Nikola Girke & Luke Ramsay: 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 April report…

World Cup racing, Charleston Race Week and historical announcements summarize Canadian sailing in the month of April.

Celebrating its 20th year, Charleston Race Week is coined as the largest keelboat regatta in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly 300 teams competing in the 3-day event including Rob Butler’s Touch to Play boat in the J88 class and Wild Deuces (Melges 20) helmed by Paul Currie with CST crew Justin Barnes and David Mori. While the breeze did not materialize in it’s usual blaring fashion, sailors were treated to close racing captured by aerial drones, in-water shooting and live streaming video.

Offshore racing fans were all abuzz about the 2015-16 Clipper Round the World crew allocation. Diane Reid made history back in March when it was announced that she would be the first Canadian female skipper to lead a group of amateur sailors around the world. Only a few short weeks later, crews were allocated to each skipper with Diane welcoming 16 crew members from Canada. The team sponsor was also revealed as a telemedicine business named ClipperTelemed, a Halifax based company who provide fast emergency medical support from PRAXES physicians based in Canada.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères welcomed the top 40 Olympic class sailors in the world to compete for the ultimate title of World Cup champion. Radial sailor Isabella Bertold, Nacra team Luke Ramsay & Nikola Girke, 49er FX team Erin Rafuse & Danielle Boyd & Laser sailor Robert Davis all made the cut and raced against what is touted to be the toughest fleet racing in the world.

49er FX team Rafuse/Boyd posted a World Cup personal best to date in 15th overall, nearly making the top ten cut in the final series of racing. Isabella Bertold did not pull in her highest World Cup score in the Radial however did just enough to continue her steady ascent in the ISAF World Cup standings to 5th overall.

The Nacra 17 team Ramsay/Girke had their game face in Hyères with one goal in mind – to crack into the top ten. This goal, no easy feat when competing against some legendary sailors including Franck Cammas (FRA), Ben Saxton (GBR) and Billy Besson (FRA) along with his crew Marie Riou have won multiple medals since the inception of the Nacra on the Olympic circuit. Despite a slow start to their event, the duo clinched their medal race position on the final day with overall point-spread tight enough to make another move into 9th and ultimately round out a breakthrough event for the Canadian team.

Luke and Nik catapulted up from 25th in the World Cup Rankings to 15th, and have earned the Sail Canada Sailor of the Month award.

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