Helly Hansen Sailor of the Month - Chris Lemke and the Dark Star Team

by Sail Canada on 1 Sep 2017 July brought us reason to celebrate some Canadian offshore racers!

This year’s Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race put a few Canadians in the headlines - RNSYS’s Airborne IV, a Beneteau 50 skippered by Bill Greenwood, won first in class and the PHRF division overall. Notable at the event were two other entries from Nova Scotia - MacIntosh / Durk Steigenga (Chester Yacht Club) and Sea Smoke / Mike Evans (RNSYS) respectively finishing second and third in PHRF overall. Canadian Rob Gale (Halifax) delivered as crew member aboard Prospector - the team set a Marblehead-Halifax course record and won IRC fleet. Gale moved on to Michigan less than two weeks later for the classic Bayview-Mackinac race, where he joined the crew of Il Mostro in setting yet another course record.

And checking into the Transpac 2017 – Kinetic V, a BC TP52 owned by David Sutcliffe of RVanYC and the all-Canadian crew sailed to a fifth place finish in their Division, 26th in fleet overall. Olympian Richard Clarke was a key player on the Comanche team, achieving a new monohull course record for this regatta - one of the world’s oldest ocean races.

Ultimately noteworthy from the Transpac – winning their division after the crossing to Hawaii on a 33 foot boat… no other than Christopher Lemke of Glenmore Sailing Club in Alberta, co-skipper with Brad Lawson and the crew of the Hobie 33 Dark Star Racing. It takes a feat to get the boat & a crew from Calgary to the start of the Transpac – a division win is the icing on the cake!

Kudos to Christopher Lemke & the Hobie 33 Dark Star Racing Team – Helly Hansen Sailors of the Month!