Racers' Blog

Update from Oliver Bone

By Oliver Bone

Saturday April 9, 2011

Good news! Andrew and I qualified for the Senior National Team with our result from the Miami OCR. Andrew and I had a great winter of training down in Miami. We had a 5 day camp with the US team working on speed and racing. Learned a lot. unfortunately we  got caught out in a squall for 30 minutes, with winds reaching into the low 50's. Thankfully only came out with a bent mast.

The last week of March, we had our last training camp before the European season. We are looking forward to our next competition, the 470 Spring Cup, which will be a tune up before the French Olympic Week in Hyeres.

Stay Tuned!

If you would like to follow me on Twitter or Facebook:

Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/CANTwoEleven
Facebook - http://tinyurl.com/4y63pyq

~ Oliver Bone

 

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Heading into the last day of Finals in Palma
By Lisa Ross

Saturday April 7, 2011

Hola Everyone,

Today we finished our first day of Finals racing here in Palma.  The 78 boat fleet is now split into Gold and Silver fleets after three days of qualifying racing. Palma has given us unusually sunny days for this time of year and with that, some very tricky conditions for our racing.  The points in our fleet are very tight and lots of moving can still happen tomorrow.

We started out the week with a very windy first day of racing. I struggled with my upwind speed in the steep chop that came with the 25+ knots of wind (a condition that is top on my list to train for in the future). I scored a 17th in the first race and after a disappointing tip from the mainsheet getting caught around my tiller in a tack in the second race, I crossed the line in 23rd. Putting the first day behind me, I went out and sailed two solid races on the second day.  I placed 8th in a puffy land breeze in the first race of the day.  Just after we finished the race, the wind died and the 200 lasers (including the men's fleet) all waited for the sea breeze to fill in. After an hour of waiting, the breeze came in as an unusually puffy sea breeze and we got off a second race for the day, just before it died out.  I fought hard in the shifty puffy condition to post a 7th place.  The last day of qualifiers saw us racing in similar conditions to the previous day.  We sailed the first race in the land breeze and again waited for the sea breeze to fill in for the second race. I made some moves on the downwind legs in the first race, moving up into 5th place by the finish line.  In the afternoon's light seabreeze, I struggled to get into phase with the shifts on the second upwind, falling back into 18th place. 

The race committee held us on shore to wait out the morning land breeze and sent the fleets out once the sea breeze had filled. We started our first race in a left shift, and after having to tack out of a bad lane off the start, I was on the lifted tack so I kept going. The majority of the fleet went out to the right on the knock, and by the time the next shift came, they had to sail back in another knock. I was first to the mark.  I battled with Paige for the majority of the race and lost the inside to Sari at the last mark, putting me in 3rd place across the line.  The second race started out as a shocker. I rounded the top mark deep in the 30s after struggling for a lane after the start.  I passed a few boats on the run and then turned some shifts into lifts on the top left of the beat, passing 12 boats.  Scoring 18th in a race that could have been a lot deeper has kept the top 10 within reach.

Tomorrow we will sail our last two races of the finals.  I am 15 points from 10th place, which would allow me to sail in the medal race on Saturday.  Everyone is racing hard and some are taking risks, so there is a lot that can happen in two races. 

See full results and regatta photos.

More updates from Mallorca soon!

Best winds,
Lisa

PS. The Herald just printed an article about my ramp up to London.

I would like to thank High Liner, DHX Media, the Canadian Sailing Team, Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and my friends and family for their continued support of my campaign towards the London Olympics in 2012.

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Named to the Canadian Sailing Team's Podium Team!
By Lisa Ross

Sunday March 27, 2011

Red eye flights are great for getting you to your destination in one day, but likely you'll be exhausted by the time you get there!  I am in Heathrow Airport on my way to Palma de Mallorca for the start of the European Spring World Cup season and looking forward to the possibility of more sleep on my next flight. In reflecting on the past month of training in Halifax, I am very pleased with the progress and preparation I will be taking forward into competitions over the next month.

After flying home from Miami at the end of February, I met immediately with physical trainer Darren Steeves to plan out the upcoming month of intensive gym training. Brendan Wilton, a finn sailor on the National scene, was also home in Halifax for the month so we teamed up as gym buddies, a welcome motivational factor for the planned 9 sessions per week with our trainer.  After a solid winter season in Florida, I was excited to keep the training momentum going in the gym and make some fitness gains before heading to Europe. For increasing our cardiovascular fitness, Darren programmed several interval training sessions on both the rowing machine and bike as well as a few longer (hour +) rides on the bike each week.  We also had three weight sessions working on strength, stability and endurance. The program was rounded out with a couple of core-specific workouts and some hot yoga. 

All that time in the gym was made much more fun by the opening of the Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic's athlete gym in the new Canada Games Centre in Halifax.  In this brand new and stunning centre, there is a space specifically for athletes which houses everything we need for our general workouts as well as some sports specific equipment. The greatest thing about the gym is the team feel it brings to all the athletes and professionals that are working within the Sports Centre.  Brendan and I were regularly sharing the gym space with athletes from athletics, wheelchair track, other sailors, paddlers, basketball players, mountain bikers and more.  It was great to get to know these other athletes from our region and was pretty cool to see how they are training in the gym for their sport.  (The picture attached is of Brendan and I on the rowing machine's at the CSCA gym)

Last week, the Canadian National Sailing Team was announced and I am very pleased to be named a member of the Podium Team.  It is one more indicator that the hard work that myself and the whole team of people helping, supporting, training and coaching me is paying off.  I can't thank everyone enough for all the support I have received to this point. There is just 8 short months before our Olympic Trials so I really feel like this is the home stretch already... 4 years goes by quickly!! 

Congratulations to everyone who made the team this year!! Find the whole story on the 2011 Canadian Sailing Team.

I will be in Europe for the next 5 weeks, competing in 2 events and with 3 weeks of training as well.  The Princess Sophia Trophy will be where I am competing first. This is the Spanish stop for the Sailing World Cup which begins on April 4th.  See the details of the event and competitor lists.

My flight to Madrid is boarding soon.  I hope I will get some more sleep on this flight! 

More to come from Palma soon.

Best winds,
Lisa

I would like to thank High Liner, DHX Media, the Canadian Sailing Team, Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and my friends and family for their continued support of my campaign towards the London Olympics in 2012.

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3rd Place at Women's Radial North American Championships!

 

By Lisa Ross

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Women's Radial North American Championships ended on Sunday and I placed 3rd.  We raced 8 races over the three day competition and the conditions were great. Mostly, we had light to medium breezes which made this regatta a good time to put to the test all the light air training we had over the past month. It all came down to the last race in determining who would place where in the top 5 and it was exciting.

In order to secure a win, Paige Railey had to match race the Dutch sailor Marit Bouwmeester deep into the fleet.  They were duking it out in the pre-start and Marit lead back to the start line too early, allowing Paige to get a good start at the pin.  From there, she tacked onto Marit's air until both boats were very far behind the leaders securing Paige's win.

My strategy was to ensure that I beat American, Erika Reinneke around the racecourse, ensuring me at least a 4th place finish and possibly better depending on how the Aussie, Krystal Weir did in the race.  Erika tried to hook me at the start, but I was able to defend against her move and pushed her into a pin end start behind a couple of boats.  I stayed with her up the first beat but lost a bit of leverage at the top and she passed me at the mark.  After passing her on the downwind, I defended against her getting inside on the bottom mark rounding and rounded just ahead of her.  Halfway up the last leg to the finish, I took a covering position on her and we had a bit of a tacking duel to the finish.  We both had fun in the race and were all smiles when we crossed the finish line.  Erika put up a great fight and it was good practice for medal races.  

Throughout the regatta, with the help of Canadian Sailing Team coach Erik Stibbe, I was working on tactical decision making and risk management in the upwind legs of the races.  With the size of the fleet and type of conditions in this event it was a great opportunity to work on this.  I learned a number of things in the regatta about a few areas where I tend to make mistakes and how to recognize them and correct for them.  Apart from a solid end result, I am very happy with the learning that I was able to take away from this event. I have attached a picture from the racing and one of Paige, Krystal and myself just after the prize giving.

I'm back at home in Halifax now and am happy to be here for a bit.  Over the next few weeks I will be planning for the European season, that gets underway in Palma de Mallorca at the end of March, spending some quality time in the gym and reflecting on the winter training season to prepare training for the spring. My time in Florida went really well and although this time at home is welcome and needed, I am excited to start racing in Europe.  

Check out the results for the regatta at www.lyc.org

Photographer Jen Edney took some amazing pictures of our training in Ft. Lauderdale and they can be found at  www.jenedney.wordpress.com.

There are also a number of great shots of the racing in Ft. Lauderdale at 


Best Winds,
Lisa

I would like to thank High Liner, the Canadian Sailing Team, Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic, the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Sandiline and my friends and family for their continued support of my campaign towards the London Olympics in 2012.

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Monday, February 21, 2011

Hi Folks,

Just got final results.  Julian Fougere and Henry Machum came 16th. Max Flinn and Andrew Burns came 22nd. Both NS boats were top Canadian boats. Three days of racing. Great results for the Nova Scotia boats and a major improvement over prior years.  I do not have the other results at this stage. Rosie should be able to provide more information.

 ~ Jane Machum

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By Lisa Ross

Friday, February 18, 2011

Hello all! 

It is my last few days of sailing in Florida and it has been a fantastic month of training and competitions.  After the Miami OCR regatta, I started a week long training camp in Miami with Marit Bouwmeester, world number one ranked Dutch sailor, Anna Tunnicliffe, Beijing gold medalist and Australian Olympian Krystal Weir. Miami's Biscayne Bay typically has lighter wind with smaller choppy waves so we were focusing on speed techniques in lighter conditions for this training block.  With such a talented group, we accomplished a lot and it was great to have the chance to train with Anna again (who was just training with us for the week as she is campaigning in Match Racing for the London Games). 

After training in Miami, we moved our group up to Ft. Lauderdale to get some time in big waves and bigger breeze.  Although we had some days of light wind, we had a few epic days out in the Gulf Stream where the waves were over 8 ft at times.  Our focus for this week of training was downwind techniques, and with the Gulf Stream current pushing us upwind, we had a few days where we felt like we were sailing downwind backwards on a moving sidewalk. On one lighter wind day, we sailed downwind for an hour and barely moved in relation to the shore!  It would have been frustrating if we were trying to get somewhere, but was fantastic for training as we sailed downwind for hours and didn't have a long upwind tow into the harbour.

My time in Florida is ending with the Women's Radial North American Championships.  Ft. Lauderdale Yacht Club is hosting the event that began today and will run until Sunday.  We raced three races today in a 3 to 4 foot, sloppy swell and breeze that was dying all day from 8 knots to a light 4 knots by the end of the 3rd race.  It was a tricky day that saw a lot of ups and downs on the scoreboard but I am currently sitting in 3rd place behind Marit and American Paige Railey.  We are scheduled to have 3 races tomorrow and finish the regatta with 2 races on Sunday. You can find the results for the regatta on this web page.

The high pressure system sitting over Florida does not look promising for big winds this weekend, but we will keep our fingers crossed. More to come from the Sunshine State soon!

Best winds,
Lisa

I would like to thank High Liner, the Canadian Sailing Team, Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic, the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Sandiline and my friends and family for their continued support of my  campaign towards the London Olympics in 2012.

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Halfway point at Miami OCR
By Lisa Ross

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Hello from Miami, where it is finally sunny! 

I am just about to head down to the boat park to sail race #6 and 7 today. We have had some interesting weather over the past three days of racing. No day has been like the last and each day has been tricky and challenging.

On day one, I struggled with my starts. An unusual situation for me as my starts have become one of my strongest parts of my race.  But ever since coming here to Miami I have been doing something differently and was having a hard time putting my finger on it. In both races I didn't get off the line well and had to battle back from deep positions in the fleet.  I finished up 18th in race 1 and was able to claw back to 7th place in race two.  For the starts I had, it was a pretty solid day and had me sitting in 10th place overall.

Day two brought medium to strong winds and heavy chop.  In the first race, I had a fairly decent start in the middle of the line and tacked on the first shift with the lead group.  I got weeds on my centre board and then rudder (there are a quite a lot of weeds out there this year that everyone is having to deal with and clear off at least once or twice a race and sometimes more) at an unfortunate time and wasn't able to cross a pack and stay in phase.  I struggled with my upwind speed in the chop all day and wasn't able to work my way back into the lead group again, posting a 21st. The story for the second race was the start.  Again, my acceleration and last move on the line wasn't quite up to snuff and I had to stick it out in a bad lane for a long time losing precious boat lengths on the lead group that I couldn't gain back during the rest of the race, posting another 21st. 

I had a talk with coach Ken after the racing about the starts and what I might be doing differently than normal.  I think we nailed it and I was excited to try it out in yesterday's racing.  The conditions were very tricky yesterday, with a cold front moving through the race course bringing patchy breeze with big shifts.  I had a great start in the first race of the day at the pin and myself and the group I started with was able to tack in the first pressure and cross the fleet.  Staying in that top group for the whole race, I finished up 6th. In race two, I had another great start at the pin and played the pressure up the middle left of the course while the majority of the fleet was in lighter pressure out on the right.  I rounded the top mark in 3rd, was in 2nd place by the leeward mark and leading by the next windward.  Marit from the Netherlands got around me on the run working out further to the right in some big right pressure, but I was able to defend from the French and placed 2nd in the race. 

With just over half the regatta scored, I am sitting in 12th place and the points are tight all the way to 8th place.  There is a lot of racing left with 5 races left to sail.  Today's breeze is looking to be the lightest of the week so it may be a patience game out there today. Check out all the results at http://rmocr.ussailing.org/2011/Results.htm

Gotta run and get rigged!!  More updates to come soon! 

Best winds,
Lisa

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Miami OCR . . . Racing begins tomorrow!
By Lisa Ross

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Happy New Year!!  I hope your holiday season was filled with friends, family, good food and happiness.

The new year came in with a bang for me, literally, as I watched the fireworks over Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. I spent the holidays in Hawaii, where I recently purchased a laser, so I was able to train on the water as well as spend time with really good friends.  It was a perfect place to recharge, get back to some basics on the water, exercise in the sun and welcome into the new year.  

Flying home to Halifax last week was an adventure.  A big snowstorm along the East coast delayed and cancelled flights, making my trip home an extra 20 hours longer. So a brief trip home, was made even shorter. I had just enough time to meet up with some friends, touch base on campaign organization, meet with my trainer and sport psychologist and skate on the oval (Which was amazing! The city should have more free community activities like that downtown.).

I arrived in Miami on Wednesday, and have been training and getting settled for the past few days. Training over the holidays has made a difference, as I usually arrive at this event a bit rusty from the holiday break, but am definitely less-so this year.  I have been training with the other Canadian girls here and also joining up with the practice races in which most competitors come out and race.  There are 11 Canadians in the Radial at this event, the most entrants for Canada in recent years.  It is great to see that the class is getting stronger and we have more depth coming through the system, just what we need to turn out medal hopefuls for years to come!

Racing at the Miami OCR (Olympic Classes Regatta) starts tomorrow with our first race at 1:30 pm. We have the afternoon start for the first three days while the Lasers start in the morning. The regatta will be held over 5 days of open racing with the medal race for the top 10 competitors on Saturday. Follow along the news from the regatta and all the Canadians competing here at:

http://rmocr.ussailing.org/Rolex_Miami_OCR.htm  

Updates of the racing coming soon!!

Best winds,
Lisa

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 2011 420 World Championships
By Jane Machum, on behalf of Team Canada

January, 3, 2011

RNSYS raccers Henry Machum/ Julien Fougere are currently competing in the 2011 420 World Championships at Yacht Club Argentino. There are 14 countries in attendance and a total of 91 I420s (56 in the open mens and 41 in the open womens).

RNSYS Head Coach, Agustin Ferrario has been coaching two Canadian teams and doing a fantastic job introducing Henry and Julian to the I420 and acting as host since December 20th. He arrived earlier to assemble the I420. Agustin is connecting with other coaches who have been very helpful to Team Canada.

After 4 days of racing Henry and Julian are currently in 34th place (14th place for juniors). They have been improving each day obtaining a 20th in the last race today. This is their first time sailing an I420 with stiff competition coming from older and experienced I420 teams.

They have already surpassed their personal goals of finishing races in the top half. They are now aiming for even better results in the last 4 races.

Wind has been up to 25 knots with big waves. More than 14 masts have snapped so far.

There will be three more days of sailing with a total of 12 races.

This regatta has been very beneficial to Henry and Julian from a developmental perspective as they prepare to represent Canada at the I420 Junior Worlds in July. The strong competition has pushed the team to a higher level of performance over the last 12 days.

Agustin's coaching has been the key to the success. He has been working 24/7.

We will keep you posted.

~ Jane Machum, on behalf of Team Canada

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Summer Report from RNSYS Race Teams

by Head Race Coach, Agustin Ferrario

 

The 2010 summer was the most successful season for our race teams in many years. This was not casual since it is the result of hard work and planning during the past years.

Our teams keep growing and developing. In May we launched the RNSYS 470 team with great success and it is already the biggest 470 team in Canada attracting sailors from Ontario and BC. It’s a young team but very committed and it is being proved by their
consistent improvement. The team has competed during the season at US Nationals (Connecticut, US), World Championships (La Haye, Holland) and Canadians (Nova Scotia). It was a great experience looking forward to perform in Miami during January for National Team Trials. The team is formed by Dana Archibald, Karen Felbee-Dexter, Teddy Skiffington, Jono Reid, Jacob Chaplin Sounders, Graeme Chaplin Sounders and Ted Murphy. The Opti Race Team has travelled around the province as well as attending Nationals.

The team is formed by an amazing group of friends that have lots of fun while they improve everyday their Opti skills and techniques. We are working to keep developing the Opti since they are the future of our teams. Opti sailors representing RNSYS have attended international regattas like Opti Europeans (Poland) and Opti North Americans (Kingston, ON) with great results, like Allison Surrette who placed 2nd at Nationals and Henry Lockyer getting the Sportsmanship Award at the 2010 US Nationals in New England among 400 sailors. Other RNSYS Opti sailors are Lauren Sullivan, Jake Megaffin, Nick Yuil, Cameron Shaw, Jeremy Fraser and Amelia Machum.

Our Youth Laser team already has a great reputation around Canada  and US attending the most important events with outstanding coaching and results. This summer our 13 Lasers represented our club and Cole Rice brought back the Laser Radial Youth National.

Championship (Ottawa, ON) and Fraser Wells the Laser CORK
Championship. Another top result was 3rd place for Tom Brosky at
CORK Olympic Class Regatta. The team is getting bigger next spring
incorporating the Laser 4.7 to our fleet. The rest of the team is formed by
Zach Dunn, Brandon Brown, Nathan Dunn, Aaron Stonehouse, Greg Simms, Eric Dagenais, Deban Dube and Macasckill Oland.

In the 420 class, we’ve seen some incredible improvement and results.
This season the club supported this class very strongly to develop double handed sailing. We achieved that goal with great results. The team now has 10 sailors and also achieved the best Canadian results ever in a North American Championship (New Jersey). The team also brought to RNSYS 1st and 2nd place from the 420 National Championships (Ottawa, ON), qualifying Julien Fougere and Henry Machum to the 2011 Youth World Championships that will be held in Croatia. The rest of the team is formed by Minette Murphy, Amy Minnikin, Taylor Shaw, Dee Osmond, Hamish Nielsen and Hugh Layton.

All race teams are still training 4 days a week till November. Sailors are very proud to belong to RNSYS and very grateful of the coaches and support that the club provides. After November 7th the sailing season will be over but starting again in the winter where all teams will be representing our club at occasionally regattas in Florida during
December, January, February and March.

It is a great team and we all feel proud of it.

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Paul Tingley Update

Sail Melbourne,  Australia - 1st place
Miami Olympic Classes Regatta,  USA  - 1st place
Princess Sophia Regatta Palma, Spain -  5th place
Delta Lloyd Regatta Medemblik, NED  - 5th place
Kieler-Woche Regatta Kiel, Germany - 7th place
Sail For Gold Weymouth, England - 3rd place
IFDS Worlds Medemblik, NED - 4th place
Open Worlds Hoorn, NED - 1st place

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Lisa Ross Update

Laser Midwinters - 2nd place
Delta Lloyd Regatta, (Holland. ISAF World Cup event) - 10th place
Radial World Championships - 17th place
J24 Canadians, RNSYS - Best Dressed Team

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2010 Club Champions Crowned!
After a very tight round-robin series between 13 of the top RNSYS crews sailed by teams of 3 or 4 in club J22s, the top 5 moved forward into the Championship Series. Evan Petley-Jones and team Harrier, Rory MacDonald and team Usual Suspects, Jonathan Underwood and team Talisman, Mat Archibald and team Glenesk and Andrew Childs and team PSP had to combat a dying breeze after a long day of races and unfortunately saw a sudden-death style final with only one race deciding the champion. After an incredibly long day with a lot of very close finishes, the championship fleet gathered on the tender dock and congratulated Mat Archibald, Mike Archibald and Linda Langley (team Glenesk) for their excellent effort on winning the biggest club championship on record. Congratulations to the Archibalds and the entire Glenesk crew on a great season.

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Prentice & LaRoche at F18 Nationals

Great Showing for Squadron Catamaran Sailors at F18 National Championships

Our local speed demons, RNSYS members Chris Prentice and Patrick LaRoche, just wrapped up their 2010 sailing season in the ever growing F18 catamaran class with a strong showing at the F18 National Championships (Etobicoke Yacht Club, Toronto). The F18 class continues to build in North America (and the world) with over 30 boats at the Canadian Nationals, attracting professionals and weekend sailors alike. Chris and Patrick have had their hands full training and racing as far as Wisconsin and as close as North Port, NS, this season (you can regularly see them flying around the harbour training), winning both their local regatta (North Port) as well as the final regatta of the Quebec circuit (Venise-en-Quebec). They positioned themselves well going into the Nationals on their new boat, a C2 model designed by Australian High Performance Catamarans.

For the Nationals, the weather forecast was for heavy breeze the first two days, steadily being pegged over 25 knots. The F18s lit up the race course, averaging 13 knots upwind, 22 downwind. Chris and Patrick managed to finish second in the two races of the day, only to return to shore to be informed the were scored OCS in the first race. Disappointed with using up their drop race so early, but encouraged by their performance against the top end of the fleet, which included the likes of John Casey, Robbie Daniels, Misha Heemskerk (with Canadian Olympic Tornado crew Kevin Stittle) — all top world class catamaran champions — the team focused on continuing their performance through the remaining two days of racing.

The final two days proved to be challenging for the fleet, with three top-5 finishes on day two, and a disappointing deep finish on the only race of day three in light and variable wind. They managed to achieve their goal of finishing in the top 3 for Canadians (finishing 3rd), and in the top ten overall (finishing 8th), an improvement over last year. The success of the regatta has left both Chris and Patrick motivated to further improve their skill as they strive to claim the national championship.

Both Chris and Patrick welcome anyone to try out sailing with them, or simply to ask them questions about cat sailing in general. Just send an email to eastcoastcats@gmail.com.

Photos from the event can be found at http://www.eye4photos.ca/p130266222.

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The end result:

Paul on 51 points, Stellen on 53, Hans on 64, Bruce on 73 and Helena on 81.

Paul never won a race but his consistency secured him the championship. From day one he was never out of the first two in the overall standings. Bruce sailed a great regatta finishing 4^th which is a worlds result to wear with pride.

At the awards ceremony Paul was crowned the 2.4 World Champion for 2010. National Coach/Manager, Erik Stibbe exclaims, “hearing the National anthem is a fitting way to finish a week of fantastic sailing by our Canadian sailors.”

For complete results, go to http://www.24worlds2010.nl/

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CYA Youth National Championship

Regatta report by Minette Murphy and Henry Machum

 

The RNSYS Race teams have just returned from a very successful Canadian Youth Championship. In the 420 fleet, Julien Fougere and Henry Machum received first place, Minette Murphy and Andrew Burns right behind them in second place and Dee Osmond and Taylor Shaw placed sixth. Over in the Laser fleet, Cole Rice placed first in the Radials, while Fraser Wells managed second in the Full rig fleet. Julien and Henry have qualified for the 2011 i420 Youth worlds in Croatia, and Fraser has qualified for the 2011 Canadian Youth Team. Head Race coach Agustin Ferrario says, “Results show that RNSYS has turned into one of the leading clubs in youth sailing among Canada, but what I’m really happy for is the excellent learning experience our teams had during the regatta. Our sailors are used to ocean conditions, and were challenged by the tough fresh water sailing conditions on the Ottawa River.” The weather was quite unpredictable over the course of the four days long event, but the wind was mostly light and there were several thunder showers. Our team showed their skills in the challenging conditions, and were rewarded with the good results. RNSYS sent 15 sailors, with 9 lasers and 3 420’s. Our coaches Agustin Ferrario, Peter Norman and Peter Soosalu did an amazing job and we want to thank them so much. We also want to thank our club for all the support they are providing to youth sailing as well as the parents, especially those who drove the trailers and us to Ottawa and chaperoned the event. Our race teams will keep representing RNSYS in more events during this summer. The lasers are looking forward to some good racing at Milwaukee for the laser US nationals, and the 420’s are getting ready for CORK in Kingston! See you on the water!
 
Minette Murphy – RNSYS 420 team
Henry Machum- RNSYS 420 team

for more information on the CYA Youth Nationals click here: http://www.sailing.ca/features/youth_nationals_u19_championships_get_underway_august_1/

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COAST & RNSYS Opti Sailors

We are at the New England Championships with 7 sailors.  The fleet has over 370 Opti's racing in it.
 
After the first day of completing 4 races, we have Allison Surrette in 15th place, Max Flinn in 18th, Luke Ruitenberg in 27th, Jeremy Fraser in 44th, Christian Grantmyre in 57th, Alexander Sapp in 148th, and Lauren Sullivan in 161st..
 
The breeze was SW 10 to 15 knots with gust to 23.  It was a spectacular day for racing and our team did very well.  They are well positioned to improve their standings over the next two days.  racing continues through Thursday.
 
The website for results is the following:  http://www.sailnewport.org/npt/m/_general/2009optineresults.asp
 
Good luck sailors!

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RNSYS at 420 North Americans

This was a great regatta and we were the only team representing Canada, so very proud of it! The sailing conditions were very tough during the first days since the wind was not present. However, we had 14 races and some of them in great wind! This was a great experience for our team since it was an opportunity to test our level with the best sailors in North America. Our final conclusion is that our level is better than what we expected and our sailors are some of the fastest in the fleet. We learned that although our team is very fast, we don't have enough experience racing and starting with big fleets.

 

With 110 boats competing the final results for our team were Ted Murphy & Peter Soosalu in 8th place, Julien Fougere & Henry Machum in 36th place and Minette Murphy & Andrew Burns in 57th place.

Highlights of the regatta:

Julien Fougere and Henry Machum passing 23 boats on a extreme reach!

Minette Murphy and Andrew Burns passing 18 boats on an upwind!

Ted Murphy and Peter Soosalu  comming back from 26th and winning the race with pure boat speed and skills!

Our next event is the CYA Youth Nationals in Ottawa where the fleet will not be as big as strong but the sailing conditions promise to be very challenging!

Fair winds to all.

Agustin Ferrario
Head Race Coach, RNSYS

(Above: the team at 420 North Americans)

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Congratulations to RNSYS member Ted Murphy and Pete Soosalu who finished 8th at the 420 North Americans.

36th - Julien Fougere & Henry Machum
57th - Minette Murphy & Andrew Burns (JR)

Congratulations to all our competitors!

http://www.bbyc.net/Results/show.php?rgtID=193

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Congratulations to RNSYS sailor Paul Tingley for his 4th overall finish at the IFDS Worlds!!  Coach Brian Todd claims this is the strongest 2.4 meter fleet he had ever seen at the IFDS Worlds with 47 boats from 22 countries.  Paul was tied for 3rd but did not win the tiebreak.  For additional results visit http://ifdsworlds2010.com/

Congratulations Paul... The RNSYS members are proud!

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Congratulations RNSYS sailor Lisa Ross on her recent 17th overall finish at the 2010 Laser Worlds!!  Great Job Lisa... we are all proud.

For more information on the completed regatta please visit http://www.laserworlds2010.co.uk/radial

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At the recently held European Laser Chamionships RNSYS sailor Lisa Ross finished 19th... Congratulations Lisa!

(Click here for more details)


Squadron Members competed in the U.S. 470 Nationals...

Congratulations Oliver Bone (2nd)... Jono Reid & Ted Skiffington (7th)... Ted Murphy (8th).
Click here for photos!

Congratulations sailors and coach Agustin Ferrario!

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Team Reid/Skiffington

We are Squadron members Jono Reid and Ted Skiffington and we will be representing RNSYS over the next two years in our bid for the 2012, London Olympic Games in the International 470 Class. We have been sailing together for 4 years successfully in the International Youth 29er Class attending European and World Championships as well as winning Gold at the 2009 Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island last summer.

The road to the Olympics is long and events this summer, for the team, include the U.S. Nationals, the 470 World Championships, and Sail for Gold which is held at the Olympic regatta site and is the last stop on the ISAF World Cup circuit.

We would like to thank RNSYS for its continued support and plan to keep Squadron members informed about the team regularly through the Lifeline newsletter. In addition, we would like to make special mention of Jesse Surette at Bosun Yacht Works who took time out of his schedule to speed finish the hull in time for the U.S. Nationals. If you would like to find out more information about the team you can do so at www.teamreidskiffington.com.

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Our Olympians

Lisa Ross

Lisa began sailing at the Lunenburg Yacht Club at 8 years old and spent every summer of her childhood since then at the club and on boats.  Her first regatta was the NS Provincial 13 and under champs where she finished 2^nd and was hooked on racing. At the age of 15, she got her first laser radial and raced this boat throughout high school winning the Canadian 18 and under Championships, representing Canada at the Youth World Championships and the Pan American Games all as a youth sailor.

Lisa attended the University of British Columbia where she graduated with a B.Sc. in Marine Biology. During university, Lisa played women’s CIAU rugby and coached sailing during the spring, fall and summers. 

In 2001 Lisa teamed up with Deirdre Crampton and in 2002 with Chantal Leger and they started their quest to represent Canada at the Olympics in the Women’s Keelboat, the Yngling.  They met their goals and competed for Canada in Athens in 2004.

In 2005, Lisa returned to the Laser Radial, which was named as the Women’s One Person Dinghy for the Beijing Olympics.  Along with the move back to a single-handed boat, Lisa began working with the Nova Scotia Provincial Sailing Team in 2005 as coach and is currently the High Performance Director for the team. She has been the top ranked Laser Radial member of the Canadian National Sailing Team since 2005 and has just recently won the Olympic Trials earning her the spot to be the Canadian representative at the Olympics in Beijing in August 2008.  She is currently training hard in Nova Scotia and competing in the World Cup circuit in preparation for the Olympics where she hopes to be the first Canadian women to bring home a medal for Canada in sailing.

Oliver Bone

Since the age of seven, Oliver Bone has been tempting the waters with his passion for sailing. Eight years later, in August 2000, saw him competing with then teammate Patrick Littee and winning the Canadian Olympic Regatta in Kingston (CORK). With that win he went on to place first in the North American Circuit on the Laser II (a precursor to the 470). At this point it was obvious that Oliver was of Olympic quality. In 2001, Oliver and his Laser II teammate began training on the Olympic 470 boat. Oliver’s team was invited to participate in an intensive training camp with the then Canadian National 470 team that summer. At the time Oliver was considered one of the best 470 skippers in Canada. After a year of training, Oliver’s teammate decided to pursue other venues. Oliver considered sailing solo when he received an offer to join Stephane Locas who was also an established 470 skipper. Oliver gladly accepted the offer and started his journey to realize his Olympic dream.

Oliver is not only concerned with advancing his own skill but also feels passionately about giving back to the community. On an ongoing basis Oliver coaches Canada’s up and coming Olympic hopefuls with the skills one can only acquire through international achievement. Amongst his busy training and eventing schedule, Oliver has established a camp solely for women who he will be coaching personally this summer. He also developed a program where junior sailors will be able to have the opportunity to test their skills on the senior member’s large boats. As president of the 470 sailing class, Oliver organized the national qualifier regattas, training camps and established regattas throughout Canada. Oliver looks to raise not only himself to high levels but wants to give opportunity to those around him. His current project, which recently has been put on the shelve do to time restraints

Paul Tingley

Sporting Accomplishments

2004 Paralympian, (Athens)

Bronze Medalist, 2000 Paralympic Games (Sydney)

Gold Medalist, 2008 Paralympic Games (Beijing)

Paul started sailing when he was ten years old and has competed since 1995. As a member of the Canadian Paralympic Sailing Team, he has participated in several international competitions, including the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. For the past 10 years, he has competed in national and international championships winning a World Championship competition in 2001. Paul has switched to single handed sailboats.