La Coupe des Iles 2005 – a real Classic! 

(The Canadian Windsurfing Championships)

From Le Radar, Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec, Sept. 2, 2005

By Éliane Rolland  (translated by J.D.)

It`s that time of year again, when hundreds of windsurfers come to rig up on the archipelago. La Coupe des Iles, in its fourth edition this year, has now become the location of choice for all wind seekers. And big numbers of them have heard the call of the Wind God Éole again this year.

            It was last Sunday, August 28^th when the action started for Rendezvous Aventure 2005, the multi-discipline event lasting three weeks that includes La Coupe des Iles. La Coupe welcomes this year the Canadian Windsurfing Championships sanctioned by Windsurfing Canada. The opening ceremony was held that day at the Microbrewery l`Abri de la Tempête (the ``storm-shelter pub`` just yards away from the fabulous ocean wavesailing site, Corfu—ed.) where close to 50 participants were able to register earlier in the day.  After some words of welcome by (Marc Boucher and Eric Girard, the host and Manager of the event—ed.) the master of ceremonies Mathieu Gauthier warmed up the crowd. He told us that windsurfers had come to Les Iles from all across Canada,(even as far as Hood River, Oregon in the Gorge—ed.)

            If so many sailors had traveled so far to take part in this event, it was because the Canadian Championship held by Windsurfing Canada crowns the top windsurfing man and woman in the country. Windsurfing Canada is based in Toronto and counts (almost 350—ed) sailors among its members, mostly from Quebec, Ontario and B.C. W.C. is a member class association of C.Y.A. the Canadian authority for all sailing. This is the fifth time Windsurfing Canada has held the ``Canadians`` on the Magdalen Islands: previously in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 2001.

John Darling has been chair of W.C. since 1995. According to him, windsurfing is experiencing a rebirth. ``The sport is developing thanks to the arrival on the market of new, more and more sophisticated gear.`` He cited as an example the new Olympic board, the RSX, a board which should make Olympic boards much more exciting. Mr. Darling would like very much for Windsurfing Canada to include RSX racing in its future events in Canada.

            When asked about a possible future decline in windsurfing in the face of the increasing popularity of kitesurfing, the chair of Windsurfing Canada affirmed that ``a number of sailors are combining windsurfing and kiting, and certainly kites are attracting sailors away from windsurfing.`` However, he does not consider that windsurfing is unduly threatened because the organization has recruited (a hundred or so—ed.) new members this year, about (a third—ed.) of its total members.

Seeing the age of many participants on the water of the Havre-aux-Basques lagoon, one can see where the future lies. Many of the competitors are under twenty years old. We see, for example, the competitor David Hayes, 16 years of age, from Toronto. This young athlete is a member of the youth development team, and has just won (his Under 16 class—ed.) championship title in the Formula Experience (World Championships) which took place Oregon (Hood River, August 1-6 this summer.—ed.) This windsurfer also caused quite a stir during the racing which has been taking place off Martinique beach when he succeeded in nipping the heels of Alain Bolduc, a racer from South shore Montreal who won the Formula discipline completed at the beginning of this week. Note that Alain Bolduc is one of Canada`s most accomplished windsurfing competitors. He has been a member of the Canadian Sailing Team since 1993, and he took part in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. 

This is the first visit to the Magdalens for the young(er) Hayes. While sailing on home waters on Lake Ontario, David Hayes has also spent time in winter in Florida where he was able to train on some of the best bodies of water for windsurfing. He also told us that he is very impressed by the quality of the Islands` windsurfing sites that he has tried, and hope to revisit the Islands again soon.

As we go to press, the competitions are in full swing. The organizers have successfully completed Formula racing, which was held on Monday and Tuesday on Martinique beach. Up to then, the wind was there and the smiles on the faces of the racers said it all! We can therefore predict without much chance of being mistaken# that the 2005 edition of this Coupe des Iles could be one of the best vintages of all time!