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

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

2018 FALL CORK

Another year, another fall cork. It was great to supplement our fall training program with some racing. This year we got 2 days of light winds. On saturday the breeze was cold and came from the north bringing lots of puffs and shifts. It often would die off during races and required extra focus to stay racing the whole time. Sunday brought a light sea breeze after we waited a couple of hours for wind. I sailed consistently and finished up in 3rd place. I’m unhappy I was unable to defend my title but I was still within a shot of winning going into the last race so I was pleased with that.

Third place this year at Fall CORK. Congratulations to my fellow competitors Matti Muru (center) - 1st place, Justin Norton (right) - 2nd place.

2018 FALL CORK RESULTS
PHOTOS

2018 LILAC REGATTA

Laser fleet start

Chilling at the coach boat with OST Coach Chris Cowan.

Another local regatta is in the books! Royal Hamilton Yacht Club was our host for the Lilac Regatta.  After no racing on Saturday due to no wind, we sailed five races in marginal hiking to light wind on Sunday. Racing was extremely close, and consistency was the name of the game. I managed to secure the win after finishing in the top 4 every race. I stayed focused on my starts and upwind technique, and this placed me consistently in a good place at the first windward and allowed me to stay in the game every race. Racing in such a small fleet has its own unique challenges but I consider it good practice for the future when I look forward to racing in some medal races.

Honoured to share the Haida Cup Award with fellow Ontario Sailing Teammate Clara Gravely.

2018 LILAC REGATTA RESULTS
REGATTA PHOTOS

2017 ONTARIO SAILING TEAM TRYOUTS AND FALL CORK

Leeward mark rounding with Matti Muru (208550) and Noah Collinson (206719) right with me.

This year due to my trip to the Laser Radial Youth Worlds Regatta in Medemblik I missed all of the summer CORK events so I only got to compete at one of my favourite venues once this season. On the weekend of September 23-24 I sailed the annual Fall CORK regatta. I raced in the Laser Full Rig class against a very competitive group of guys from Ontario.

Congratulations to my fellow competitors.  Noah Collinson (on left - 2nd) and Ross MacDonald (on right - 3rd)

We raced 3 races per day in light conditions outside of one race in 12 knots. I sailed an extremely consistent event with finishes of 2, 5, 2, 2, 2, and 6. After the drop I finished with 13 points and won the event. Kingston is the best freshwater sailing venue in the world and I am so happy to call it home now.

Additionally I attended the Ontario Sailing Combine in the two days leading up to Fall CORK. I sailed well and have now transitioned to the full rig for good. I am pleased to announce that I have accepted the invitation to join and am now a member of the Ontario Sailing Laser team. I am excited about this opportunity and look forward to the upcoming year of training and racing with a great group of teammates and my new coach Chris Cowan.

2018 FALL CORK RESULTS

2017 FOUR SISTERS REGATTA

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Coming into the windward mark.

This past weekend I competed in the Four Sisters Regatta hosted at Port Credit Yacht Club. Unfortunately racing was cancelled on Saturday due to no wind so the regatta became a 1 day event. Sunday brought good wind and big waves from the east.

LIAM BRUCE - 2017 FOUR SISTERS START - IMG_1331 from Elle Bruce on Vimeo.

I competed in the laser radial fleet along with 57 other boats. The fleet was very competitive with the entirety of my team, the Ontario Sailing Radial Elite Team, participating. I managed to finish the regatta perfect with straight bullets. To top it off, I was also awarded the LYRA (Lake Yacht Racing Association) Single Handed Junior - Male Division Champion 2017 flag due to my top place finish as an 18 and under youth from a member club.  An honour that will make this regatta - one of the few remaining that I will race as a junior - all the more memorable. 

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Congratulations to my fellow racers and especially my fellow Ontario team members.  Finally my sincerest thanks to all that are involved who worked hard to make this event possible.

2017 FOUR SISTERS RESULTS

2017 LILAC REGATTA

For the second weekend in a row I raced a regatta in laser standard. This time it was at RHYC in Hamilton for the Lilac Regatta. Hamilton Harbour brought medium to light winds and on the second day, dense fog. It made for some interesting racing!

LIAM BRUCE - 2017 LILAC REGATTA from Elle Bruce on Vimeo.

Off the start and heading upwind - hopefully towards the mark.

Going into the final race I was in a 3-way tie on points for first place but a 4th saw me finish in 3rd out of 12. My consistent results showed that I can keep up with the top group and I look forward to training with them in the fall. 

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2017 LILAC REGATTA RESULTS

REGATTA PHOTOS