We have Skipper Taylor Canfield on the show today to share with us the Team Stars+Stripes win at the 70th Bermuda Gold Cup and 2020 Open Match Racing World Championship.
The victory was Canfield’s third at the Bermuda Gold Cup and second Open Match Racing World Championship.
“I can’t thank my team enough,” Canfield said. “I put us in a lot of tough spots this week and they got us out of almost every one of them. We’re excited to be out racing again, and to come away with a win is unbelievable. We’re thrilled.”
Canfield and crew won $30,000 from the $100,000 prize purse. His crew includes Mike Buckley, Victor Diaz de Leon, Mike Menninger and Eric Shampain.
The judges call that made a difference in the 2nd match -starboard over port wins everytime.
Regarded as the best American match racer in decades, Taylor Canfield has dominated the sport of sailing since exploding onto the scene in 2011.
He first rose to prominence in Optimist dinghy out of the St. Thomas Yacht Club before becoming an All-American at Boston College. While with the Eagles, he was the 2010 ICSA Coed Fleet Race National Champion and earned a second-place finish in the team race championship that same year.
Following his amateur career, Canfield quickly established himself on the World Match Racing Tour where he became world champion in 2013. He went on to win four Congressional Cups, in addition to two Argo Group Gold Cups, and won the 2015 M32 Scandinavian Series.
The U.S. Virgin Islands native has been ranked as the top match racer in the world three times and has won a grand total of 14 World Match Race Tour events.
He is a co-founder and member of the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Stars & Stripes Team USA that was challenging for the 2021 America’s Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.
Regarded as the best American match racer in decades, Taylor Canfield joined the United States SailGP Team just weeks before the inaugural event in Sydney Harbour. Given his world-class experience and competitiveness, helmsman Rome Kirby thought he would be the perfect fit for the up-and-coming American crew and he played an integral role during Season 1.
Canfield currently lives in Miami, FL and enjoys kiteboarding when he’s not sailing. Outside of sports, he’s an avid ACDC fan and can usually be seen sporting one of the many hats in his impressive collection.
sailing term: What is luffing in yachting?
To slow a boat down or to take the pressure out of the sails to allow the crew to haul in sheets. The sails will flap temporarily.