Hi everyone, this is Jacob Chaplin-Saunders. I'm 16 years old and I've been sailing out of Chester Yacht Club for 6 years. I've been racing for almost as long. Sailing has taken me all to places all over the world like Vancouver, Florida, Bermuda and Italy.
I raced Optimists up until the summer of 2007. I switched into 420's that fall and sailed them again in the spring of 2008. In the summer I started sailing with Joss Warren who summers in Chester Basin and has sailed out of Chester for as long as I have. We raced this summer in local regattas like ARK in Bedford (1st), two regattas in Masachusettes (2nd at one and unfortunately a bad finish at the other), CORK in Kingston, Ontario (4th), and ended the summer with the 2008 Youth National Sailing Championships where we placed first against the best youth boats across Canada.
After winning the Canadian Youths Joss and I set ourselves the goal of qualifying to compete at the 2009 Volvo Youth World Championships in Buzios, Brazil. The top male and female teams from each participating country compete at this event. In order to qualify, Joss and I have to place as the top Canadian male boat (providing we finish in the top 50% of the fleet) at the Midwinter Regatta in Jensen Beach Florida.
In preperation for this event Joss and I competed at the 2008 Orange Bowl regatta in late December in Miami, Florida. We finished 9th out of 113 boats at this event, we were also the top Canadian boat by a considerable gap. We learned a lot at the regatta with great help from our Coach Oliver Bone who competed at the Olympics in the 470 class this past summer. This was a confidence booster for sure but we have to repeat the good finish at the Midwinter Regatta. The regatta takes place from February 14-16, 2009. I leave for Florida on Monday the 9th where I'll meet up with my crew Joss, his father and our coach Oliver. There will be about half a dozen of the top Canadian boats at the event along with many of the best American boats.

I have some videos and pictures to upload from past seasons at the Chester Yacht Club.


This compilation video was made in the fall of 2007. The sailors are:
Jacob Zeh, Simon Zeh, John Hebb, Alex Scales, Rebecca Hebb, Olivia, Jacob Chaplin-Saunders, Graeme Chaplin-Saunders, Sam Flinn and Minette Murphy.
They were led by coaches Graeme Chaplin-Saunders and Andrew Bethune. The fall series was a very successful season of sailing with great winds.




Here are some pictures from the beginning of my 420 career up until recently where Joss and I competed at the Orange Bowl:

- This is me sailing with my brother Graeme in Chester, some time in the fall of 2007.












- Another of my brother and I sailing in Chester.













- Joss and I sailing in Halifax before the 2008 Youth Nationals hosted by RNSYS.












- Again, sailing before Youth Nationals.













- A look at the different uses of jib cunningham between Joss and I and our training partners at the time (Ted Murphy and Alex Scales). We're the top boat.











- Joss and I sailing in Miami Florida in December 08. Nice flat boat.


Photo © 2008 Tim Wilkes / www.timwilkes.com.

















- Another of Joss and I sailing at the Orange Bowl Regatta. The wind was great for the first few days of competition.


Photo © 2008 Tim Wilkes / www.timwilkes.com.








That's all I have for now but I'll be sure to update this blog with results and photos after any regattas. I'll also dig around my house to try to find some more pictures of junior sailing at Chester. I'm sure they're around somewhere...