At the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Perth, fantastic sailing conditions were delivered for what was to be the Canadians' final day. Action kicked off with the medal race in the Star class with the Canadian team of Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn holding down the final spot for medal race contention. The medal races took place very close to the shore which made for great racing entertainment.

The Canadians had a good start and rounded the first mark in fifth place.

Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships – Star classes were back on the water today, Friday 16 December, racing on the Leighton Course in Fremantle, Australia.

A great day on the water for Canada today!!! The Fremantle Doctor was back and Canada was firing on all cylinders.

Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn have qualified Canada and themselves for the 2012 Olympic Games next summer.

The Doctor wasn't needed today, as a solid SSE system breeze and some localized showers brought plenty of breeze and with it a great degree of variety to the race courses. Winds again ranged from as little as 7 knots to upwards of 20 knots in the localized squalls. The variance in the breeze was to the liking of some and chagrin of others.

The second week of the event is starting to take shape with some interesting story lines developing. In Star land, the series leader after 4 races, defending Olympic Gold Medallists from GBR Percy/Simpson, received their second yellow flag for kinetics (pumping rule) in Race 5, forcing them to withdraw from that race.

The 'Doctor' took a break for today as the day began overcast with an offshore breeze. After a gentle start to the day the breeze slowly built topping out in the low twenties. Race one across the majority of courses was in a building breeze, starting in and about 10 knots and finishing up in the mid-teens. Race two was mid-teens to the low twenties depending on the course area you found yourself on. The off-shore breeze is the talk of the boat yard as most have become expectant of the doctors arrival, and presenting a new option early in the racing for everyone. There were big scores put up by numerous players across a number of the fleets, creating some interesting early dramas.

The demand from the IOC is that Olympic sports improve their ratings. ISAF has responded with medal races and here at Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, with a stadium course.

But television steps onto the field of play…

Yesterday, in the name of more exciting television, the ISAF contracted Sunset & Vine TV boat twice powered down the run, following the Finn class race leader Pieter Jan Postma and putting significant wash on Ben Ainslie.

The Medal Race day provided entertainment for the fans crowding the grandstands and Bather's Beach board walk. Although far from windy there was enough breeze to provide solid racing for all with the wind ranging from 7-13 knots. Each of the four fleets had intriguing story lines and tight battles throughout the top 10. Full results of these races and more can be found at www.perth2011.com. Nine different countries secured medals today out of the 12 medals available, with the Netherlands and GBR being the only countries to score more than one medal on the day.

An invitation to watch The O CANADA Project Sunday December 11 at 7pm on CBC’s Documentary Channel. Rogers 325, Cogeco 170, Bell TV 336, Shaw Direct 513, Shaw 124, and Videotron 151. The O CANADA Project tells the story of New Zealand boat builder Alan West rebuilding the former Spirit of Canada boat, skippered by Canadian Derek Hatfield in the 2006 Vendee Globe singlehanded race.

After a full weekend of racing, the 2011 Cork Fall Regatta and Great Lakes Championships has come to a close.

After a total of five races in the Laser fleet, local sailor and Canadian national team sailor, Robert Davis from the Kingston Yacht Club is the new Great Lakes Champion ahead of fellow Queen’s engineering students, Evert McLaughlin and Matthew Ryder (Toronto, Ontario). The overall winner and Great Lakes Champion of the Laser Radial class is Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Forest Illinois).

Antigua Sailing Week is delighted to announce Sunsail as Gold Sponsor for its 2012 event. With its continuing focus on and commitment to supporting sailing at every level and with the recent launch of the new Sunsail Racing product range, Sunsail is a perfect fit with Antigua Sailing Week.

Simon Conder, Head of Marketing for Sunsail said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Antigua Sailing Week and to become a Gold Sponsor for this premier yachting event.

In a reversal of fortunes from the inaugural event two years ago, the Terry McLaughlin-led team from the Royal Canadian Yacht Club persevered today to win the 2011 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup presented by Rolex, sailed in Swan 42s.

The New York Yacht Club team finished second, with the Annapolis Yacht Club team, third. The final race days’ light and shifty conditions gave all 22 teams the opportunity to shift positions on the leaderboard, but in the end most just solidified what they had already earned.

All eyes were on the skippers and crews of Zingara and First Today as they prepared for the final day of the Beneteau First 36.7 North American Championships held at the National Yacht Club in Toronto, Canada. The two yachts were tied at 24 points each after three days and nine races and, with years of fierce competition between them, it had all the makings for a long drawn battle to the death. But within one minute of the first of two scheduled races on the last day of the regatta it was all but over.

Richard Reid owner/ skipper of Zingara summed it up by saying that they were looking for a good lane at the boat end of the line but got caught with their pants down and were forced to go the right side of the course which was the wrong way to go.

The Barrie Yacht Club (on Lake Simcoe's Kempenfelt Bay) recently hosted the 2011 Olson 25 Canadian National Championship Regatta on September 10/11, 2011.

The 2011 event featured a very competitive seven-boat fleet that sailed six races in total over two days. Starting early on Saturday morning and running through until Sunday evening, Olson 25 skippers and crew enjoyed a full slate of racing and conditions that resulted in very close competition in challenging and sometimes shifty conditions.

The 2012 London Olympic Sailing Regatta in Weymouth is now just 10 months away (29th July -11th August 2012). Sail-World.com with large audiences around the world will have its largest ever Olympic media team and it will break new ground with a record 3.5 million event newsletters.

Parent company TetraMedia Publisher Rob Kothe said today ‘During the Qingdao Olympics the Sail-World team was sending out 80,000 newsletters each day providing the most detailed coverage of the Olympic sailing regatta of any media organisation in the world.

The 2011 J/105 Canadian Championship, the premier racing event of the J/105 Fleet 4 season was awarded to Dave Shaver's Retern, also winner of the 2007 edition. This year's Championship war flag was well earned in one of the closest events for the season. Second place went to Jamaica Me Crazy, last year's winner whilst third place went to Hey Jude.

The three day event was the perfect test for J/105 sailing out of Toronto, with variable wind conditions from moderate (Friday and Sunday) to high waves Saturday, current and oscillating wind directions, testing sailing and strategy of all the top crews.

Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (RIWKC) – Corey Sertl, from Rochester, NY moved ahead of both Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow to win. Corey's daughter Katja Sertl, in her second ever RIWKC, placed eighth and another local sailor, Kiki Werner was fifth. Top international boat went to the Dutch team, skippered by Marieke Poulie in 10th place, and top Canadian team was Sharon Ferris.

This bi-annual event, sponsored by Rolex from it's inception,