February 24, 2021
The Rules Guy: New Rule Changes II
This month, we continue our exploration of changes included in the 2021-2024 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing. This edition brings a lot of changes, but few affect the way we sail on the course.
January 27, 2021
The Rules Guy: New Rule Changes for 2021
Happy New Year. It is the beginning of the year after what should have been an Olympic Games year, so it is time for a new Racing Rules of Sailing. The Olympics may have been delayed a year, but the rule book was not. The rules took effect January 1, 2021.
August 10, 2020
The Rules Guy: An overview of the right-of-way rules IV
This issue, we will look at Section C of Part 2, Marks and Obstructions. Many of my articles over the past 22 years have covered rules in this section, but this is…
July 7, 2020
SOL Regatta: Canadian Sailors Compete in the Virtual Newport to Bermuda Race
The biannual Newport to Bermuda Race (N2B) was to be held June 27 to 24, 2020 but the 636.2 nautical mile on-the-water-event had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 to the disappointment of the prepared 200+ registered skippers.
June 10, 2020
The Rules Guy: An overview of the right-of-way rules III
In the past two issues we have been doing an overview of the right-of-way rules. In the first, we did a review of Section A of Part 2, in the second we did a review of the definitions. This issue, we will look at Section B of Part 2, General Limitations, which is essentially limitations applying to boats that have right of way according to Section A.
May 25, 2020
The Rules Guy: An overview of the right-of-way rules II
Last column we started an overview of the right-of-way rules. That issue focused on Section A of Part 2. At the end of that article, I said would next focus on the definitions.
May 25, 2020
The Rules Guy: An Overview Of The Right-Of-Way Rules – instalment 1
As we start a new sailing season, I am going to start a new view of the right-of-way rules. I hope that by giving an overview, I can help my readers understand the rules for themselves.
March 10, 2020
2020 Women’s Keelboat Championships heads to Hudson QC
Sail Canada just announced that dates have been set for the 2020 Women’s Keelboat Championships. The event will be held from Thursday, October 1 to Sunday, October 4 at Hudson Yacht Club in Hudson, QC.
February 11, 2020
Route Halifax Saint-Pierre, 10th Edition
Created in 2002 by Philippe Paturel and the late Hal Davies, the 350-mile ocean race that connects Halifax to the French Archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon every two years is one of the big events of offshore sailing race in North America.
February 11, 2020
A fleet of Canadians head south for RORC 600
Life on the Caribbean racing circuit attracts participants from all over the world and increasingly from Canada. In addition to the series of regatta’s that take participants from Grenada (see the Touch2Play blog) to the Heineken in St Maarten then to the BVI Spring Regatta…
February 11, 2020
Grenada wants me, when can I go back there?
Touch2Play Racing started the 2020 Caribbean season off at Grenada Race Week. While not the largest event on the Circuit it has a certain charm that can’t be beat.
February 11, 2020
LYRA 2020 heads to Sodus Bay
From July 26 to August 2, 2020 the Sodus Bay Yacht Club is hosting the historic Lake Yacht Racing Association 135st Annual Regatta. This will be the 12th time that SBYC has hosted this prestige Regatta with racers from all around Lake Ontario, Eastern Lake Erie, the Finger Lakes, and the St Lawrence Seaway.
December 3, 2019
Victoria to Maui International Race a Bucket List adventure
The Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race is hosted by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Lahaina Yacht Club. First contested in 1965 and sailed every second year since 1968, Vic-Maui is the pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ocean racing.
December 3, 2019
Touch2Play Racing preps for the Caribbean season
Rob Butler’s joy of sailing in the warm waters of the Caribbean will get renewed this year. For the third season his Reflex 38, Touch2Play Racing, is getting ready to take on the Caribbean Sailing Association’s winter series.
November 19, 2019
Whidbey Island Race Week finds a new home
Whidbey Island Race Week LLC announced March 28 that Point Roberts has been chosen as the new venue for Race Week beginning in 2020. The event will be named Point Roberts Race Week and the date of the event will be July13-17, 2020.
November 19, 2019
Nanaimo selected for the 2020 Martin 242 NAs
The event will be part of the regular SIN Regatta hosted by the Nanaimo Yacht Club (“NYC”) on the July 4/5 weekend after Canada Day and during the US Independence Day holiday long weekend.
October 23, 2019
News: Solar boats heading to Toronto
They’re a real thing in Europe and next year Toronto will have a Solar Boat Race right in Toronto Harbour. The Races will run Along the waterfront from Jack Layton Ferry Terminal to HTO Park.
October 8, 2019
Record numbers for CORK Fall Regatta
The final regatta of CORK’s 50th celebration year saw a record 264 athletes travel to Portsmouth Olympic Harbour for the CORK Fall Regatta on September 21-22 in Kingston.
October 8, 2019
J105s: The Generosity of Sailors … Once Again!
On September 27-29th, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club hosted Canada’s J105 Championship Regatta on Lake Ontario in Toronto with sixteen determined competitors.
September 25, 2019
Sharks celebrate Homecomers 60
This year’s Homecomers Regatta, held at he Niagara-on-the-Lake Sailing Club (NOLSC) on September 21 and 22 was a special event as it was also a celebration for the 60th Anniversary of the Shark 24.
September 25, 2019
Jilàsi for Youth – Sailing it Forward!
Hosted by the National Yacht Club, Toronto, on September 14, 2019, the Jilàsi for Youth Fundraising Regatta celebrated its second year, thanks to the volunteers and corporate sponsors such as Nieuport Aviation, TD Canada Trust, TK Foundation, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
September 11, 2019
BNI Challenge Regatta – August 24
It was a riveting scene: sailboats from various yacht clubs with courageous mobility-impaired sailors unconfined by wheelchairs—all united for the 7th annual BNI Challenge to raise money for equipping these brave sailors and running an extraordinary program called Association québecoise de voile adaptée (AQVA).
September 10, 2019
Helly Hansen announces Chester prize winner
As part of Chester Race Week this year, Helly Hansen once again awarded a Grand Prize of a trip on an Ocean Race Yacht with Atlas Ocean Racing between Bermuda and Halifax in May 2020.
August 21, 2019
Stolze Cup
The Stolze Cup is awarded annually to the regatta’s winning match racing skipper from a LYRA member club. This year’s event was held at RCYC Aug 10-11, 2019 in Sonars. There were eight teams competing from four countries including an all-women team from RCYC.
August 21, 2019
Canada’s great showing – three PanAm medals
Sailing at the 2019 Pan American games wrapped up on August 10 in Paracas, Peru. The event saw an array of conditions that made for a challenging event for our Canadian sailors. With the final medal race of the event in the Sunfish, Canada added another medal for a total of three.
August 21, 2019
Helly Hansen Chester Race Week 2019: competitive fleets, neck-and-neck racing
Hosted by the Chester Yacht Club in the picturesque South-Shore Nova Scotia village of Chester in mid-August each year, Helly Hansen Chester Race Week is Canada’s largest keelboat regatta (four days of sailing) and plays host to more than 120 boats from near and far. Chester’s sailing regattas were first documented in 1856.
August 7, 2019
2019 Radial Youth Worlds – Kingston ON
Less than half a dozen hours before racing was scheduled to start, most of the forecast models were showing conditions that would be adequate for competing, with a southwest breeze around seven or eight knots.
August 7, 2019
Bobby Cragg – 52 consecutive Chester Race Weeks
Getting his Peterson 29 Foxy Lady ready for what will be his 53rd consecutive Chester Race Week – likely the regatta’s longest unbroken competitive run – 73-year-old Halifax criminal defense attorney Robert Cragg clarifies that he skippered all 52 consecutive regattas since his first in 1967 aboard the 37-foot Chester C-Class sloop Eclipse (hull #7).
August 7, 2019
We Won the WAR. A weekend of laughter, learning and racing
After a many years hiatus the Women’s Annual Regatta (WAR) returned to the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club with full force. Over the course of three days, twelve boats crewed by forty women raced on the waters of Hamilton Harbour in a weekend full of laughter, friendly competition and camaraderie.
August 7, 2019
The 2019 North Channel Race Week
The 2019 North Channel Race Week (NCRW) closed out this past Friday, July 26. The five day / five stage race started in Hilton Beach and finished on Friday in Little Current on Manitoulin Island.
July 24, 2019
CanAm Lite: same regatta, less fee
Introducing the CanAm Lite: In place of the normal CanAm, the Youngstown Yacht Club is hosting a smaller version called the “CanAm Lite.”
July 24, 2019
Great Lakes Laser Regatta
The Great Lakes Laser Regatta is now a wrap! Congratulations to the 73 participants, making this the largest Master’s Laser event in Canada this year. The event was held in the town of Thornbury west of Collingwood on South Georgian Bay, from July 12 through July 14. The races were held off shore from Thornbury harbour.
July 10, 2019
2019 LYRA Race Week in Oakville July 28-August 4
LYRA 2019 is a GO!! The Oakville Clubs are pleased to announce that despite historic water levels on the Great Lakes, they are on track with 2019 LYRA Race Week and are planning for an equally historic Regatta.
June 25, 2019
Pink thinking: Georgian Bay Pink Dinghy Poker Run July 13
Registration is now open for the 4th Annual Pink Dinghy Poker Run! Where: Beausoleil Island/Honey Harbour; When: July 13, 2019 11am to 4pm. “Only 100 hands available – and we sold out last year!”
June 25, 2019
M242’S big winners at 2019 Round Bowen
Round Bowen has once again proved to be a strong event for the M242 fleet with M242’s taking the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Overall in PHRF.
June 22, 2019
Hans Fogh One Design Regatta and Canadian Championship
The 2nd Annual Hans Fogh One Design Regatta June 7- 9 was a great success thanks to regatta chairman Thomas Fogh. The cool place to be was Royal Hamilton Yacht Club in Canada! This was Soling excitement at its best dedicated to everyone’s good friend sailing legend, Hans Fogh.
June 22, 2019
Youngstown’s CanAm taking Canadian Money at Par!
This year we are offering all Canadian boats registering for the regatta the benefit of paying their entry fee at par. We know the exchange has been painful and we would like to take that excuse away!
June 12, 2019
Chester Dominates IOD Invitational in Bermuda, Wickwire Wins Sixth Race Week
The 2019 Bermuda International Invitational Race Week, presented by Bacardi International and the Bermuda Tourism Authority, was an extraordinary week on and off the water for the IOD Class with exceptional weather.
June 11, 2019
JFest 2019 at RCYC
In 2016 Roger Van Vlack and Colin Andrews of Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club had the idea of creating a JFEST Great Lakes Regatta back in 2016 that would be hosted by different Clubs each year.