 Cleaning before day 1 of racing, everyone is making their solings super fast!
@Ashley Henderson
As the US brought only 8 boats, 4 from Milwaukee: Dave Crysdale, Steve Dolan, Charlie Kamps, and Paul McGuan along with Steve Bobo and John Kennedy from Chicago in addition to Joe Van Gieson and THE Stuart Walker of Annapolis. The line was small with 24 total boats, thus making the competition even fiercer. Canada had the largest turnout with 14 boats. Our reliable Matias raced under USA 853 (Keegan Moynihan and Dixson Barnhart) and Johan raced under CAN 2301 (John Kerr and Peter norman). Europe showed with Rudy, NED 33(Peter Hoekstra and Lydia Verduyn), and Roman GER 300 (Makl Koch and Gregor Bornemann). Team Brazil, BRA 73 (George Nehm, Marcos Ribeiro, and Samuel Albrecht) was there, whom had won the worlds previously and will be the host of the 2010 worlds!
Sailors arrived between Saturday and Monday for rigging, measuring, and ritualized boat fiddling. Tuesday entailed lots of practicing by all the teams, the wind was nice in the beginning of the afternoon, and typical of Toronto it began to die as the afternoon continued just in time for stickers on and boats in.
The 1st day of racing was not heavy according to Roman of GER 300 (who was in first place after those 2 races), though for most of us the 1-2 meter swells and 15 knots of breeze was an intense way to leap into this 5 day event. Sailing the 2nd day did not seem as if it would happen, beginning with light air 3-5knots and working up to 5-8 as the second race came around the places were based highly on ones ability to recognize the shifts and play them correctly. The heavy air that rolled in with the front on Friday for races 6 and 7, as crews suited up in wetsuits and dry-suits the game was on! The wind reached 22 knots on our course and created tons of excitement for sailors. Day 4 of racing included 40-degree shifts and light air making the day mentally wearing, as it was easy to not be on top of your tactics. Only 1 race was executed due to the irregular changing wind patterns. Evening 4 was commenced with a delightful banquet filled with story telling and picture of racing thus far. As many looked forward to day 5 of racing to see how results would then flop CAN 1 (Abbott, Davis, Abbott) CAN 225 (Hall, Kerrigan, Flinn), GER 300, CAN 230 (Fogh, Cheer, and Devries), or BRA 73. Going into the final morning there were single points between the top contenders. We got 2 races off luckily and ended a perfect week of racing with pleasant breeze, mild waves, and lovely sun. Smart tactics paid off and Canada was able to crow their own Billy Abbott, Paul Davis, and Joann Abbot CAN 1 as the 2009 World Soling Champions!
Rounding an up wind mark during a heavy air day!
@Dene Hodgins
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STARBOARD!!!
@Brendan Shadford
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