February Update (January as well)

2014 has been busy so far.... January brought a lot of cold weather training and a fantastic training camp in Victoria directly after New Years. January is when a better training schedule really got in motion. I started seriously training 5 days a week on the water, working out with a training several times a week as well as a lot of running and my own workouts. Between all that I managed to fit in my classes at school as well.

February carried over the same hard work and on the 15th I flew out to Clearwater, Florida for Laser Midwinters East. This was my first time sailing in this location and it really was a great venue. I got in 4 days of training with my team and racing started on the Thursday. Thursday brought some unfortunate results with some simple mistakes being made in each race, showing I still have lots of kinks to work out. Day 2 of racing brought 20 knots and a minor back injury for me midway through the first race, causing me to retire for the final two races of the day. Days 3 and 4 were both fog filled and no racing was carried out unfortunately, thus ending the event. I finished with a tough result of 47th, but I was honestly happy with the event overall. The fleet competition was very tough and taught me a lot. Between training, racing and talking with other sailors I was able to take away so much. I am excited for what the next few months brings with training in Vancouver and several training camps and small regattas that have been planned.

I have also started a fundraising campaign for my 2014 season to reach my big goals for this year. Check it out at: http://makeachamp.com/chriswilsonsailing !

I would already like to thank the following people for their very generous donations:

@Amanda Guscott 
@Charles Hart 
@Dolores M Long
@Alice Hayhurst 
@Arek Sredzki

A contribution of any size honestly helps a lot! 

Thanks for reading!

What this Blog will be for!

This blog will have monthly updates at the end of each month about my current training, events and sailing related things all with regards to my 2014 season and campaign as a Laser Full Rig Sailor.

Current Plans for the 2014 Season:

Regattas and Training camps that are currently planned for this season are as follows:

Regattas:Laser Midwinter East, Florida
March Madness Regatta, Vancouver
Kitten Cup, Vancouver
Spring Dinghies Champs, Victoria
Springtime Regatta, Kelowna
North American Championships, California
Pacific Coast Championships, California
Squamish Regatta, Squamish
Whistler Regatta, Whistler
Laser Canadian Championships, Vancouver
Cork - Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR), Kingston
Rocky Point Regatta, Vancouver
Fall Dinghy Championships, Victoria
Pumpkin Bowl Regatta, Vancouver
Bluenose Regatta, Vancouver

Training Camps:1x Two week Training Camp in the Gorge, Oregon (Blowout)
2x Squamish Heavy Air Weekend Training Camps, Squamish
3x Victoria Training Camps, Victoria

Who I am

My name is Chris Wilson and I am from Vancouver, British Columbia here in Canada.  I am currently 19 years old and a Cognitive Systems student at the University of British Columbia. I sail a boat called a Laser Full Rig which is the one of the two single-handed male Olympic Class'. I have been sailing for as long as I can remember but have only been on the competitive racing scene for about 5 years.I began racing in a Laser Radial and had notable finishes of First place in Western Canadian Championships in 2011 as well as a 12th place finish as Canadian Youth Championships, both in the radial. In 2013, I made the full switch to a Laser Full Rig and began competing in local events throughout British Columbia with the following results:

Top 2013 Full Rig Results:

4th place Spring Time Regatta, Kelowna

3rd Place Rocky Point Regatta, Port Moody

5th Place Pumpkin Bowl Regatta, West Vancouver

While I would have preferred for the 2013 season to have included more higher level events, financially it did not make sense to do so.

2014 has brought a higher level of training and competing which looks to be all over Canada and the USA. Training, fitness and nutrition are very important for all higher level sports. My weekly schedule contains 5 on the water training sessions, 3 sessions with a personal trainer, several runs and workouts and constantly eating what my body needs to stay healthy. 

Regattas and Training camps that are currently planned for this season are as follows:

Regattas:

Laser Midwinter East, Florida

March Madness Regatta, Vancouver

Kitten Cup, Vancouver

Spring Dinghies Champs, Victoria

Springtime Regatta, Kelowna

North American Championships, California

Pacific Coast Championships, California

Squamish Regatta, Squamish
Whistler Regatta, Whistler

Laser Canadian Championships, Vancouver

Cork - Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR), Kingston

Rocky Point Regatta, Vancouver

Fall Dinghy Championships, Victoria

Pumpkin Bowl Regatta, Vancouver

Bluenose Regatta, Vancouver

Training Camps:

1x Two week Training Camp in the Gorge, Oregon (Blowout)

2x Squamish Heavy Air Weekend Training Camps, Squamish

3x Victoria Training Camps, Victoria

Being the end of February already, I have competed at Laser Midwinters Regatta in Clearwater, Florida. It was an unfortunate event for results as I had a minor back injury early in the second day of racing and we also only had the conditions to race 2 of the 4 days so I could not unfortunately not make back the losses I had due to injury. I finished in 47th place in the Full Rig fleet, but I was still very satisfied with the event and my time training in Clearwater. This is because I learnt a lot from the extremely good competition in my fleet and am able to apply and work on that in my training here in Vancouver.

The goal for the 2014 season and beginning of the 2015 season is to qualify for the Canadian National Sailing Team. This is done through results at Cork OCR and Miami OCR, CORK being this season and Miami being in January of 2015.

This goal is attainable! I know what I need to do to reach this goal and I am well on my way. I am very excited to prove to everyone I have what it takes. I been working very hard this season already to being extremely productive with the time I have had so far. I am extremely motivated and ready to compete. I know from my experience that I am focused enough to reach my goals and excel beyond.

I constantly update and post information about my training and event achievements on https://www.facebook.com/ChrisWilsonLaserSailing. Feel free to have a look at the page and see how much I have done this year already! I am working extremely hard to reach my goals! I am trying to raise $13,000 to cover my coaching, events, fitness and many other expenses that will come of me working my hardest and getting the proper training necessary for the main two events I will be competing in to qualify for the Canadian National Team. Any donations of any size will be greatly appreciated and used to propel me towards my goals!

I will also be making monthly blog updates at http://chriswilsonlasersailing.blogspot.ca/  .