March Regatta CanAm Series Report

The CanAm 2.4mR series has been running on the west coast of Florida since December. 19 boats joined in for the finale last weekend at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club. The fleet included Olympians, Paralympians, Canadian and American National Champions so I decided it was a great idea to join them for the weekend. The first day was breezy with Alan Leibel from Canada going well until the second race when he broke his gooseneck. He was among good company as Dee Smith missed a couple races due to a forestay breaking as did I for a boom end falling off. With a couple of boats getting OCS in the third race Toronto sailing friends Darrell Suderman and Mike Hren made the early running. With the notable exception of Paralympic Silver medallist Jackie Gay taking the second race. With no discards the race was on to keep letters to the minimum with some catching up to be done by many. Everybody was back on the water for Saturday’s racing with was lighter and shiftier, which is much more common for the Charlotte river. Close racing ensued with Mike taking the first race and then the Paralympic flagged sails of Bruce Millar and Dee Smith fighting it out for the second race with Dee just winning. I wasn’t far behind getting a 2,3,4 for the day. Louise Anstey from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in BC was showing that time in the boat isn’t always necessary for consistently finishing inside the top 10. Sunday was a battle of when the gradient breeze was going to die but Race Officer Dr Roger Strube did a great job to get 3 races in. It was light with the tide running strong. Dee collected the 3 bullets from the day but with myself, Alan, Bruce, Darrell making it difficult for him. Darrell took the regatta followed by Bruce then Dee. The overall series was won by Alan. With the local 2.4 builder Tony Pocklington taking second and Dee managing third. The class owes many thanks to the Commodore and all at Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club for a great event. The fleet has been based at the Club since mid-December and the hospitality and warm welcome has been great. Special thanks to Roger, Martin Holland and their team for some great racing. The fleets are growing across the North American continent in no small part to having an American 2.4 builder. Tony allowed many of us to sail through chartering boats but also through his immense hard work in helping organise the regatta. The inaugural CanAm series was a great success and it’s a great way of getting warm in the winter.

1st Darrell Suderman
2nd Bruce Millar RVYC
3rd Dee Smith STC
4th Megan Pascoe Weymouth SC
5th Mike Hren Ashbridges Bay YC
6th Allan Leibel National YC

 

Megan Pascoe
GBR 92

CanAm 2.4mR Championship Series 2016-2017 Final Results 

 

2.4mR Canadian Championship 2016 News Release

2.4mR Canadians Group Picture

News Release

Darrell Suderman wins Canadian 2.4mR Championship

Pointe Claire QC

Darrell Suderman of National Yacht Club, Toronto won the 2016 Canadian 2.4mR Championship in a hotly contested fleet of 21 boats edging out Allan Leibel of Toronto by one point and Charlie Rosenfield of Woodstock CT by two points in the six race series.

Racing on Friday August 12, was held in 14 to 16 knot North easterly winds and grey clouds as Suderman  and Leibel each took a first and a second in the two races run with Rosenfield barking at their heals with two third place finishes.

Saturday August 13th saw lighter winds in the 8 to 12 knot range with Rosenfield having the more consistent record of a one first, two seconds and a third. However Suderman won the final two races to hold onto first place while Leibel was able to discard a fifteenth to hold second.

The racers arrived at the club on Sunday August 14th to find Lac St Louis total calm. Although the wind was forecast to come in mid morning it didn’t arrive until after 1:00pm which was too late to assemble the fleet on the water prior to the cut off time at 2:00pm

The 2016 Canadian Championship had entrants from as far away as Calgary, Alberta, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and Fort Myers, Florida and speaks well for the health of the class in Canada which is enjoying its largest class membership.

Winter 2016 – 2017 events Include the North American Championships and US midwinter Championships in Charlotte Harbour Florida December 6 – 10 and the CAN AM winter series through Dec 2016 – March 2017

Full results available here.

For more Information contact

Peter Wood

[at][dot]

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