Awards Night 2010!

From Left to Right: The C.W. Bourke Trophy, The Fleet Captain's Cup, The Douglas Cup, The Lipton Cup, The Norman R. Gooderham Trophy, The Alan Townsend Trophy, The Viscount Alexander of Tunis Trophy, and The Crew Race Trophy

The 2010 CDA Awards Night (cleverly disguised as a night at the pub), was a great success.  More than 30 people crowded into the Crown & Beaver Pub at the RCYC to see the awards, which is as good a turnout as our summer regattas!  Special thanks go out to Kara Johnson for the photos, and the staff at the RCYC for putting on a great show.

In no particular order, I'm proud to present our 2010 CDA trophy winners:

Peter Hayward (Right) and Marco Koechli (Centre), winners of the Itchenor Trays for the best score on day 1 of the CDA Championships.  The Itchenor Trays were presented by the British 14' dinghy team in 1969.

Jason Lemieux (Right) taking home the Viscount Alexander of Tunis Trophy, for winning the last race of the CDAs.  Graham Lockett (absent) was the winning crew.  The "Viscount A." was first presented in 1949.

The Charles W. Bourke Memorial Trophy was awarded to Peter and Marco, as the overall winner of the CDA Championships.  This was Peter's fifth time winning this trophy: 1995, '99, '01, '03, and now 2010.

Marco also won the Bob Davis Memorial Trophy, awarded to the winning crew of the CDA Championships.  The Davis Trophy was first awarded in 1976, for the winning crew of the CDA Championships.  Considering crews do all the work on the '14, it's a much sought-after award.  Unfortunately, Marianne & Paul Davis were unable to make the trip to Toronto to present the trophy.

The Norman R. Gooderham Trophy, circa 1900.  Since 1948 it has been presented to the 14 foot dinghy class RCYC Club Champion.  This year's winner was Andrew Yates; your president gladly accepted the trophy on his behalf! 

This year's CDA Championship Series, the "Racing formerly known as the Lipton Cup", was won by Peter and Marco.  The CDA Series Champion is determined by the combined score of five major regattas held across the CDA (Calgary anyone?!?!) with one regatta as a drop.  This year's events were the Ottawa Skiff Grand Prix, the RCYC Open, the Cassidy's Bay Invitational, the RCYC Skiff Regatta, and the CDA Championships.

Thanks to everyone for a great season.  Hopefully someone will step up and keep Marco and Peter from sweeping next year's awards, as competition heats up in advance of the 2011 World Championships in Weymouth, UK!

2010 Canadian International Fourteen Awards Night!

Join us on November 26th, at the RCYC's Crown and Beaver Pub for the 2010 Awards Night.  Cocktails will begin at 7 (or before, if you like!) to be followed by the presentation of the 2010 awards.

Trophies will be presented for the Canadian Championships, 2010 Series Championships (aka Lipton Cup), as well as trophies for several other regattas throughout the season.  Photos from the season (Cassidy's Bay and CDA Championships) will be up on the big screen, and a collection of the CDA's other trophies will also be on display. 

We will also be starting the nomination process for the 2011 Hall of Fame inductions happening next spring.  If you know someone who deserves to be nominated, this will be your first opportunity to find out how.

This of course is an open event - sailors of all kinds, past or present, skipper or crew, and of course family and friends are all invited!

Hope to see you there.  For more info, please contact me (Matt) using the link on www.i14.ca.

2010 International 14 Canadian Championships!

The end of summer really blows in Toronto. Literally!  In this case, sustained winds between 15 and 20kts, with gusts approaching 30 on the first day of this year's CDA championships. With the westerly direction, the direction was relatively steady, which meant GREAT flat-water, heavy wind races.

The racing was very close, with the lead in each of the three races changing several times. Spectators on the docks of the RCYC had downtown Toronto as a backdrop for some fast-paced, very tight sailing (and a few epic crashes, too!).

The second day of racing provided lighter winds and even closer tactical racing.  The spread between first and last was on the order of only a few minutes!

In the end, consistency paid off, with the top three boats no stranger to being at the top of the podium.

1.  Peter Haywire/Marco Koechli, CAN 601
2.  Andrew Yates/John Curtis, CAN 597
3.  Jason Lemieux/Graham Lockett, CAN 605

Photos: Joaquim Santos @ http://www.eye4photos.ca/14.

Long Term Fleet Development - Giving the Junior Club a taste of the '14

On Wednesday night, the Toronto fleet did a bit of "Long Term Fleet Development".

Hoping to get some younger sailors hooked on the rush of high-performance fourteen sailing, they took a group of interested, enthusiastic RCYC Junior Club members out for a test sail.  Average age: approximately 13.

The conditions couldn't have been better.  Two wire beats and reaches in flat water.  Check out the video of the action! (Great editing work, too)

Thanks to all who pulled this great event together.

I14 Open House & Info Night

For anyone interested in getting into the fleet, or just finding out more about I14 sailing, we're hosting an Open House and Information Session on Saturday September 4th. 

The 2013 I14 World Championships will be hosted by the RCYC, and this is a great opportunity to get in ahead of this great event.  We will have a short presentation about the class, the event in Toronto, local racing and contacts/info for buying a used boat.  In the next few seasons we are expecting a number of used boats to become available (all price ranges) so if you are interested, this is the best place to learn about what is on the market or meet a keen skipper/crew.

After the info session, we'll be joining the Women's Match Racing Regatta for a social and free beer!  (That's right, I14s, girls, and free beer - the sailing trifecta)

If you are interested in going out for a ride on an I14 ahead of time, or would like more information or directions, please leave a comment below and we'll be in touch.

See you then!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Canadian Dinghy Association (CDA) President's blog!  The CDA is the fleet association for the International Fourteen racing dinghy in Canada.  Here you can find out what's happening with the fleet and other information about sailing "fourteens" in Canada.

We've had a great season so far, with seven of the eight major scheduled events completed, including three of four events for our annual Lipton Cup series.  The final major regatta of the season will be the Canadian Championships hosted by the RCYC on September 25th and 26th.