North American Eight Metre Association

Thanks to Ced Gyles for this report: The photos will be in the next posting.

The 2009 8 Metre Ski Weekend event was held at Blue Mountain on Saturday, February 14th under sunny skies, with perfect ski temperatures and fabulous snow conditions.  And though we had representation attend the event from all of the yachts in our Fleet, we were a little lighter in the participation for this year’s race.  The yachts that did participate had some very competitive and fun racing which of course was carried over afterwards at the après party with the “shot ski”.  We again had a race course that was a little longer than in prior years, which received good reviews from the competitors, and some for their first time!  Many thanks to Blue for the day and the race course organizing.

Of note was that Michael Jones representing Broad Reach introduced himself and the Charity at lunch.  He not only invited all of our group to attend their event next year but issued a challenge to the winner of our race to compete against the best from theirs.  And in turn, we have reciprocated and invited them to our event next year.

With the great weather, participants were able enjoy their Pastissima sausage and salads lunch on the balcony looking out at the hill from the Gyles chalet.  Joe Balogh conjured up another batch of his famous Hungarian goulash for the dinner, perhaps even spicier than usual, followed by some excellent strudel, (though you can’t smile and show your teeth after eating the poppy seeds until you have rinsed your mouth).

Many thanks to Barb & Ced Gyles for hosting the lunch and Joe Balogh for the dinner at their chalets.  Their hospitality is much appreciated!  And special thanks to all of their helpers in the purchasing, preparing, serving, and clean-up of the meals and the party.  Also thanks to North Sails, Quantum Sail Design Group, and UK-Halsey Sailmakers for supplying this year’s prizes.

We had a great time on and off the hill and look forward to seeing everyone again as we get our boats ready for the 2009 sailing season.

The overall result summary:

Order of Boat Team Scores:
1st – Severn 112.65
2nd – Norseman 117.97
3rd – Bangalore 122.56
4th – Quest 132.95
5th – Thisbe 136.64

Match & Win winners: Hillary Molnar – Peter Epstein

Winner of the Ski Trophy: “Sarissa” – Ralph Reimann was selected as the worthy recipient this year.