Marvinn Beckmann from the USA won the hotly contested Etchell North Americans held from September 16th to the 19th of September. 35 entries from the USA, Canada and Australia visited the club for the past four days and were thrilled to call RCYC home over the past few days.
The RCYC has a long association with the Etchells fleet. Dirk Kneulman is the current boat builder in North America, and it was great to see Commodore Gordon Norton who owned the very first Etchells in Canada come to the opening cermonies. In fact it seemed every member who stood up to speak to the fleet at the various functions had a story to tell about their Etchell sailing. Commodore Meadows regaled us with his stories of the Etchells, as well as Tony Anderson, Commodore Sherwood, Vice commodore fred eaton and many others.
5 races were held over 3 days. Day one saw light winds and bumpy seas from the East which called for patience and concentration powering these boats through the chop. Day 2 saw Big breeze from the North. 18-25 knots were recorded from the Rc boat. Unfortunately day 3 saw little to no wind and after waiting patiently for close to three hours racing was abandoned by the Race committee.
Special thanks goes to the organizing committee led by Tony Anderson and his team. Kent paisley, Greg Bratkiw, Don Hains, Geoffrey Newbury, Robbie Kidd, Alan Leibel, and Dirk Kneulman worrked tirelessly to bring the event off without a hitch. And special thanks go to Janet McDougall for organizing the very qualified International jury.