Chris Hobbs Sails to Victory Against all Odds

Story by Mathew Channer

Photos by Christian Bonin

Christopher Hobbs was the last person he thought should be competing in the J80 North American Championship (NAs) in September 2024, even if his teammates disagreed. Despite placing 13th and being the top Canadian boat in the J80 World Championship at Rhode Island in 2022, a series of life challenges had kept Hobbs off the water for two years.

The J80 North American Championship is a 9-race regatta in which sailors from Canada and the US compete for overall victory. It’s highly competitive, and Hobbs was considered a top Canadian contender. But six weeks before the event began at the National Yacht Club, Toronto, his J80 sailboat, Lifted, which his teammates were expecting to race on, was still sitting in his driveway with mould on its hull.

And things were about to get worse.

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