Monday Aug 29th, 2011

Well team, our Loot adventure has ended..not without some excitement though. Hurricane Irene threw a monkey wrench into the team's plans to drive from NS down through the states and to stay overnight in Portland, Maine and then drive across NY to the Leitz's. Everyone felt better safe than sorry, and although, we were really ahead of the storm, no one wished to battle the few major hwys in that area with 2.5 million people execuating.! In particular towing a large trailer and a coach boat.And,of  course, no one wanted extra delays that may cause |Roberto to miss his flight home to URU today. So Gord and Roberto re jigged things and drove back through Canada, staying overnight near Quebec City and met the Lietzs just outside Kingston to do boat/kid exchange in the driving rain. Everyone is now as snug as a bug. The Wollmans are back in Bermuda, Jillian stayed out east with her family and is in the process of driving her older brother to university in NFL, Declan and the Turners start school this week, Jessica had to stand on the roof of her parents vehicle to hold her opti down to prevent the high winds from blowing it off the roof whilst driving back to NY (just kidding of course, although she probably strong enough to do that!), Roberto is presently at the Hodgsons-getting ready for his flight home to URU today, Georgia is just getting out of bed and said it was strange to waking up without 3 or 4 girls around her and I sit here writing this...smiling about the memories of our summer. Thank you to all the Loot families, extended families (grandmothers, grandfathers, big brothers and sisters) for all being on the same wavelength and being so caring, fun and helpful to everyone and for doing such a great job in every way. It truly has made this summer so magical. One last little comment, a little bird mentioned to me that Roberto....is talking about coming back next summer.....'

Thank You So Much!

Thank you so much to all the LOOT Parents and Roberto!  Jessica had the best Summer Ever!  We picked her up today at the 1000's Islands Boarder.  Drove home along the River, then the Lake Shoeline, due to the high wind and some disorganization on our part with the opti on top of the car - But the extra time was worth every second - as we finally got to Listen (and talk) to Jessica about her summer and her sailing!  Everything went far better than we ever could have imagined! Thank you again to everyone!
We hope everyone also has/had a safe trip home.  Lorrie, Dan and Jessica

Canadian National Optimist Championship Day 6

What a great turned out to be. It started with thunder and lightning shoers during breakfeast only to clear an hour later. By the time the kids hit the water it was about 80 F and 8- 12 kt  from the southwest. The RC was able to get two races off to hit the limit of twelve. All the kids had great results and came off the water happy and a bit sad realizing today was packing day. We had th etrailer ready and coach boat was out in no time. Then for the final results and trophy presentation.
Overall Results are as follows

Ceci         6th
Mikey      8th
Jessica     18th
Jillian        31st
Georgia    38th
Benji         50th

Awards went to the following

Ceci  second female
Ceci  fifth red
Jessica   third female
Mikey   third blue fleet

Jillian was appointed to the Canadian National Team (top five boys and girls form Canada)

Overall a good showing from the kids.

The crew pulled away form the house about 830 this morning.

All results are at     http://www.opti2011.ca/results/championship.htm

Pics are here

Canadian National Optimist Championship Day 5

Today was a great day on the water! First race was 15-18 kts of breeze, second race was 12-15 kts of breeze, and the third race saw the wind build to 18-22kts. The wind was from the South to Southwest so we saw great conditions and not a lot of slop. In the first race we saw 4 Loot sailors in the top 13. The kids appeared to be happy with their results and all seem to be smiling. After racing there was a barbecue at the club and then a talk from two time olympian and local sailor, Lisa Ross. Roberto seemed to enjoy what she was saying as it was most of the same that he has tried to teach the kids during the summer. After the talk there was a magician and he even had Roberto on stage to help out......too bad we had no cameras.

It seems that the summer just started and here it is regretably winding down. It makes you think back to all the posts and how we all had our stories of the kids and bringing smiles to our faces as we think back.

Canadian National Optimist Championship Day 4 Team Race

Today saw the crew get going early this morning so we could take the kids down to the site where they are rebuilding the Bluenose II. This schooner is famous to Nova Scotia and Canada and appears on the Canadian dime. The girls were not too happy about having to wear hard hats but they wore them anyway. As for the team racing, it was a double knock out and the kids did well. They placed either 4th or 5th. After the team racing the kids went to town and did some shopping before supper.  They are a great bunch of kids and we laugh with them when they get going around the supper table.

Thursday brings a little more wind with it being forcasted around 15kts gusting to 25 but from the south west so there should be a lot less slop.

Canadian National Optimist Championship Day 3

After a day of wind and driving rain we saw some great weather for racing. Wind today was from the West with a solid 12 - 15 knots of breeze. With the west wind we had very little slop for the kids to be sailing in. The RC went ahead and put a full day together for the kids and put 4 races in today. The kids finished all them and they came of the water smiling and happy. I can tell you they were tired and hungry as well as they did not take long to go through the dinner we had put out for them. I tried to get some pictures and have included them below.... for all the results go to http://www.opti2011.ca/

Canadian National Optimist Championship Day 2

Today was a challenging day! Wind conditions were 15-20 knots with gusts to 30 and sometimes a little more. Then not only the wind it started raining mid afternoon and it was a driving rain. The kids did the best considering the conditions and overhearing the debrief Roberto mentioned to the kids he wished they did more training in the heavier wind conditions. Georgia came in early as a result of her capsizing and getting cold. Benji finished the first race but not with in the time limit and headed in afterwards do to the conditions. The other four,Ceci,Mikey,Jillian,and Jessica all stayed out with some mixed results. The kids were extremely tired by the time their heads hit the pillows.

Results are as follows

Mikey          12 19  7
Ceci             8   12  28
Jessica          9   20  14
Jillian           DNS?  24   30
Georgia       DNF  DNS  DNS
Benji           DNF  DNS  DNS

Overall it was a rather wet and windy east coast day.....but we have the rest of the week to look forward to with better weather to arrive tomorrow.

Canadian National Optimist Championship Day 1

Today saw the kids and Roberto getting briefed early this morning. Afterwards they left for the parctice race in light wind conditions but the RC took them outside of the islands and as they got there the sea breeze filled in to a consistant 10 - 15 from the west. As in the past the kids did not finish the race but used it as a opportunity to check in against other boats in the fleet. From hearing them talk in the debrief session the felt that they had pretty good boat speed compared to some of the others.  Looks like the heavier wind days in Texas will pay off for them now. As for the real racing that starts on Monday and it does not look like it willbe a pleasant day with wind predictions of 15- 25 from the South to South East and even calling for thunderstorms. We will have to wait and see what happens. I have uploaded some  pictures from today below.

Team picture!

New LOOT Pix from Gord & Ingy!!