This past weekend the Queen's Sailing Team hosted the first ever CAN/AM Cup, making it the largest Canadian collegiate regatta ever.  Teams from CICSA, the Canadian Intercollegiate Sailing Association, competed with teams from the highly competitive MAISA division, as teams traveled from as far as Halifax and Pennsylvania.

The regatta began on Saturday October 4th, which turned into a classic fall day at the Kingston Yacht Club.  The sailors were met with heavy wind and rain, leading to minor course setting delays.  Both divisions sailed in 420s, and the A fleet began their first race at 11:30, testing Queens' new sails for the first time.  The wind steadily built throughout the day, and reached 33 knots by the final race of the B division.  By the end of the day, each fleet had sailed six races and retired to enjoy a BBQ social.

Sunday's conditions began windier and colder than Saturday, and sailors arrived at the club to 25 knots of breeze.  As the winds settled to a consistent 16-20 knots, racing began for the day.  B fleet was briefly postponed by a dark storm cloud, but was able to finish their last race later in wind that was lighter and shiftier than the sailors were used to.  

The winners of the first ever CAN/AM Cup was the University of Western Ontario.  Queen's was able to enter two teams and finished third and fifth place, following Webb (second place) and Dalhousie (fourth place) respectively.  The Gaels were represented by Matt Sherar, Liam Roberts, Henry Machum, Nick Schwenger, Brendan Aulthouse, Sean Magee-Saxton, Alex Smyth, and Cam Wyndham.

This regatta marks a significant milestone as the first attended by both CICSA and ICSA teams, and Queen's looks forward to hosting this event again next year.  Thank you to Ross Cameron and all of our volunteers for a successful regatta!  Full scores are available at http://luff.ca/2014/Can-Am-Cup.html.  Be sure to also check out http://instagram.com/qsailing for pictures and http://twitter.com/QSailing for updates on the team!