30th year of the York Cup match race run at Toronto’s RCYC

July 25, 2019

The 30th year of the York Cup match race run at Toronto’s RCYC took place July 13-14, 2019 . This event, this year sailed in Sonars, is one of the season’s top match racing event. Eight teams which included a team from Sweden, two from Bermuda, and five from Canada (two teams of which were all female) battled in pairs for the coveted cup ultimately won in 2018 by Lance Fraser.

Winds were great on Saturday ranging from 10-15 knots – thankfully the Race Organizers sent the teams in before the first of two powerful squalls hit Toronto harbour making visibility impossible and resulted in a lot of bailing the following morning.

Sunday was a mixed bag of light and sporadic bursts of wind coupled with huge shifts -challenging the sailors to sail smart to catch the shifts. Lance Fraser sailing for Bermuda (out of the RCYC) again captured first place, followed by Marcus Sandberg sailing for Sweden (out of the National YC) and Paul Currie followed in third sailing for Canada out of the RCYC.

RCYC was developed a successful Team and Match Racing Program to bring exciting opportunities to all members. Racers rotate as race committee and umpires with participants experiencing and understanding all perspectives of team and match racing. Both groups use the club owned boats for training and races. Match Racing sails the Sonar fleet with three people per boat while Team Racing trains double-handed in the Ideal 18s.