The Royal Victoria Yacht Club invites you to the 72nd running of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race from May 23rd to May 25th. Swiftsure week occurs in Victoria‘s beautiful Inner Harbour with lots of activities beginning May 21st and runs through the weekend.

Busy day of racing at the 2012 Paralympic Games Regatta! The Sonar class pumped out 3 races in an effort to catch up and the other two SKUD 18 classes (2.4mR & SKUD) both completed 2 races on this second last day of competition. While podium spots are already guaranteed for some countries, others will have to give their everything to earn those elusive top three positions. The battle continued in the 2.4mR today. According to ifds reports, Lucas (GBR) was well back in 13th place on part of the first leg of the first race but the only woman in the fleet must have been even more disappointed when reigning Olympic champion Paul Tingley (CAN) arrived at the first mark to slip ahead of her.

Its been no vacation for our Paralympic Sailors this weekend. All three fleets have completed a 6 of 11 races already.  The event started on Saturday and they now have three days of racing completed with three more to go. 2.4M – Our Gold Medalist for Beijing – Paul Tingley – has shown some flashes of brilliance but has really been having a tough event.  His is sitting in 5th overall with 5 races to go.  With 30 points, he is only 10 points out of 3rd but it will not be an easy margin to make up.  So far his finishes have been 6, 7, 2, 10,9, and 6.

The London 2012 Paralympic Games are set to get underway tomorrow. Over the past few days, the Canadian Paralympic Sailing team has had training, measuring, opening ceremonies and now a practice race under their belts. It has been a very busy week and year for sure but the preparation is now done! There were a variety of conditions for practice racing with the SKUD and 2.4's sailing in the morning race. Winds ranged from very light, three knots up to 8-10kts with 90 degrees of compass change. The team looked strong on the water today helping them get rid of the jitters before tomorrow.

The Canadian Yachting Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Cook to the new position of Development Team Manager. Chris is a high performing Finn sailor who finished 5th in the 2008 Olympic Games and had numerous , podium finishes at International and North American based championships including a recent Bronze Medal finish at the World Cup Event in Palma in 2012. Chris was on target to compete in his 2nd games this year until struck by illness in the final trial. His immediate support for his fellow Finn sailor, Greg Douglas, who benefitted most from Chris’s withdrawal, was a display of his high quality sportsmanship.

Paul Tingley isn't in London to "defend" his Paralympic Games sailing title. Make no mistake about it – the 42-year-old from Halifax believes he's more than capable of repeating as the champion of the 2.4mR class he mastered in 2008 in Beijing. He's done everything possible to get ready for his fourth Paralympic competition, including training with Swedish coach Stellan Berlin in waters off the English coast to prepare himself for the conditions he'll face in the days to come. But defence doesn't seem to be in the playbook of the sailor nicknamed The Gambler in some circles for his penchant for taking risks – many of which tend to pay off in a big way.

“The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” When he spoke these words, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, recognized as the founder of the modern Olympic Games, could not have envisaged that the initial event with nine sports and 14 nations would grow to include 33 sports, 200 nations, and 13,000 athletes. Nor could he have foreseen the multi-million dollar industry that the Olympics would become or that the triumph would become more important than the struggle – at least in the eyes of those who provide the majority of funding.

Only 2 days before the Paralympics kick off and the Canadians are well prepared! The sailing Canadian Paralympic Sailors team have arrived in Weymouth and had a few days to practice with their competition to get their boats completely tuned and ready to race. Team Leader Brian Todd sends in a report as of Sunday.

The rain stopped and the sun came out in Weymouth today, which set up for an excellent day of training. The Sonar, Skud and 2.4 all spent a full day on the water in one of the few remaining days to get the boat and rig tuned and ready for the Games.