CYA Women’s National Keelboat Championship

There were ten teams competing from across Canada with representation from British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The event was held for the first time in J22’s thanks to the generosity of the local fleet that provided the boats. Teams who had never set foot in a 22 quickly noticed how responsive the boat was and also appreciated how manageable it was in stronger winds.

The first day of the regatta was dedicated to a training day with a tactics course led by Geoff Moore from North U. Geoff’s outstanding knowledge was well received by all competitors and his easy approach to understanding complex situations was tremendous. Conditions on Friday were great for practicing in moderate conditions with winds ranging from 12 to 15 knots. Geoff was on the water with local J22 experts Ron Harris, Pete Amos and John Marten. Their coaching helped everyone to acclimatize quickly to the boats and achieve success over the weekend.

6 races were sailed over the remaining 2 days in conditions that varied from light to very light. At the end of Saturday 5 races had been completed and there were only 2 points separating the first four teams. It all came down to the last race which made for some great racing and a few skipped heartbeats in the spectator boats.

In these conditions String Theory, using North Sails, focused on ensuring correct rig tension between each race and minimizing tacks to ensure good boat speed. There was up to a 1kt current across the race course. Tactically it was important to favor this more than play individual shifts. The importance of sticking to our game plan was emphasized following a bad start in the second and third races. Lesson learned - it’s better to stay on the favored side of the course and gain back positions 1 by 1 rather than split from the fleet.

Jenny Marten

String Theory CAN 1421