YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN THERE!!!!
With the exception of a little rain the first couple of days of the clinic,
the 2007 Swift Solo North Americans could not have gone better. We had a
variety of wind conditions and nice weather for the event itself.
Above all else, we were shown a great time by the Vancouver Fleet and the
Jericho Sailing Center. Mike Cotter (the sailing center manager) has
assembled
a first class staff of really helpful people. The facility is privately run
but open to the public and attracts a large number of onlookers to the
outdoor restaurant / pub deck on the second floor. Both the disabled and the
junior sailing programs are well run with an amazing amount of attendance.
Ron Watt did a great job as Regatta Chairman and with the help of Mike
Jocelyn and Mike Cotter, the event went off without a hitch. Peggy Watt,
called
on her resources to put together great gift baskets as trophies and again
volunteered her expertise and time to photograph the event (look for pictures
soon)--thanks again Peggy.
Special thanks to Ronstan, Fisheries Supply, Banks Sails, and Forte for
sponsoring our diners and awards. These companies have came through for our
class from the beginning and this year was no exception.
Karl Schulmeister put in a lot of time for us running the clinics and taking
video and pictures. Thanks for all the help Karl--great job!
Robert did an outstanding job of running the AGM. New officers were elected
(Robert is our new Pres, Chris Wickham is our VP, Warren Stevens if our
Treasurer, and I am the Chairman of the Technical Committee and Class
Measurer).
Look for the minutes soon.
I'm still a bit tired and I know I've missed a number of people who deserve
a lot of thanks.
As for the racing--several images come to my mind as I think back:
Mark White has blazing speed upwind in the 6 to 8 knot wind range and I can
still see him pointing higher and going faster than me and everyone else on
the way to the weather mark. He will be impossible when he has another year
under his belt and learns to shift gears better.
Mike Jocelyn also is very fast in the fluky stuff to weather and was up in
front at the first mark a number of times.
It was also good to see Chris Wickham get a chance to sail a bit since his
boat is not quite finished yet. Karl took some great video of Chris sailing
my boat.
While Mark was given the award for the most improved since last year, Roger
Wright is the guy if you look back two years. His downwind speed improved
significantly during the event--thanks in part to Karl. Both of these guys
have made amazing improvement.
Robert continues to be really fast in the heavier stuff to weather and was
always in the hunt at the finish.
Keith Council has come a long way and has admirable determination. Look for
him to be in the hunt in the future
Ron Watt and I were involved in a knock down--drag out with duplicate
individual and total scores through the first nine races. The tenth race saw
a
repeat of the very tight racing until the last weather leg when Ron broke
down.
It's anybody's guess what might have been the result if that breakdown had
not happened.
Ron Radko and the Musto guys were a great addition to the regatta with Ron
finishing up front a number of times (he's really improved a lot this season).
We are becoming more like one class both on and off the water and future
will be brighter for both classes because of this camaraderie. Class
guys--all!
Thanks to everyone who attended and/or helped out. We can all look forward
to a great year for the class and to next years regatta (somewhere in the
eastern half of the country--seems to be a lot of talk about Fort Desoto
again).
I've got to go clean up my gear and put it away now--not an unpleasant job
as I think back on the people and fun of the past 10 days.
Bram
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