2025 M32 Miami Winter Series Event 2: Surge strikes first, fast, and never looks back
by M32 World 2 Feb 2025 19:08 PST
31 January - 2 February 2025
Ryan McKillen's Surge ran the table in Miami for the second edition of the 2025 M32 Miami Winter Series. With tactician Taylor Canfield calling the shots, McKillen's team—including Luke Payne, Sam Loughborough, and new addition Stewart Dodson—started the weekend with a perfect picket fence scoreline: 1,1,1,1,1.
Eyes on the Prize
"We're pumped to start the season on a high note," says Canfield. And the goal? "A World Championship win. That's the one," he answered with lightning speed.
"We've been in this fleet a long time: We want to win the Worlds," said McKillen. Their Miami win was a statement. The goal isn't just event wins this year—the big picture is the M32 World Championship this fall in Miami.
Surge's Miami Masterclass
Asked about their advantage on the race course, Canfield confidently pointed at their starts. "We got off the line really well all day on Friday, and that led to our success. We led around the reach mark probably 10-11 times this weekend [out of 14 races], which is a pretty big number." McKillen added, "In this fleet, it's all about consistency."
Part of that consistency comes from their data-driven approach. "[Coach] Morgan Trubovich is pushing us. We're analyzing every moment of the race, making small tweaks. And enough small tweaks add up to big gains."
Surge's winning formula? Strong starts, smart adjustments, and a skipper on the rise. "This week Ryan did the best I've seen him do yet, which was really cool," said Canfield. "You can see him growing, and the wheels turning all the time to just be better in his role."
Bill Ruh's Pursuit and Don Wilson's Convexity went head-to-head for the final podium spots, with overnight leader Pursuit fending off a hard-charging Convexity on the final day.
For the second event in a row, while other Biscayne Bay pro circuits struggled to complete races, the M32 fleet fired off nearly 15. The M32 Race Committee team, led by PRO Carol Ewing this weekend, stays similar from event to event, giving teams a consistently top quality experience.
A new entry from Germany is climbing the learning curve at record speed. Led by Olympic medalist Erik Heil, the 'German Shepherds' are a squad stacked with talent—Stuart Bithell, Jonathan Knottnerus-Meyer, Felix van den Hövel, James Wierzbowski, and Anna Barth.
Saturday night, the Wilson family welcomed all eight teams to their Biscayne Bay home for a celebration honoring Don & Ava Wilson's birthdays.
Hats off to Shake-A-Leg Miami, which hosts four M32 Winter Series events annually—plus the M32 World Championship this fall. The M32 fleet is proud to call Shake-A-Leg its winter home and consistently supports the nonprofit with its mission to Launch Boats & Dreams, especially for individuals with disabilities.
Full results available here.