Home Club & Race Team: RNSYS

Class: ILCA 6 (previously called Laser Radial)

Goals

Short-term goals

• Get big fleet experience at ILCA 6 Midwinters in Florida this winter.

• Qualify for the Canadian Sailing Team at the Canadian Youth Trials (St. Pete, FL, USA)

Medium-term goals

• Gold fleet at CORK (ILCA 6)

• Podium at local events (ARK/Bay Wind/Fall Dingy)

• Represent Nova Scotia as an ILCA 6 in the 2022 Canada Games.

Long-term goals

• Represent Canada at a Worlds or Youth Worlds.

• Train and compete on the Canadian National Team.

• Place in the Top Ten females at an international event.

2021 Season

This year I sailed on the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron ILCA 6 Race team. My main Coach this year was Chris Watters, but I was also coached by Ryan Anderson, Ryan Kelly, and Lisa Ross.

I started the sailing season off this year on April 11th and ended in mid-November. Other than a couple weeks of spring sailing that were put on hold because of a COVID lockdown, I have continuously been training 5 days a week since May. I only missed one day of the entire summer because of my second COVID vaccination (a day well spent!). In the two weeks leading up to i420 Canadians, I sailed with my crew, Rebecca Skinner, every single day. I also raced a Bluenose at 2021 Chester Race Week. All of these add up to around 150 days of on-water training.

During the summer we launched at 11, and came in around 3:30, which is 4.5 hours on the water per day during the summer. During the school year, we launch our boats around 4:30, and finish around 7, which is 2.5 hours. In addition to this, roughly 4 days a week in the summer, we did fitness training with coach every morning from 9:30 to 11am.

I improved tremendously this year. My aerobic fitness improved along with my roll tacks in wind under 5 knots. However, one of the biggest gains I made this year was to my heavy wind sailing capabilities. This gain was owing to the fact that I can hike for longer, have more experience in chop and swell (upwind and downwind), and I am able to better de-power my sail.

2022 Season

Next year, I will again be sailing with RNSYS, with Chris Watters as my coach. In 2022 I plan on attending the Canadian Youth Trials (St. Pete, FL, USA), Midwinters East (St. Pete, FL, USA) , and CORK (Kingston, Ontario).

I plan on starting the 2022 season in Florida, where I will be training for and in trials for the Canadian Sailing Team and then competing at ILCA 6 Midwinters East Championships. I plan to spend just as many (if not more!) days sailing in 2022 as I did this past year.

After feeling the profound effects fitness has in sailing (specifically ILCA sailing!), I plan to put more time into off-water fitness. As a member of the Nova Scotia Sailing Team, I look forward to their gym sessions. As a fairly small ILCA 6 sailor, fitness is extremely important to my results.

Goals for 2022:

1. Qualify for the Canadian Sailing Team

2. Gold fleet at CORK (ILCA 6)

3. Podium at local events (ARK/Bay Wind/Fall Dingy)

4. Compete in 2022 Summer Canada Games