Sail Canada names Sailor of the Month for January 2013

by Sail Canada on 20 Feb 2013 Sail Canada named Isabella Bertold as January Sailor of the Month for finishing third overall in the competitive Laser Radial class at ISAF World Cup in Miami Florida.

Lots of Canadian sailors in action in the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream this January, particularly in the build-up to the Miami OCR – the first ISAF World Cup of the year. Canadians were in attendance at Key West Race Week, where Richard Clarke and Mike Wolfs finished second on Hedgehog in the Melges 20 class, while Tyler Bjorn was a member of the crew of Catapult, first in IRC sub-class, fifth in HPR.

In the ISAF North American and Caribbean Nations Cup Regional Qualifier, Bridgetown Barbados, the Canadian team of helm Peter Wickwire (RNSYS/RCYC), tactician Evan Petley-Jones (RNSYS), trimmer Ben Maloney (RNSYS) and bowman Erwyn Naidoo (RCYC) were unbeaten (18-0) until they encountered Dustin Durant and his U.S. team from Long Beach Yacht Club in the final, losing 3-0 in difficult and shifty conditions.

Back in Miami, the Miami ISAF World Cup regatta saw promising Canadian performances with several medals secured. Finn sailor Greg Douglas took home a silver medal in his best World Cup result to date, while Martin Robitaille finished sixth overall in the 30 boat fleet.

David Wright and Robert Davis qualified for the final three race medal series in the Laser class, with Wright finishing fourth overall and Davis sixth overall.

Nikola Girke and Luke Ramsay finished fifth overall in the new Olympic class, the Nacra 17 catamaran, while in the 49ers, Newfoundlanders Jon Ladha/Daniel Inkpen led the Canadian contingent in fourth ahead of David Mori/Justin Barnes in sixth place.

Erin Berry and Danielle Boyd left an impression in their FX debut with two wins this week, ending up fourth. Another fourth place was secured by Graeme and Jacob Saunders in the 470 while on the 2.4mR course Alan Leibel edged out paralympian Bruce Millar by one point for the silver medal. The Canadian Sonar team of Paul Tingley, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes narrowly missed out on a podium position due to a halyard failure earlier in the regatta.

Perhaps the strongest fleet in Miami was the Laser Radial where the top ten included five 2012 Olympians. In the three race medal series Isabella Bertold recovered from a penalty in race two and won the final race to take the bronze medal, capping off an excellent series of 14 races with single digit results. While Isabella was not the highest finishing Canadian in Miami, her performance in a strong fleet makes her the stand-out sailor in January 2013 and we congratulate Isabella on becoming Sail Canada's January Sailor of the Month.