CORK Olympic Classes Regatta underway

by Marianne Davis on 18 Aug 2013 The past few weeks have been busy at CORK. This Thursday August 15th was the end of Cork International. There were over 300 boats registered with 430 sailors from five nations represented, Cork International has now become the largest Youth Regatta in North America. With the support of the event organizers and the 100’s of volunteers who make this happen, the sailors, their coaches and their families were able to enjoy an incredible four days.

Today is the start of the CORK Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR). This regatta means a lot to the Canadian sailors as it is the Sail Canada Senior National Championships and National Team Qualifier. It is the North American Grand Prix for Laser and Radial open. With Approximately 150 competitors there are eight fleets represented. This is a five day event and will see some intense competition.

We have four race courses running concurrently including a Stadium course just off the pier at Portsmouth Harbour. In the stadium course today we have the exciting 49er fleet, the 49er FX both of which are the men and women’s Olympic class skiff. Joining them on the course is the I14 fleet. We will alternate fleets on this stadium course throughout the next five days. To keep track of the stadium course please check the Cork Twitter feed, or the cork websitewww.cork.org in the morning.

On Charlie course we have the men’s Laser and Finn Fleets. With 42 Lasers we have our Canadian National team members including local Kingston native Robert Davis, David Wright our 2012 Olympian and Lee Parkhill, the top three finishers in the recent North American Championships. With all the power houses in Canada, this will be a great fleet to watch and keep track of.

In the Radial open fleet, our women’s Canadian National Sailing team is in full force with Brenda Bowskill, Ingrid and Claire Merry and some of the identified athletes, Rebecca Abelson, Bronwyn Richardson and Violet Stafford.

The Windsurfers have two fleets on the Echo course, the RSX and the Windsurfer. This is their under 19 National Youth championships. These are quick and fun to watch as they power through the course.

Please make your way down to Portsmouth harbour over the next five days for some of the best sailing you will see in this country. Click here for full Event website