Stars+Stripes forms development team

Aspiring America’s Cup team Stars+Stripes, led by Mike Buckley and Taylor Canfield, have formed a development team that will compete at the 2021 Ficker Cup match racing regatta on September 10-12 in Long Beach, CA.

The development team will be helmed by 2021 Youth Match Racing World Champion David Wood (above), with veteran world champion match racer Erik Shampain serving as team captain alongside crew Madeline Gill, Ian Liberty, Chris Stocke, Reed Baldridge, and Evan Aras.

It was recently announced that Stars+Stripes would join the New York Yacht Club’s campaign for the 37th America’s Cup. Stars+Stripes recently held an open match racing training camp in order to bring together many of the top American sailors for a week of intense training in Long Beach.

“Spending the week in Long Beach training with the likes of Taylor, Mike, Victor, and Erik was an incredible experience that exposed me to the best match racers in the world,” explained Wood. “With their help I am able to have a fantastic team of professional sailors around me so that I can focus on driving.”

The Ficker Cup is a World Tour level event of the World Match Racing Tour with the top three teams advancing to the 2021 Congressional Cup on September 14-19 which will include the Stars+Stripes team with Canfield seeking his fifth title.

Joining the Ficker Cup line-up are Pearson Potts (USA), Peter Holz (USA), Dave Hood (USA), Jeffrey Petersen (USA), Emil Kjaer (DEN), plus top ranked female match racer Pauline Courtois (FRA) and Nicole Breault (USA), current US women’s match racing champion.

Event details: https://www.lbyc.org/default.aspx?p=v35ArticleView&itemID=50186

Source: WMRT