Laser North Americans.
-Kyle

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sail For Gold

Sail for Gold was held in Weymouth, the  2012 Olympic site for sailing,from the 4th to the 9th of June. We only ended up sailing three of the days after the regatta was cut short when a storm came through and winds started to blow north of 30kts. I finished 79th out of the 95 boats that were entered in the event.
We arrived in Weymouth after Delta Lloyd and started training right away. We did five days of training before the regatta started. Training was really good because we were able to train with a group that included  the three best Laser sailors in the world. It was a great experience.


The regatta started with one of the longest days that I can remember  having at an event. We were at the club at nine and on the water at quarter to ten for the scheduled start time of 11 o’clock. After towing 45 min out to the course we started our first race on time. However the wind quickly died and the race committee was forced to abandon the race and send us all to shore to wait for wind. Finally at around 5 o’clock our AP flag came down and we all went back out with another 45min tow. We did get one race off but it was past 8:30 by the time we were off the water.  The race that we did get off was in light wind with some really strong current.

Strong currents, shifty winds and skewed sloppy waves were the norm for the event.  By day two the wind had started to build and we got three races off. Though they got us caught up and back on schedule, r it was another long day with a very long tow in.  On day three there were about 18-20kts and the trickiest down winds that I have sailed in a long time.


On the fourth day the forecast was for the wind to build throughout the day so the race committee moved the sliver fleets start  back in the day. This was to make sure that the gold fleet could get their races off before the storm came in. Gold fleet did get their races off but when it was time for our fleets to go it was too windy to send us out.  We spent a long time at the club waiting around for something to happen but in the end the wind never did die down and we did not get any races off that day.


For our last day they moved all of the races until later because the wind was forecast to die later in the day. After some time waiting around it became obvious that the wind was not going to die and the race committee blew off the day. After that we packed up the trailer and that was the end of Sail for Gold. It was a bit of a disappointment not to get any sailing on the last two days of the event but we did get a lot of training before the event. I am now on my way home for bit of a break after almost two months on the road. I am looking forward to it. The next event that I will be sailing will be the Waves Regatta out of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Then it is off the Gorge for the Laser North Americans.



-Kyle  

Friday, June 1, 2012

Delta Lloyd Regatta

The Delta Lloyd Regatta was held in Medemblik from May 22nd to May 27th. I finished 30th out of the 43 boats entered in the event as well 3rd Canadian and 5th in the last race.  I was very happy with that. The full results can be found here.


After the Laser Worlds Al and I spent two days in Berlin doing some sightseeing before flying to Amsterdam.  Then it was a short drive up to Medemblik where we were sailing. The place we were staying was a three bedroom cabin on the other side of the dike from the sailing center and it was great.
It was windy the first day that we sailed. After that the days were pretty similar with winds out of the North at 5-15kts. By the end of stay the weather had started to get really nice and we were in shorts most days.


We had five days of training before the regatta started and I missed only one for a lack of wind. Sailing here was a nice change from Boltenhagan as the water was warm and because it is a man made lake, fresh. 
Racing started with three races per day for the first two days which made for long days. On day three we were only doing two races but after sailing the first 4 legs of the race it was blown off for lack of wind. Then we sat around and waited for the wind to come in and finally at four o’clock we started the race again. In the end we did not get to shore until 6:10 and having launched at 9 am made it a really long day on the water.
The next day there was more wind. The combination of the lake and the wind made for some tricky waves. Sailing down wind was not easy.  The last day of racing was a one race day. I had an OK start by the boat and then I flipped and went a bit right. I sailed a nice beat and got to the top mark in 7th. I sailed a good downwind rounding the bottom mark in 6th. I had another good beat and was 8th at the top mark, then a great downwind finishing 5th.
The Delta Lloyd Regatta was great event with a lot of good guys in the fleet although it was considerably smaller than in the past. Now we are off to Weymouth,  the sailing site of the 2012 Olympics,  for Sail For Gold.

-Kyle