2014 was another eventful and successful year for Bermuda sailors both locally and internationally.
Youth Sailing continued to flourish with sailors travelling overseas to regattas in Spain, Italy, Canada, Britain, China, Uruguay, Argentina and the United States. Local Optimist sailing saw Tayte Stefaniuk crowed as the 2014 Bermuda National Champion while Adam Larson placed second and top local at the competitive RenRe Jr. Gold Cup.
Standout Optimist Class performances overseas in 2014 included:
Tayte Stefaniuk - 34th IODA World Championships, 3rd CORK regatta (Canada), 9th New England Championships Adam Larson – 2nd CORK regatta (Canada), 13th US Nationals, 19th New England Championships Campbell Patton – 18th IODA Europeans, 5th Canadian Nationals Mikey Wollmann – 13th Palamos Optimist Regatta (Spain), 11th New England Championships Micha Thomas-Raynor – 9th Canadian Nationals Aiden Lopes – 1st Green Fleet - Orange Bowl Regatta
Outside of the Optimist class Ceci Wollmann continued to make a name for herself by qualifying Bermuda for the Youth Summer Olympic Games in the Byte CII Dinghy. Benn Smith missed out qualifying the Boys by the narrowest of margins. Ceci represented Bermuda well at the games in Nanjing, China and finished in a credible 10th place in the singlehanded Girls competition. Mikey Wollmann had a good year winning the O’Pen Bic North American Championships and placed 3rd in the Laser 4.7 Fleet at Orange Bowl Regatta.
A busy local schedule for Comets, Etchells, IOD’s, Lasers, J105’s plus the BOCA and Wednesday Evening racers kept the adult sailors busy on the water with the addition of the biennial Newport Bermuda Race. The mini maxi “Shockwave was the first to finish of the 167 competing boats. 3 local boats were entered which included Brian Hillier’s “Crossfire”, Steve Sherwin’s “Nasty Medicine” and the BSF’s “Spirit of Bermuda”. Bart’s Bash, a worldwide fundraising regatta was another highlight which saw 150 local sailors racing in Granaway Deep. Bart's Bash attracted over 18,000 participants of all ages and abilities around the world, taking part at more than 700 sailing clubs in 68 different countries. Hurricane Gonzalo tried to put a spanner in the works of the Argo Group Gold Cup but to no avail. The event went off smoothly with Johnnie Berntson of Sweden edging out Swiss skipper, Eric Monnin for the $50,000 top purse. The RHADC hosted the O’Pen Bic North American Championship which was well attended by locals and visitors alike. The J105 Invitational was a big hit for Bermuda’s fastest growing keelboat class and was won by Chuck Millican and his crew on Elusive. Rockal Evans and Stevie Dickinson duked it out all year for the top spots in the Comet class while Cam Pimental was the Laser sailor to beat. Peter Bromby won the Bermuda Etchells Nationals and Patrick Cooper was the top IOD skipper. The sailing community said goodbye and celebrated the lives and contributions of local and international sailing greats, Colin Clarke and Warren Brown.
Probably the biggest news for sailors in 2014 was Bermuda being chosen as the venue for the 35th Americas Cup. Locals celebrated with fingers crossed as Bermuda was short listed. One by one the America’s Cup Event Authority culled the choices until only Bermuda and San Diego remained. On December 1st it was officially announced that Bermuda was to be the venue for AC35 to be held in June 2017. This will be a game changer for Bermuda and the sport of sailing locally. The AC World Series event in October 2015 will be the first taste of the catamarans racing in the Great Sound, based on Front Street. Looks like smooth sailing ahead for Bermuda in 2015 and beyond!
