Carlos Charabati and Elspeth Simms win Sail Canada's Bill Burk Memorial Youth Elite Awards

Carlos Charabati and Elspeth Simms win Sail Canada's Bill Burk Memorial Youth Elite Awards © Sail Canada

Sail Canada announced today that Carlos Charabati from Montreal, QC, and Elspeth Simms from Halifax, N.S., have won Sail Canada's 2024 Bill Burk Memorial Youth Elite Awards.

The Bill Burk Memorial Youth Elite Award is given out annually to two Canadian athletes/teams of different gender identities. The award recognizes sailors who are 18 years old and under and have shown a record of outstanding achievement in national and international youth competition, have brought recognition to Canadian competitive sailing, have set an example for other youth competitors through behaviour and manner, and have demonstrated leadership and sportsmanship.

Nominations were evaluated based on a time period ranging from January 1 to December 31, 2024.

During that timeframe, Carlos Charabati finished first out of 277 sailors at the 2024 ILCA 4 Youth World Championships held in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, winning a gold medal that was a first in Canadian sailing at this annual event which started in 2002. At the 2024 ILCA 4 Youth European Championships in Slovenia, he took the 30th spot out of 243 boats, and at the 2024 ILCA 6 Youth European Championships in Ireland, he finished 42nd out of 247 sailors. At the 2024 Midwinters West Regatta in Los Angeles, he took the 4th position out of 80 sailors, while at the 2024 Sail Canada Youth and Senior Championships and Olympic Class Regatta in Kingston, he finished second overall out of 136 sailors in ILCA 6.

"I am grateful and proud for this award," said Carlos Charabati. "Thank you to Sail Canada, Voile Québec and the Pointe Claire Yacht Club! Thank you to the people supporting this journey and making it possible: my family giving me the chance to dream, my coaches Bernardo and Moises making sure we are on the right track, as well as my teammates and friends. I will keep dreaming, working and believing!"

On the women's side, Elspeth Simms took the 25th position out of 53 sailors at the 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships in Lake Garda, Italy, while she was 19th out of 31 sailors at the 2024 ILCA 6 Youth Championships in Argentina and 51st out of 80 in ILCA 6 at the ILCA U21 World Championships in Portugal.

"I am honoured to be awarded the Sail Canada Bill Burk Memorial Youth Elite Award for my 2024 season," said Elspeth Simms. "I would like to thank Sail Canada for this recognition as well as for their support at the 2024 World Youth Sailing Championships. Thank you to the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Support for Sport, CSIA, Wind Athletes, my family, and training partners and coaches for their ongoing support. Congratulations as well to Carlos Charabati for winning the award on the men's side!"

Additional information on the Bill Burk Memorial Youth Elite Award is available here.