by Beverly Elmer, Burgess Malarkey, and Stewart Renehan.

On August 10th, twelve kids from around the West Coast of the USA and Canada, went to a clinic taught by Argy and Bocha in the Gorge at Cascade Locks, Oregon. Over the three days, it was very windy, winds ranging from 12-28 knots. We worked on heavy wind boat handling skills and tactics/strategy. Afterwards, the group traveled to Vancouver, B.C. for the Canadian Nationals.

Before the regatta, there was another clinic coached by Argy, Bocha, and this time Argy’s brother Many. It was a four day clinic where we practiced in mainly light to medium wind. This clinic was attended by many of the sailors who were going to the Canadian Nationals, including Jordi Xavier from Spain and Ramon Gonzalez from Puerto Rico. During the four day regatta, there was good wind ranging from 10-15 knots and the race committee managed to get off 4 races a day for the first 3 days. The last day was light air and we only got off one race. In the regatta Jordi Xavier placed 1st, Greg Dair from Cal YC placed 2nd, Ramon Gonzalez placed 3rd, Stewart Renehan placed 4th from Seattle YC. The top Canadian Ted Murphy from Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron placed 5th, and qualified for Worlds, as did 4 other Canadians from 6th-14th place in the regatta.

Next, the West Coast Opti Tour headed to the Pacific Coast Championship in Seattle, Washington. It was very light wind ranging from 0-7 knots the entire regatta. Fifteen American boats in this regatta qualified for Team Trials. The top 5 boats were Ted Murphy, Lauren Ceffali (San Francisco YC), Greg Dair, Stewart Renehan, and Kate Shaner (Seattle YC). The West Coast Opti Tour was a great time and we learned a lot.