Midwinter's in Florida

All 11 athletes worked hard on and off the water. For the first three days in the Sunshine State, CYA organized a training camp with National Sport Centre Coach Rob Fox coaching the 29ers, and former National Coach Kelly Hand for the Bytes. Their technical expertise and their great knowledge of sailing were greatly appreciated. It was very beneficial for the athletes and everyone improved a great deal.

Congratulations to Paloma Corrin who placed a respectable third in the Byte class, Jocelyn McLaren who gave an excellent performance, and Kristine Coons from Saskatchewan who achieved an A+ for her attitude and professionalism.

Our 29er girls' team Katja Smutny and Kristy Slough tied for third place with a Quebec boat and showed some great racing amongst the big boys. Gordie Parke and Chris Ferguson performed some of their best races so far and ended up in seventh place. Chris Bradley and Willie Macdonald also showed an awesome performance with great starts and upwind's. The McMorris brothers surprised us all with an incredible performance for their first regatta out of province. Everyone improved day by day. The weather was not quite like Florida, the temperatures even dropped down to 5 - 10 degrees for two days. But everybody still got nice tan lines....

A few Thank You's go out to all the supportive parents who accompanied the team: Penny McMorris, and Ross and Barb Parke, MSA's team director and driver for the second van, your help was greatly appreciated. The biggest thank you goes to Bill Macdonald and daughter Kirsten who drove the van and trailer down to Florida and did everything to accommodate the team. Lunches were great, superb support and everyone was fun to be with. Another thank you goes to the Coaches Brigitte Smutny and Craig Baker who spent long days on and off the water coaching and supporting Team Toba.

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