Sailing Shorts, January 2026
January 8, 2026
Irene McNeil named to the Order of Canada
We all know Irene as an enthusiastic promoter of sailing especially encouraging women to participate. Particularly notable has been her advancement of women in Race Management. She is a tireless volunteer, teacher, and administrator of so many of the components of sailing and race management. Her leadership has improved the value of sailing both in Canada and abroad.
Irene was appointed Canada’s first female International Race Officer by World Sailing in 2012. She has run many international regattas in Canada, the US, the Caribbean and Europe. Along with Sail Canada, she has championed many initiatives to increase the number of women in race management and improve skills development. Irene has served on or chaired committees at Sail Canada, Ontario Sailing, and Canadian Olympic Regatta Kingston (CORK). Most notable, she was Chair of the Race Management Committee and currently sits on the Sailing Appeals Committee of Sail Canada.
https://www.gg.ca/en/appointments-order-canada-december-2025
Boatspeed Playbook
If you’re like most racing sailors, you’d love to get your boat going a little faster (and higher!) this year. Well, here’s a great first step: Start 2026 with a webinar series designed to give you a systematic approach to the most important boatspeed ingredients. Register
During this webinar Dave will create a ‘playbook’ containing crucial boatspeed guidelines and sail trim rules of thumb. Each participant will end up with go-fast reference materials that are easy to apply on almost every kind of boat, for both skippers and crew.
Topics to cover include: how to evaluate speed; finding (and staying in) the ‘groove’; optimizing windward helm; understanding rake and pre-bend; how to point higher; team boatspeed communication; mainsail trim upwind and downwind; jib and genoa rules of thumb; keys to fast spinnaker trim; when (and how!) to ‘change gears’; and much more!
This series begins on Monday, February 2, and will focus on how to sail your boat FAST in 2026! The live sessions start at 8:00 pm (EST) on the four Mondays in February. Each session will be about 90 minutes long with video, diagrams, animations, and quizzes. Participant questions are welcome.
The $55 price for the series includes: 1) four live webinars; 2) pre-read materials sent by email before each session; 3) unlimited access to the replays of all sessions (in case you miss any or would like to review them); and 4) a link to a Google doc with all the webinar Q&As in writing. All will be invaluable for improving your speed – and race results! – this year. (NOTE: You don’t have to attend the live sessions to receive all key info and links to watch the replays whenever you want.)
“To register please use the red link below. Thanks, and Happy New Year! – Dave P.S. Group discounts are popular for clubs and fleets – please email us for info.”
