Toronto team wins right to represent world youth at 8-Metre World Championships in Scotland
by Dagmar Kanzler 16 Jul 06:50 NZST
August 17-24, 2024
(l-r) Sean Wylie, Thea Cheeseman, Taylor Knoll, Sebastian Nagy, Andrew Kanarek © Ugis Bruveris, Etobicoke Yacht Club
A team of seven young sailors from Toronto (Etobicoke) won out over submissions from several European countries to represent world youth in the 8-Metre World Championships being held August 17-24, 2024, in Scotland, U.K.
The team will be racing a Classic (all mahogany) 8-Metre class boat made available specifically for a team of youth sailors by its owner John Boyle, Earl of Cork and Earl of Orrery, and a member of the British House of Lords.
The Toronto team comprises seven young sailors in their early 20s who honed their sailing and racing skills through the Junior Sail program at Etobicoke Yacht Club (EYC), a self-help boating club based in Humber Bay. Advanced racing, tactical and teamwork skills came through the Junior Sail high performance racing team, and from sailing on board C&C 27s and an 8-Metre boat skippered by Steve Reid, an EYC member who has helped develop competitive racers graduating out of the EYC Junior Sail program.
All seven went on to become sailing coaches/instructors, and all have continued to race competitively with and against each other. Between them they have won dozens of racing awards at the international, national and Lake Ontario levels (see biographies on following pages).
But competing on a Classic 8-Metre at a world championship is a first for each of them, and a challenge they are just wrapping their heads around after being notified recently that theirs was the winning submission in an international application process.
"We had less than two weeks to get our entry together after learning the International Eight Metre Association (IEMA) was going to support, for the first time ever, a youth team at this year's World's," says Andrew Kanarek, the team manager.
"And to then win out over applications from France, Germany and Switzerland— which have some top-notch racers and boats — is an amazing honour. We know all eyes will be on us to help set the stage for more youth participation in future 8-Metre world sailing championships."
An additional challenge: mastering in short order a vintage, all wood sailboat built in 1939.
"We'll have two days at most to learn about the boat, and how to sail a full-keeled boat on which just about everything is made from mahogany — lifting that 14-foot long wooden spinnaker pole is going to feel like a tree trunk!
"Everything is period correct, meaning we will be using cloth sails and won't have tools such as self-tailing winches or even a boom vang. So, it will be a quick and steep learning curve," says Kanarek.
But IEMA Canada representative David Wolff, who advocated for including a youth team in the 8-Metre World's, says this young Canadian team has what it takes: "Once the IEMA Executive Committee saw this team's submission and the sailing CVs of the team members, there was unanimous approval for their entry as the first-ever youth team in the World Championships."
Fundraising challenge
The immediate challenge, says Kanarek, is to raise the funds needed to send the team to the championships. IEMA covers the 5,000 Euro entry cost and the costs to transport the boat to the Clyde in Scotland from her Ireland base, and launch her; IEMA also will billet each of the sailors locally. But the team still has to cover travel costs, and to date has raised about half of the $13,000 needed.
To support the fundraising effort, Wind Athletes, a non-profit that supports competitive sailors and sailing in Canada and provides an online fundraising platform, has created a web page dedicated to the Canadian 8-Metre team. All donations made via Wind Athletes to the 8-Metre team are tax deductible, and the full amount of every donation goes to offset the sailors' travel costs.
The fundraising link and additional information on the team can be found at:
www.windathletes.ca/athletes/eyc-8m-worlds-srsa-youth-team
About 8-Metre boats and the 8-Metre World Championships
The Toronto team will be sailing Athena, a 1939 Neptune classic 8-Metre built by Tore Holm, a winning Swedish racer and boat builder of the 1930s. The Toronto team will be racing against boats from across Europe at this year's World Championships being held on The Clyde just outside Glasgow, Scotland. Host clubs are Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club and Mudhook Yacht Club.
8-Metre Class Yachts — whether Classic or Modern (generally with fibreglass hulls) — have, through the years, always been designed by the best yacht designers of their times. These 45-foot yachts have been a part of the sail racing scene for more than 100 years, and still are considered among the most competitive and beautiful of racing yachts on the seas today. The International Rule, by which the 8-Metre class is governed, also covers many other classes, including the 12-Metre class, which was used for a long time in the America's Cup.
As well, IEMA ensures all 8-Metre yachts — whether Classic or Modern — comply with current class rules and can race fairly on the same start line and race course.
Team member profiles
Skipper/Team Manager: Andrew Kanarek (23)
A seasoned keelboat sailor, racer and coach of high-performance athletes, Kanarek has multiple awards on Lake Ontario and British Columbia's waters to his credit, including helping an 8-metre place first in all Lake Ontario Racing Council (LORC) regattas in 2021. As helmsman and tactician on a smaller C&C 27 he's helped that team earn multiple first place finishes in distance races including the Lake Ontario 300 Challenge over the years. Most recently, he was skipper and helmsman for the collegiate team that took second place at the prestigious 2024 EDHEC Cup, the leading student sporting event in Europe.
Kanarek is recent graduate of the University of British Columbia's Commerce program specializing in Finance and currently runs his own financial consulting and risk management firm in Toronto.
Main Trim/Tactics: Sean Wylie (24)
Competitive in a variety of keelboats, Wylie has numerous inshore and offshore wins to his credit, including podium finishes in the Susan Hood and Lake Ontario 300 and Lake Ontario Short Handed Racing Series 100 on board a C&C 27 sailboat. His sail trimming skills have also helped win races for several 8-metre boats racing on Lake Ontario.
A graduate of the University of Ottawa, Wylie currently works as a mechanical engineer at Hammerschlag & Joffe Inc. based in Toronto.
Runners/Pit/Tailing Main: Thea Cheeseman (21)
A competitive sailor almost since she first learned the ropes at age 12, Cheeseman has represented Canada at the San Diego Winter Women's Invitational Regatta; has consistently helped her collegiate racing team place in the top five at national competitions; and most recently helped her team bring home a second-place finish at the 2024 EDHEC Cup in France.
Cheeseman is going into fourth year Bachelor of Commerce Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton.
Trim: Andrzej Sienkiewicz (24)
Sienkiewicz started his winning ways almost from the start, earning podium finishes around the lake while still sailing Laser sailboats as part of EYC's Junior Sail program. He honed his racing skills and learned to work all positions on a racing sailboat on board Reid's C&C 27 as well as other keelboats including an 8-metre boat at EYC.
Sienkiewicz is a recent graduate of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier Universities, and works as a software engineer at Rippling based in Manhattan, NY.
Offside Trim: Taylor Knoll (20)
Taylor's first claim to fame is that he learned to sail before he could walk: At only six months he was already a regular on his father's sailboat, and by age 12 he was bringing home numerous awards in dinghy races around Lake Ontario. At age 18, he became the youngest skipper to win his division in the Susan Hood and the Lake Ontario 300 (a 300-mile offshore race) as well as winning the LOSHRS (Lake Ontario Short-Handed Racing Series) 100-mile race.
Knoll is going into fourth year civil engineering studies at Queen's University in Kingston.
Mast: Sebastian Nagy (21)
Nagy comes by a passion for sailing courtesy of his father, a former sailor racer. Once enrolled in the EYC Junior Sail program, he quickly advanced through its many levels to the high performance team at EYC. By the time he was a teen, he was crewing on keelboats that consistently took home division titles in offshore races such as the Susan Hood and the Lake Ontario 300 competitions. Nagy currently races on board both a C&C27 and an 8-Metre boat.
He is completing his apprenticeship as an electrician.
Bow: Timothy Morland (24)
Like his teammates, Morland found his love of sailing and racing through the Junior Sail program; as a member of the high performance racing team, he went on to represent Canada at the RS Feva world's in Germany. He went on to coach one of the racing teams, and to hone his keelboat skills on board both the C&C 27 and an 8-Metre at EYC.
A graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, Morland currently works as a software engineer at Tesla.