August 2007

Unfortunately due to some irreconilable differences, Hunter and I won't be sailing together any longer. Thank you all for your support over the years. Please watch out for our future campaigns.

05/28/07
Breitling Regatta

After expecting windy, rainy, and cold conditions, the Breitling Regatta this year was a pleasant surprise. The unseasonably warm conditions, however, also made for some lighter and shiftier winds. We sailed a strong qualifying series, despite being disqualified from a race for an alleged rule infraction. We fought hard in the protest room, but with no witnesses for either side, the jury was forced to rule against us. We bounced back though and scored a 9 and a 1 the next day, pulling us back up into the gold fleet. Winning a race was thrilling, and it was our first win on the European tour. The last two days of finals didn't go as well for us. Poor decisions on boat set up and some sloppy racing cost us in the gold fleet, where one mistake can ruin your race. But despite the last two days, we sailed a strong event, and finished 29th.

Results
CYA Report

04/27/07
Semaine Olympique Francaise

We've just competed in the SOF in Hyeres, France. The venue was a beautiful french town in the French Riviera, not a bad place to be spending April! The majority of the regatta was light and shifty with some breeze finally coming in on the last two days of the event. We sailed a fairly strong event, being around 20th for most of the regatta and in the gold fleet. However we fell off a bit at the end when the wind picked up and we ended up finishing 34th. We were the only Canadian 49er to make the gold fleet. The last day we met some unfortunate luck with a broken tiller extension during a race. Although the result wasn't as high as we'd hoped, we were still pleased with the way we were sailing for most of the event. The conditions were extremely difficult and almost everyone had huge fluctuations in their scores. We managed to stay fairly consistant, and had some good races like a 10th in gold fleet. To see the regatta website click here. Our next regatta is in Medemblik, NED in a couple weeks. Stay posted!

Rob Dale