2025 ILCA7 CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Location: Fort Erie, Ontario
Dates: August 15-17, 2025

The season wrapped up at the ILCA Canadian Championships at Buffalo Canoe Club. After finishing 4th here in 2023, I came in hungry to improve and close the year on a strong note. 

Day 1 – Waiting for Wind
Friday was a non-starter — literally. The breeze never filled, leaving the fleet ashore trading stories and waiting on flags that never came down. With the first races pushed to Saturday, the anticipation only grew.

Day 2 – Four Races in the Sea Breeze
Saturday delivered in style: four great races in a building 6–14 knot sea breeze. Out on the outer loop, the breeze stacked up some small, surfable waves — perfect for ILCA 7s. Timing and technique became key, and I was able to link onto a few more waves than my competitors, jumping forward at critical moments.

Despite feeling a bit rusty off at the starting line after a month away from racing, I leaned on boatspeed to open the regatta with scores of 1, 1, 3. In the fourth race, the one start I really nailed off the pin, a massive right shift came through and flipped the fleet. That race became a damage-limiting exercise — but with solid results in the bag, I ended the day atop the leaderboard

Day 3 – Storms and Shifts
Sunday’s forecast brought the same offshore, storm-driven conditions that had caught me out two years ago. That year, I pushed too hard on starts and got burned. This time I made a mental shift — starting more conservatively, staying patient, and reacting to the first shift rather than forcing it.

The adjustment paid off. In race one I managed a 6th, keeping myself in the hunt. In the final race I had a good start as the breeze picked up. Although I made a small mistake of overstanding the layline, I managed to claw my way back to the front on the reach and first downwind. From there I was able to close the series with a 1st.

A Satisfying Finish

Those results sealed my third Canadian Championship title, a redemption after two year’s frustrations, and a fitting way to cap off the season.

RESULTS


Road to LA 2028: Next Up, off season training

Getting fitter in the gym and on the water.

2021 CORK OLYMPIC CLASSES REGATTA & SAIL CANADA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

CORK is back to normal after a year off!

From August 14 - 17, CORK Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR) took place with the ILCA 6 (Radials), ILCA 7 (Lasers), and Kiteboards. With the 49ers and 49erFXs competing the following week. We had four days of scheduled racing, with ten races to be sailed. Like the first day at Canadians, the first day of OCR brought a good breeze and three races, another big day fitness-wise. The following three days were lighter, and we did not get any racing in on day three because of no wind.

I didn’t have my best showing, getting penalized with multiple flags by the jury for pumping infractions, including one upwind. A career first for me! I ended up a disappointing 3rd overall.

Congratulations to Luke Ruitenberg (1st) -center and Forrest Waccholz (2nd) - right.

I flew to Europe the day after and am excited to join my new coach as I begin to prepare for the European and World Championships. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of the volunteers at CORK for putting on a great event as usual and to Andy Roy for coaching us.

THANK YOU!

RESULTS

2021 ILCA CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS AT CORK

It was great to be sailing on home waters, and in classic Kingston conditions.

The Canadian Laser Class Championships took place this year over the July 31 - Aug. 2 long weekend. The first day of the regatta was a big one that brought a solid 15-knot gradient breeze built on by the classic Kingston thermal to a low 20-knot range from the southwest. This made for some fantastic racing and a hard day fitness-wise.

The following two days brought shifty and puffy conditions from the northeast on Sunday and north on Monday. These challenging conditions gave both myself and the race committee a difficult time, especially on Sunday. Unfortunately, I had a poor day on Sunday, which led to a second-place finish overall, 0.5 points off of first. Congratulations to Ryan Anderson on a consistent and well-sailed regatta. It was great to be on the water with 122 other sailors in Canada again and have my parents back on the water to see me race. Thanks for the photos Mum! 

Left to right: Andy Roy (ILCA World Council North America Chair), Forrest Wachholz (3rd), Ryan Anderson (1st), Liam Bruce (2nd)

RESULTS
PHOTOS

2020 SUMMER TRAINING WITH CANADIAN SAILING TEAM

I suspect some of you may be wondering where I have been and what I've been up to over this last little bit. Rest assured, my focus on the goal has not wavered. As for many others, the pandemic has introduced much uncertainty into my plans for the immediate future, including when it will be safe to compete overseas again and where I will train when the weather gets cold. Nevertheless, I remain certain about my longterm goal to ensure a Canadian Laser qualifies for the next Olympics (at the Worlds in 2022.)

As many of you know from my last update, I shifted focus to dryland training and fitness at home this spring when competitions and travel to Europe were cancelled. Missed my update?
Sign up to receive them here.

At the end of June, when our team received clearance to train together, I travelled to Kingston for the first Canadian Sailing Team camp after a long period of everyone training apart. We spent a week of long sessions on the water honing our skills and practicing racing again with coach Larry Lemieux.

Sail Canada Coach Larry Lemieux.
PHOTO CREDIT: ©Sailing Energy / World Sailing - 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Miami

Sail Canada Coach Lisa Ross.

After that, we loaded up the cars and trailers and travelled out to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to train for an extended period with the new CSDS Laser coach Lisa Ross. In alignment with safety protocols, our team completed a 14-day quarantine prior to fitness testing at the Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic and starting daily on-water training on St. Margarets Bay.

Quality coaching is an essential component for continued growth and improvement in this sport and will be critical to get me to the podium. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Sail Canada Team coaches Larry and Lisa. Their depth of knowledge and experience is helping me continue to advance my skills.

Sail Canada continues to expand its role in getting our athletes back to the podium, with initiatives that include providing coaching to developing athletes with Olympic potential. With that in mind, I'd like to share an easy way for you to show your continued support for Canadian High-Performance sailing! In partnership with Helly Hansen, Sail Canada has released this great limited edition supporter's shirt. Lightweight and sweat-wicking, it's perfect for wearing while out on the water or working out. It would also make a great gift!

Click the button below to snag one (plus a tax receipt for your donation) before they are gone.

2019 CORK OCR / SAIL CANADA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Getting a good start. In the center of the photo here - 215019.

I finished up the summer regatta season with a 9th place finish at CORK OCR / Sail Canada Senior Championships. I was ecstatic to be sailing back in Canada on fresh water and in reasonable temperatures. A trying 4 days saw all sorts of conditions from light to heavy winds. While I was disappointed with my finish due to my inconsistency in results I managed to have another regatta with consistently strong starts. While unsatisfied I recognize my improvement from 12th place last year and have identified more areas for improvement on my journey to the top.

I am really grateful for the support from everyone to pursue my lofty goals, especially my parents who were on the water watching and mum managed to get some great photos as always!

Keeping good company upwind. Just to leeward of me in this shot is fellow Canadian Sailing Development Squad teammate and winner of the regatta Luke Ruitenberg (214514).

Next up I’m staying in Kingston while I prepare for U21 Worlds this fall.

2019 CORK OCR RESULTS
PHOTOS

2019 ILCA LASER CANADIANS / IAN BRUCE MEMORIAL REGATTA

PHOTO CREDIT: Ken Dool

I just got back to Kingston from the Laser Canadian Championships in Beaconsfield, Quebec. We didn’t manage to get off any races yesterday (Sunday) due to a lack of wind caused by rain. This did however leave me to win the regatta! After 2 days, 6 races and 8 points in mostly light conditions I was tied with Canadian Sailing Development Squad (CSDS) member Hugh Macrae. However I held the tie breaker since I had the last bullet and we had an identical scoreline of 1, 1, 1, 2, 3. I am ecstatic to be able to call myself Canadian champion for the next year. Congratulations to Hugh, and CSDS member Matti Muru for rounding out the podium in 3rd.

RESULTS

PHOTO CREDIT: Ken Dool