If you are a dinghy sailor, one of the regattas on your “must do” list should be the Canadian Olympic Regatta at Kingston. CORK, as it is commonly known, has been an end of summer tradition for over thirty years, and if you haven’t attended yet, you really need to make it a priority. For San Diego sailors the experience is especially huge. Whether you travel by land or air, it’s quite a mission, including an international border crossing. Then you arrive in the small city of Kingston with its not-small-at-all Olympic Sailing Center, the site of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. The venue is busy, and with events like the Youth Fest, CORK International, and the Olympic Classes Regatta generally scheduled in succession, you’ll get plenty of sailing in a short time. The fresh water of Lake Ontario is a pleasant change from the ocean, and a wide variety of weather and breeze is almost guaranteed. Add to this the fun tradition of bunking up in the dorms of Queen’s College, and you’ve got a first rate one-design experience!
This year, a handful of Team SDYC members made “the Other Border Run”. With all the commotion of the Sears, Bemis, Smythe Championships here in town, their story may have slipped under your radar, so here are some details of their adventure. Nick Rasdal and Kaitlin Driscoll paired up for the first time to represent SDYC in the C420 class for CORK International. The four day regatta included two days of qualifiers which saw winds up to 32 knots and 6-foot chop! Despite a spectacular pitchpole in the big breeze, they made the Gold fleet and went on to finish 11th overall in their first international event!
CC Childers teamed up with skipper Chanel Miller for some 29er action at CORK. They also survived the big breeze of the qualifying days which caused tons of damage and even a few injuries in the skiff fleet. The ladies turned in a nice top-half finish in the Gold division, placing 12th overall. Next, the ladies turbo’d their boat up to sail in the 29erXX division with more sail area for the Olympic Classes Regatta. This event saw a wide variety of conditions as well, but the team sailed steadily to make an appearance in the medal race and finish 8th overall for the regatta!
Team SDYC’s top performer was Matt Morris sailing in the Laser Radial division. After two days of qualifying races to separate the 84 boat fleet, Matt was sitting 3rd and had easily made Gold. The next three days saw conditions ranging from 20+ knots to very light, but Matt kept working on his technique, especially off the wind, to keep his scores consistently strong. In the end he finished a truly impressive 2nd place overall at this ISAF Grade 1 event!
Congratulations to all of these sailors who travelled over 2000 miles and represented the Club so well! If you haven’t been yet, make sure to put CORK on your summer calendar as soon as you can!