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

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  

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

Laser World Championships

The Laser worlds were held in Boltenhagen, Germany from May 2nd to May 10th. I finished 140th out of the 168 boats that were in the event. I was 28th in bronze fleet just making the top half. I was pleased with that. The full results can be found here.

Ricardo, I and our coach Al landed in Hamburg, then Ricardo and I picked up our new boats from the Laser Dealer in Hamburg. We stacked both of them on top of our rental car and headed up north to Boltenhagen. The place that we were staying was a nice sort of cabin house. It had a big open  living room/ kitchen which was great for putting on sail numbers. From our house it was about a 10min drive to the sailing center which was on the other side of the town. The nice thing with staying where we were was that we were right beside the gym and grocery store.

We were lucky to have about 10 days of training before the event started.  For the first three of those the wind was over the land from light to 12kts and shifty. However for the remaining days of training there was a sea breeze  and it was between 15kts and 28kts depending on the day. It was the kind of place that when you went outside you know that it was windy because there was this whistle in the air. Ricardo and I came to call it the howl. Every morning it was there  until we started racing!

 

There was almost no wind on the day of the practice race. Ricardo and I went out, started,  did an upwind and down wind leg before the wind completely died and we got towed in. The first day of actual racing was a bit winder to start but was dying by the end of the day. Race one was one of my best of the event, I started at the pin, flipped on to port right away and got a bit of a lane. After tacking a few more times on some shifts I rounded to top mark in 20th. By the end of the race I had bled some boats and was back to 35th. The next race was similar to the first but with a bit lighter wind.

Over the following next three days of the qualifying series we got off all the races that were scheduled. The wind was quite similar, light with almost no hiking breeze. The forth and final day of qualifying was by far the coldest day of sailing that we had had the whole event. It had been cold during all the training and that did not surprise us because we are in north Germany very early in the year. At the end of qualifying I was sitting 155th and would be sailing the rest of the event in bronze fleet. Ricardo had made it into silver fleet which was great for him as it meant that he would have a shot at getting an Olympic spot.

The temperature was warming up for the three days of finals and with that came some more wind. Day one of finals was still quite light but by the end of day two we were hiking. on the last day we were full out hiking but the wind still did not ever get over 18kts.

I had some great races in the finals. In the very first race I was forth around the top mark but lost it all on the second up wind when  the wind from the right and I was on the left. The next race was also good for me I got a top ten. The next day I had a great start,  starting at the boat and going right. I got a nice shift and was 2rd to the top mark. I lost one boat on the second beat and finished the race 3rd. My second race of the day was similar to the first one  I missed a shift and was 22nd in the race. The last day of the event was the windiest one that we had had. It was still a land breeze and was really shifty. I had two solid races and a great start in the last race.

This was my first Laser World Championship and I was happy with how it went. There were some times that I would have liked more wind. Now we are spending some time being tourists in Berlin before we head over to Holland for the Delta Loyd Regatta.

-Kyle

Laser Midwinters West

The Laser Midwinters West Regatta was held at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach California from March 23rd to March 25th. I finished 7th out of the 44 boats entered. The full results can be found here.

I drove down from Vancouver with a coach and we pulled a second trailer. Our big trailer had been driven out straight from Florida. We left on Saturday morning and rolled into Long beach on Sunday night. We were staying at a nice hotel about as close to the Yacht Club as you can get although it was still a 10min drive. Our Royal Vancouver Yacht Club representation at this event was one of the biggest that we have had in years. There were fourteen sailors plus two coaches,six of us in full rig Lasers and eight in Radial.

We had four days before the event, spending the mornings making sure that all of the boats were set up correctly and then sailing in the afternoons as the winds started to build. There was hiking breeze for every day of training with clear blue skies. It could not have got much better.

As is so often the case the first day of the regatta brought light winds, overcast skies and smog. We did get the three races off that the race committee was trying for but after the first race there was no hiking to be done. The second race was my best of the day. After a good start at the pin I immediately tacked and got going on the lifted tack. I was third to the top mark passing both boats on the reach. One of them got past me as I protected the fleet on the second beat finishing the race in second and really happy with that.

Day two was a lot like day one with light wind and no hiking. The Race Committee was trying for four races but only managed to get three off. I had a solid day and was reasonably pleased with how I was sailing. It was nice for us to get some sailing in lighter winds as we have not had much of that over the winter.

On the third day of racing we arrived at the club to see sand blowing and the palm trees swaying. Most of the team was quite excited about this. However, shortly after arriving the Race Committee put up AP saying that it was too windy and and that they were going to wait for the front to go through. At 12:00 AP went down meaning a 1 o’clock start. We got out of the harbor and did a long upwind warm up before going and finding our committee boat. It turned out to still be windy with gusts up to 25kts and some nice big waves. The start line was really pin favored I started up the line abit but not in an ideal position. There were four of us from Royal Vancouver that were loving the winds! I got to the the first mark in third. After two more laps of the course and some rearranging of the fleet I ended up fourth behind three sailors from our team. We were hoping for more but there was only one race sailed that day. I finished the regatta in seventh and happy with that as it is a step up from my tenth last year at this event. Royal Vancouver Yacht Club ended up winning Laser full rigs with the boat in first and four boats in the top seven.

Up next for me is lots of gym work and training as I prepare for the Laser Worlds in Germany at the beginning of May.

-Kyle

March Madness

The annual March Madness Regatta was held out of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club on March 10th and 11th. I won the event and six of the nine races. There were 10 boats racing the results can be found here.

On Saturday the wind was out of the East with a lot of velocity changes. During the first four races the wind was quite light although for the 5th and last race of the day it started to build. On the Sunday the wind was stronger, out of the South and blowing right over the Yacht Club. This made for some interesting and shifty racing. We sailed four races on Sunday.

The race committee did a great job getting off lots of races without keeping us on the water so long that we all froze. Next up it is off to some warmer weather in LA and Laser Midwinters West regatta.


-Kyle

Laser Midwinters East

It is Monday morning and I am sitting in Denver airport on my way home after Laser Mid Winters East. The regatta was sailed between February 23 and February 26. There were 48 boats entered in the Laser and I finished 16th. The full results can be found here.


I took the day before the regatta off. This felt great after the busy training schedule that we had been on. The morning of the first day of racing we woke up to solid white outside of our apartment windows. We got to the club at 9 for the 11 o’clock start only to be postponed on shore due to the fog. The fog started to clear around 10:45 and we were racing by 11:30. We did three races on the first two days of racing. With hour long races and 18-20 kts of wind out of the S they were tiring days. Day two was a lot like day one with fog and an on shore AP in the morning.


For the third day the wind did a 180 and we got even more of it out of the N and with the current going S it made for some BIG waves. It was a day when not tacking too much and putting the bow down paid.


On the last day the wind started out looking a lot like the day before but as the day went on the wind started to swing to the E. However with the waves still rolling N to S it made for some really interesting sailing. It was easy to lose track of where the marks where when sailing downwind if you started to sail with the waves. I was able to make some gains by going what looked like high road but really was the rum line.


I am happy with the way that I sailed. I am still going fast up wind in breeze but I think that the biggest improvement for me is the fact that I am not losing on the runs.


As for now it’s back to Vancouver for some time at home. After almost 2 months away I am looking forward to my own bed. I will be doing some sailing in Vancouver and a lot of gym work. As always after a windy event one thing is clear, you can’t be too fit. Then around March 14 I will be heading down to LA for laser Mid Winters West.

-Kyle