Some good news for the future of competitive sailing in the US this weekend as wildcard entry for the Monsoon Cup, Taylor Canfield won his second Alpari World Match Racing event in a row.
In a year when the US Sailors didn’t impress at the Olympics and the last American skipper in the America’s Cup left Artemis Racing, the form of Canfield should give US fans something to look forward to.
Taylor said after beating Phil Robertson in the final:
“This win is the best we have achieved in our careers so far and the guys I’m sailing with, Hayden Goodrick, Mike Rehe, Dan Morris and Rob Dawson did a fantastic job here today. We’re the second US Virgin Islanders to win this after Peter Holmberg in 2006.
“I’m not sure we could have done any more this year, we’ve been really pleased with how we’ve performed at the three Tour events we were invited to. This is a great way to finish the season and sets the bar for next year.”
The result in the Monsoon Cup and the Argo Challenge in Bermuda puts Canfield in a good position to be one of the ‘Tour Card’ holders for the Alpari World Match Racing Tour in 2013. Canfield said:
We definitely want a Tour Card and if this doesn’t prove [what we can do] I don’t know what does. Whatever happens, we’ll put in a strong effort next year.”
Reflecting on his defeat, Robertson of WAKA Racing, said:
“It was a good event for us, despite feeling like we gave that Final away a little bit. We sailed really, really well and we were getting stronger and stronger every race. I think this season we’ve proved what we can do and even though there is a little bit to improve on, we can challenge at these big events. A podium finish on the Tour is a great achievement.”
The Petit Final was, perhaps fittingly, contested by joint ISAF Match Racing World Championship record holders Ian Williams and Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing.
Ian Williams, said:
“We came to the Monsoon Cup to win the World Championship and we got that, which is a great. As far as the Monsoon Cup is concerned, it’s match racing and sometimes things don’t go your way. Still, we enjoyed the event and can be happy with our season.”
An emotional Peter Gilmour, who now bows out of professional match racing, said:
“We really had a good time out here. It was another wonderful event.”
