Rossi Milev and Crew of Clear Air are the first Canadians to ever win J24 North American Championships.

 

Rossi Milev of Port Credit Yacht Club and crew, Mark Goodyear (trimmer), Jeremy Edwards (bow), Gail Gray (middle), and Mike McKean (mast) sailing the J24 Clear Air battled it out around the race course for 4 days of racing in Rochester, New York September 20^th – 24^th, 2006 to take home the title of the J24 North American Champions!  This was the first time that a Canadian boat has ever won the North American Championships.

 

With 61 boats on the start line each day and competitors such as; Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil who is a two-time Tornado Olympian and the 2006 J24 World Champion, John Mollicone, who was an All-American in 1998 from Boston University and was the winner of the US Sailing 1999 Championship of Champions Regatta, and Mike Ingham, a local from Rochester, who was himself was a former winner of the J24 North American Championships in 2003, and was 4^th at the J24 worlds in 2006, and a former Olympic Tornado sailor, the Clear Air crew had their work cut out for them.

 

The Clear Air crew is a dynamic group of sailors.  Rossi Milev has crewed on J24s that have won events such as the US Nationals, and as a skipper Rossi has won the Ontario District World Qualifying series for 2002, 2003, and 2007.  He competed in the PanAm Games in 2003, and this year also finished 6^th at the J24 Canadian Championships hosted by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.  Gail Gray is not only an experienced sailor, she also is an avid marathon runner, tri-athlete, and rower.  Jeremy Edwards was a former junior club sailor from the Port Credit Yacht Club and was part of a crew that won the J35 North American Championships this year.  Mark Goodyear was also a junior club sailor from Port Credit Yacht Club and was also a member of the winning J35 North American crew, and was also a former race coach of the PCYC race team.  Mark and Rossi currently work together teaching CYA Basic Cruising lessons for Rossi’s Sail Mississauga program.  Mike McKean is a long time J24 sailor who brought a wealth of experience to the Clear Air program.

 

Congratulations Rossi, Mark, Gail, Jeremy, and Mike on your success!