Paralympic Sonar Team: Sail Canada Sailor of the Month

Sail Canada’s Sailor of the Month award acknowledges sailing achievements by Canadians involved or associated with the sport in all its forms. Here is the June report…

The Canadian Paralympic Sonar Team – Paul Tingley (RNSYS), Logan Campbell (SSC), & Scott Lutes – captured Gold at the C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island after a week-long battle against American powerhouse, Team Doerr.

It came down to the last day of racing to establish who would take home the top prize. CAN Sonar Team managed to take the gun in all four races on the final day and clinch the title despite the USA leading throughout the entire regatta.

Paralympic Gold medalist Paul Tingley commented, “We got the boat dialed in on the final day and found our boat speed. It showed in our results.” National team coach Ken Dool was very pleased with the progress of his team saying, “That is the best I have ever seen them sail, period. The next 14 months will be critical in preparing them for the big show in 2016.”

The Canadian Sonar team will be busy preparing this summer for the upcoming World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. Tingley and his crew have their sights set on more podium finishes this fall. Fortunately they won’t need to worry about securing their spot for Rio 2016 since that was checked off the list back in August 2014, capturing a silver medal and Paralympic berth at the combined World Championships in Halifax NS.

“We have qualified for Rio so our regatta schedule going forward will include the Open Sonar Worlds in September and then heading down to Melbourne for the ISAF Worlds in November.”

Other notable Canadian performances for the month of June include Brenda Bowskill capturing the National title in the Radial class in Kingston, Ontario along with fellow team member Tom Ramshaw securing the bronze medal in the Laser class.

The ISAF World Cup Weymouth hosted the top sailors in the world including 49er FX team Erin Rafuse and Danielle Boyd, posting their top World Cup result to date in 11th while Canadian Nacra team Luke Ramsay & Nikola Girke also continue their rise up the world rankings with a 12th overall.

Sail Canada recognizes the Canadian Sonar Team – Paul Tingley, Logan Campbell & Scott Lutes – as the Sail Canada Sailor of the Month – June.

Sail Canada encourages the submission of noteworthy Canadian sailing activities to sailorofthemonth@sailing.ca.