UVic’s international sailing tour brought the team to the beautiful shores of Hawaii this past month, where they put on an amazing display over the two-day Rainbow Cup, on Jan. 18 and 19, to place second in the event, stunning some of the Pacific sailing powerhouses in the process.
UVic’s senior “A” boat, sailed by David Berry and Adele Horbulyk, took home the initial win of day one in the third race and was followed by three wins from “B” team’s Sarah Berry and Reid Cannon later in the day. The strong racing saw UVic leading the regatta after the day’s 16 races, holding a narrow 56–57 lead over host-side Hawaii.
It was no surprise that Cannon and Sarah Berry carried UVic, as they had displayed the same poise to lead UVic in the Pacific Coast Championship in November, which served as the qualifier for this event. Their four wins over the course of the weekend propelled them to an amazing regatta-best score of 38, solidifying the duo’s place as sailing powerhouse teammates.
The first race of day two saw the senior team fall off track however, as Horbulyk and David Berry came a disappointing 10th, to fall behind Hawaii. Despite Sarah Berry and Cannon responding with a win in the next race, UVic was never able to regain the lead, and Hawaii’s senior squad posted 10 strong results on Sunday to capture the title.
Altogether, UVic won five of the regatta’s 26 races to finish with 108 points. They were only edged out by hosts Hawaii, who reigned victorious in eight races and finished with a score of 92.
UVic’s junior squad also competed in the regatta. The junior “A” boat was manned by Manuel Gomez and Heather Lee. They enjoyed a third-place result in their seventh race, a high finish shared by “B” boat’s Emma Dayton and Jordan Pow in their final race of the tournament.
Together, the junior boats combined for a score of 221, good for 11th out of the 13-team tournament. While well off the mark of the contenders, the regatta provided the relatively young sailors with some valuable experience for when they become veterans of the UVic sailing team.
The second-place result from the senior team marked another international success for UVic, who may now be seen as a perennial contender on the West Coast sailing scene.
The weekend of Feb. 8–9 saw the team compete closer to home for a change, taking on a trio of Pacific Northwest teams in the Sea to Sky Regatta in Vancouver. This time, UVic battled to victory in the 12-race event to keep their red-hot 2014 season rolling.
With neither Sarah Berry nor Cannon competing in this event, it would be left to the rest of the team to step up. Geoff Abel and Horbulyk did just that, their “B” boat winning an astounding five of six races for a near perfect regatta score of seven. The “A” boat of David Berry and Dayton won three of their races, allowing the senior team to easily take top spot with a total score of 25.
UVic’s second team of Ted Alley and Lee, in the “A” boat, were the strong side on the day. They won their fourth race and combined with Lara Gemmrich and Pow in the “B” boat for a fourth-place finish.
A third team, of Brianna Cerkiewicz and Liam Quinlan in the “A” boat and Jacqui Martindale and Nicholas Whyte in the “B” boat, rounded out UVic’s entry in the tournament. Cerkiewicz and Quinlan looked set to shock the competition by winning the first two races on the day, but would later trail off, settling for a sixth-place finish with their “B” boat teammates.
The win will provide UVic with plenty of confidence going into their next regatta.
