KYC Regatta Reports

2026 Shark Gold Cup

SHARK GOLD CUP REGATTA 2026

This past weekend Jonathan Livingston Seagull  (JLS) with crew Jasmine Perera, Matt Fair and Peter Van Rossem headed up to National Yacht Club located at the Western Gap of Toronto Harbour.  19 boats registered for this regatta and 4 races were sailed on Saturday and three on Sunday. Winds for Saturday and Sunday were from the E to SE 15-18 and gusts over 20 forcing many boats to use either the jib or in our case, 150 Genoa.  

Upwind sailing for the day was all about good starts and tactics up the beat and choosing the right head sail.  JLS chose the 150 and was quite fast with that combination.   It was very shifty sailing both days.  The trick was to sail towards the old Ontario Place (north shore) on starboard tack from the start and then pick up the lifts on the port tack heading towards the windward mark while making good on the shifts from the Toronto Island Airport heading to the windward mark. Sailing this route was the fastest.  Boats that went right in the first beat who were not aware of a 1.25kt currant flowing from SE TO NW which showed up on the knot meter were taxed.
 
In race 6, JLS had an opportunity to be in second but with Rampant, (the boat to beat) having the same opportunity, JLS having the opportunity to slow down Rampant, forced them back to 8th while receiving a 6th.  This was crucial as it made Rampant count a 5th and JLS a 3rd as they now both boats were tied going into the last race.

In the last race, JLS managed to be in first place on the last beat of the regatta. Rampant  (the boat to beat for the regatta win)  was now on port tack sailing fast towards JLS who was on starboard.  JLS tacked to port in front and to leeward of Rampant forcing Rampant to tack back to starboard.   Shortly after, JLS followed back to starboard to keep pressure on.  When they meet next, Rampant, now on the port tack layline, managed to squeak out on JLS and when JLS tacked to leeward of them, Rampant could have rolled over JLS to windward.  This forced JLS to sail lower for speed out of the tack and giving away valuable room between the two boats.   Matt was crucial in this beat to the mark.  He was telling me everything about how Rampant was doing in relation to JLS saying “ we’re higher, we're lower, we're faster, we're slower” . This allowed me to totally focus on boat speed, height, lulls and the 2½ foot waves on the bow.  We knew we were 300 lbs lighter in crew weight than Rampant and we still had a long way to go to get to the weather mark.  With every lull we inched forward and with every bit of flat water opportunities, we managed to gain our height back from Rampant. At about ten boat lengths to the mark, the wheels fell off the bus for Rampant.   We leebowed them and sailed away rounded the top mark far enough ahead of Rampant for the win on the downwind finish.

Congrats to Jasmine, Matt and Peter for winning GOLD CUP Regatta.
JLS has now won all 4 of the regattas they have sailed.

On another note, Skylar Van Rossem raced in Toronto at RCYC in the J105 Women’s Championships Regatta.    Congrats to Skyar too as she and the team won!   Ask her about the regatta when you see her.

And again on another note, while standing on the pier at the Western Gap at National Yacht
Club rigging JLS,  Matt looked up the Western Gap and saw Beats Golf and crew on their way to The RACE TO KINGSTON.  Small world of KYC.   Congrats Beats Golf as they finished second in their division.