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.

2023 ILCA CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

This year's ILCA Canadian Championships took place at Buffalo Canoe Club from August 25th to 27th. I came into this year's event hoping to defend my title from last year’s event at ABYC. The first day saw light winds from the north, with very unstable conditions. I made a number of mistakes on the first beats, leaving myself a challenge to climb up the ranks with finishes of 5, 11, and 8th after a flag.

The second day saw marginal hiking conditions with more stable breeze, I was able to finish 6, 3, and 3 in the 3 races, moving up a bit and giving me an opportunity to potentially finish on the podium with a good last day. The final day saw similar light and variable conditions to the first day with big changes in direction. I finished the first race in 9th, costing me any chance of defending my title. Prior to the last gun time the race committee started a final race, with a start at the favored end I found myself in 2nd place, with the positions being such that I would have moved up to 2nd, when the race committee decided to abandon a race for the first time in the entire event. I finished in 4th place. Kudos to the race committee for getting as many races off in challenging conditions as they did and BCC for being incredible hosts.