2009 North Americans, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

2009 Ultimate 20 North American Championships Report

Click Here for Photos (Pictures by Gregg Henning)

The 2009 Ultimate 20 North American Championships were hosted by the Nepean Sailing Club and sailed on Lac Deschenes.  While the number of entries was disappointing, the fleet was full of U20 talent.

Crews arrived early and all boats had scrubbed off the road dirt, rigged and launched by mid-day Thursday.   That evening most teams participated in the local One-Design races hosted by Britannia Yacht Club, and then joined the mayhem at the NSC bar. 

Friday’s weather report promised winds of 12 – 15 knots early in the morning, increasing to 22 – 25 knots with higher sustained gusts.  The forecast came true and there were some spectacular displays of U20 sailing skill to be seen as all boats hoisted spinnakers at the weather mark.  Personal-best boat speeds were recorded by many crews, and spinnaker trimmers had quite the workout.  Class President, Gregg Henning was on hand to record the action in video and still photos. Links to these will be found at www.U20class.org.

Day 1 saw Tac Boston sailing Honour, tied for first place on points with local favourite Van Sheppard steering Wizz. The tie-breaker favoured Van, placing him on top for the day

The day was marked by some spectacular wipe-outs with a man overboard incident in one case.  Some very competent seamanship by Mike Bremmer and crew enabled the rescue and subsequent transfer of the reluctant swimmer to the photo boat. Many Thanks to Gregg Henning, who then took the person back to NSC to warm up.

Also of note, was the selfless offer by Chris Wilding and family, of a mast permitting Jim Pearson to continue with the regatta.   It was another instance of the friendly, supportive nature of the U20 class.

Tac Boston and Van Sheppard, as the two leading boats of the day, hosted a de-brief at the end of the day.   After a brief discussion of rig setup and sailing technique for the day, the crowd peppered Tac and Van with a wide range of questions, leading to some interesting debates.

After a fine dinner at NSC, the U20 Class Annual General Meeting was held, with some very positive initiatives discussed.

Saturday saw completely different conditions more to the liking of the lighter crews.  With wind shifts of 50 – 65 degrees and significant variations in velocity, the Race Committee, David Searle and team, were hard pressed to get a race off.  Dave kept the competitors informed of the ever changing conditions and his team managed to get 4 good races in for the day!  Tac Boston and crew led from Jim Pearson and Van Sheppard, and their teams, at the end of the day.

The post-race debrief was enhanced by a beer-tasting event where regatta sponsor Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company provided a keg of their very tasty Lugtread All Natural Lagered Ale.  Again the discussion was quite ‘robust’.

Sunday dawned with 0 – 4 knots from anywhere on the compass, across the race course.  Racing was cancelled for the day.  This turned out to be a good call, as the wind continued to be inconsistent and actually got lighter.

Many Thanks to the event sponsors:
Doyle Boston SailMakers
Beaus All Natural Brewing Company
Mount Gay Rum
Glaser Sails
C-Tech Carbon Technology

Final Results

Overall