| The University Sailing season has started up and, again this year, SLSC has alumnae competing – Claire DesBrisay and Liz Barr are sailing for University of Ottawa (Claire as U of O team captain); Kate Thomas is sailing for Queen’s University; Amy DesBrisay and Ellen Lourie for Dalhousie University; and Keira Webster for McGill University…So many women sailors.
Last week, Amy competed for Dalhousie in the Canadian University Keelboat Championships, with universities vying to represent Canada at the Student Yachting World Championships in 2012 (SYWoC 2012). The Regatta was sailed out of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and, in three days of challenging racing, Dalhousie’s Team emerged as champions with Dalhousie Team 1 overall winners and Dalhousie Team 2 in third. McMaster’s team placed second in very close racing – the top three boats being separated by 3 points in the final standings. Dalhousie now qualifies to represent Canada next year in the Worlds. A fabulous video on the regatta can be found at the following link (it includes a very cool broach): http://www.youtube.com/watch?=R17uG5SEOzg&feature=player_embedded. This article appears on the canadianusailing.com website: Canadian University Keelboat Championships and SYWoC 2012 Qualifier Regatta Report On the weekend of September 16-18th, the Dalhousie Sailing Team in partnership with the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron hosted the Canadian University Keelboat Championships which was also the qualifying regatta for the Canadian entrant in the Student Yachting World Cup in 2012. The event was sailed in J22s from Friday to Sunday with 13 races sailed in the series. Teams arrived from McGill University, McMaster University and Dalhousie entered two teams to the event. Friday began with the teams meeting at 9AM at the RNSYS to discuss the event and to ensure that the provided boats would be fair. Racing on Friday began late due to very windy conditions with winds around 20 knots with some gusts approaching 30 knots. Several broaches and one man-overboard on Dalhousie Team-1 later Dalhousie Team-2 skippered by Jacob Chaplin-Saunders had won the day with two bullets while McMaster sat in second and Dalhousie Team 1 in third with McGill not far behind. Friday’s sailing was followed by a barbecue and festivities hosted by Dalhousie. Saturday was another breezy day in the 15–20 knot range and once again boat handling was critical in the six races sailed. Dalhousie Team-1, skippered by Ted Murphy had its chance in the spotlight with five bullets and a second for a strong lead on the competition. Dalhousie Team-2, skippered by Ross Porter on Saturday again showed themselves to be strong in the windy conditions and sailed to five seconds and one first. 
Downwind beat at Canada’s 2012 Student Yachting World Cup Qualifier Sunday started out with extremely light conditions and the competitors were towed to the racing area where they rafted up to wait for the breeze. In the early afternoon the wind filled in and five races were sailed in light and variable conditions. These light conditions presented an opportunity for the McMaster team to shine and they sailed their way to straight bullets on the day, while both Dalhousie teams struggled to find boat speed and to out-smart McMaster and keep up with McGill. Unfortunately at the end of the series McMaster’s performance was not enough to beat out Dalhousie Team-1’s advantage, with the local team skippered by Ted Murphy and crewed by Justin Hall, Chris Brennan and Dave Castle coming out two points ahead to win the regatta. The Dalhousie Sailing Team would like to thank the McMaster and McGill teams for coming to the event and making the racing so competitive. Also, special thanks is in order for Greg Blunden for being an excellent Race Committee and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron for providing the venue. – Dave Castle, Dalhousie Sailing
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