Sail Canada Sailor of the Month – Rossi Milev

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 February report…

February marks a month full of midwinter championships with a flurry of competitive regattas hosted in the sunny state of Florida.

Canadian Sailing Team sailors dominated the Laser and Radial midwinters in Clearwater, Florida with Lee Parkhill (RCYC) and Robert Davis (RCYC/KYC) standing on top of the podium while Radial sailor Sarah Douglas (ABYC) finished her regatta in 1st (female), 3rd overall.

2015 Rolex Sailor of the Year finalists, Paul Tingley, Scott Lutes and Logan Campbell sailed the Helly Hansen NOOD regatta shortly after their gold medal Sonar performance at the Miami World Cup. The CAN Sonar team picked up a bronze to add to their collection at the NOOD regatta in St. Petersburg.

Al Clark (RVYC) maintains momentum in the Laser Masters’ scene with back-to-back championship titles at the Laser Masters Midwinters followed by the Radial Masters midweek Regatta.

2007 Pan Am Team competitor Rossi Milev (PCYC) captured the J24 Midwinters title against an extremely competitive 25-boat fleet at the Davis Island Yacht Club. “I’m very happy to have finally won it, but it really wasn’t me, it was my crew,” crediting Mark Liebel as tactician, Jim Traun on mast, Ron Hyat on bow and Arthur Blodgett as trimmer. “At least five other boats could have won it,” conceded Milev. “The top boats were here…maybe five out of the top 10 in the world!” Victory is tasting sweet after several near misses for a title in past years.

Rossi will aim to clinch another title at his home club, Port Credit Yacht Club, in September at the J24 North American Championships. Until then, Milev savors the Lambert Lai Trophy along with the distinction of Sailor of the Month – February!

Sail Canada’s Sailor of the Month award acknowledges sailing achievements by Canadians involved or associated with the sport in all its forms. Sail Canada encourages the submission of noteworthy Canadian sailing activities to sailorofthemonth@sailing.ca.