The Commodores Cup Junior Regatta turned into a coming out party for youth members of the 麻豆社国产Yacht Club.
The event, held from Aug. 25 to 28 at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, saw 12 young local sailors hit the waters in both radial and opti divisions.聽
Local sailors dominated in the laser radial division, with Squamish鈥檚 Cayley Wilcox grabbing a first place showing. She edged out her teammate Alex Weber, who placed second amongst the 10 competitors. Squamish鈥檚 Shannon Isnardy placed fourth in the division, with Erika Yokouchi finishing sixth.
鈥淎ll the sailors were fairly new to the boat and only recently started training in the radial,鈥� said coach Sacha Roberts. 鈥淭hey did awesome and we鈥檙e very proud of them.鈥�
Laser radial division competitors had 12 races over the three days, with each race lasting about an hour. 聽
麻豆社国产also represented in the opti division, with eight local kids hitting the waters. Opti division sailors raced 10 times over the three days and local sailors included: Arthur Akbulator (11th), Adrian Conn (12th), Ben Sweeny (13th), Grayson Blann (15th), Jack Kitchen (16th), Tess McNamara (18th), Ella Macphee (19th) and Zachary Jordan (20th).聽
Roberts said that she and coach Eavan Palmer were pleased with the kids鈥� performances.
鈥淲e had an amazing support/cheering team of parents on the dock and as coaches, Eavan and I were incredibly proud of the kids who represented the 麻豆社国产Yacht Club,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 wait to see them at more regattas.鈥�
And there鈥檚 a strong chance that local sailors will get a chance to compete in more regattas with the potential formation of the new Howe Sound Sailing Team for next year.聽
Roberts explained that she and Palmer are hoping to build a race team for next summer to bring to the many local regattas throughout the province. Anyone interested from the age of seven and up can join and register through Brennan Park. Races usually occur in July and August but Roberts said there are some races in the fall.
She said ideally the team would practice three times a week and have drop in sessions as needed. The current set-up sees new young sailors train five days a week for one week and older sailors train for 10 days over two weeks.
For more information on the SYC youth programs, visit www.squamishyachtclub.com/#!juniors/cii4.
