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| photo courtesy of Zbig |
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2012 North Americans
The 2012 NAs were held at Jericho Sailing Centre, Vancouver, B.C., Canada June 1-3.
We had been expecting 7 boats but Robert had terrible vehicle problems and only got as far as Pasco, Washington and Robin had his sails stolen and decided not to come.
Starting each day were Philip Ryan, Chris Wickham, Mike Jocelyn, Paul O'Sullivan, and Ethan Petersen. Ethan is building a boat in Oakland, CA and wanted to see what the boat is like to sail.
Friday was a light wind out of the east and then south. I broke my boom about 5 minutes before the start of the first race and so spent the afternoon on the committee boat taking pictures with my iPad.
Saturday was the only sunny day, with a westerly blowing 12-15. Sunday was another easterly with wind from 2-15 knots.
All sailors sailed each day. Everyone learned from the sailing and from each other, and everyone had a good time.
When it was all over, Philip Ryan finished first. Chris Wickham was second and Mike Jocelyn was third.
We sailed with Hays Clark and Pieter Versavel in the Mustos. Pieter dominated the sailing. Hays did well, but broke his main foil on a log after the racing on Saturday and so retired.
Philip was beaten twice but was clearly consistently faster than the rest of the Swifts.
All in all it was a great event. The weather was mostly cloudy but not wet and there was wind every day. The last day was the most fun for me, being a dog fight between Pieter, Philip and myself.
As usual, the hosts at Jericho were great. They ran the races, helped us with whatever problem we had, and were generally extremely friendly and hospitable.
No annual general meeting was held as we wanted to include those sailors who were unable to attend. An AGM will be held by phone, probably some time this fall. The talk among the sailors was about returning to Huntington Lake next summer for an event between the two High Sierra weekends.
Sorry more boats couldn't make it. For those who did, it was a great week.
Chris Wickham
USA074
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