2010 F18 Canadian National Championships

by Jill Nickerson on 28 Sep 2010 The 2010 Canadian National Championships were held at the Etobicoke Yacht Club, located on the West side of Toronto, on beautiful Lake Ontario. From September 24th-27th, 32 boats from Canada, the US and even one from the Netherlands came to compete. The top of the fleet was hoping for a rematch after the no wind US Nationals, held in Racine, WI this past August.

The first day of racing saw record breaking temperatures, strong winds and big waves that continued to build throughout the day. The race committee was kept quite busy with boats flipping all over the course and the top of the fleet was not without problems.

Robbie Daniel was washed off the boat while rounding the top mark in the first race and Mischa Heemskerk/Kevin Stittle flipped on the last leg of the second race. Top finishers John Casey/Dalton Tebo and Chris Prentice/Pat LaRoche were crushed to find that one of their top three finishes was a premature start.

After two races full of abuse, breakdowns and even a safety boat almost sinking, Matt Bounds, PRO, decided to call it a day just in time for the boats to get back to the beach before the big winds came in.

With many of the racers camping, the remainder of the afternoon was spent making repairs and moving tents to a survivable location as the winds clocked close the 40 knots. Later that day, the participants were treated to a sailing talk with Mischa Heemskerk, followed by a greet dinner and band.

The second day of racing, the racers camping had an idea what they were in for when they woke up to a chill in the air and clanging halyards on the boats in the marina.

It was easy to see which teams were from the South as they started to layer all the gear they could find. After a slight delay waiting for the temperature to rise, many sailors hesitantly left the beach in breezy conditions.

The second day of racing got underway in about 15-18 knots and built thru the day with reported gusts close to 30 knots and about 6 foot waves. Once again, chase boats found the conditions a bit dicey, but did a great job of hanging in there and helping the numerous capsizes, torn sails, sailors separated from their boats and one boat drifting into the rocks.

The fleet was separated pretty fast as the top 5 or 6 of the fleet surged ahead creating a good sized gap which repeated in the next two races. At the end of the second day of racing, with five races behind them, the scores started to settle down once a throw out had been applied. The top of the fleet had a real battle going on with a pretty tight point spread.

After a three way tie for first at the end of the first day, the lead at the end of the second day went to Heemskerk/Stittle with 6 points, followed by Easton/Burd with 9 points, Daniel/Chu with 12 points, Casey/Tebo with 14 and Prentice/LaRoche with 18 points, who is also the leading Canadian team.

Once again the regatta hosts did a great job with dinner, entertainment and many door prizes including free sailing training camps with Red Gear Racing.

The third and final day of racing started with a different world of conditions. With not enough wind to distinguish the water from the sky, the sailors remained under postponement on the beach. After the wind started to tease the fleet, they were off to the races. Following another delay on the water, the first and only race of the day was started in about 4-6 knots. Casey/Tebo were first to the first mark but then steadily lost ground as Daniel/Chu took advantage of their great down wind speed and took lead on the first down wind.

Heemskerk/Stittle fought back on the upwind leg and took the lead for a bit but by the time they got to the last upwind mark, they had to give up the lead to Daniel/Chu who led to the finish line. In the end, with just one race, it was not enough to effect the podium positions ending with Heemskerk/Stittle with 8 points on a Tiger, Easton/Burd with 12 points on an Infusion, and Daniel/Chu with 13 points on a C2 and Casey/Tebo with 20 points on a C2. Although the podium was filled, the honors of this regatta went to fifth place finishers, Olivier Pilon/Guillaume Paradis with 30 points as the 2010 Canadian National Champion.

The event website is: www.cat-alist.com

Results can be found here: http://www.cat-alist.com/uploads/2010_results/2010_F18_Canadian_Championship.htm