by Lynn Fitzpatrick
Richard Clarke was awarded British Columbia’s Sailor of the Year Award at a December 4th dinner in Vancouver, B.C. Among Clarke’s outstanding sailing achievements during 2010 were his podium finishes at the 2009 Star North American Championship and the 2010 Star Western Hemisphere Championship and a several US-IRC events.
Clarke, sailing with Tyler Bjorn, was second at the first Star regatta that they sailed together – the 2009 Star North American Championship. Pleased with their performance, they competed in less than a handful of International Star Class Racing Association regattas throughout 2010. After their fourth place finish at the 2010 Bacardi Cup in an 84-boat fleet, they traveled to Nassau, Bahamas and won the 2010 Star Western Hemisphere Championship. Later in the year they competed in the 2010 Star European Championship, the largest regatta in the nearly 100-year history of the Star Class and finished third on count back in a very light air regatta. Bjorn was recently honored as Quebec Sailor of the Year for the shared achievements.
Clarke’s other sailing accomplishments during the nomination period include winning the 2008 Melges 24 worlds as tactician, claiming line honours with O Canada in the Auckland Fiji Race and winning the US-IRC Gulfstream series as helmsman on Vela Velocé, which included winning the 2010 Rolex US-IRC National Championship.
Clarke and Bjorn are both members of the 2010 Canadian Sailing Team. Their Olympic campaign is primarily sponsored by Wind Athletes Canada, an organization that supports some of Canada’s promising Olympic and Paralympic sailors.
Upon hearing that he had won the award, Clarke, who has been training in Miami, said, “It has been quite a year. Tyler and I have had a remarkable transition into the Star and I hope that we can keep it up. I am very grateful for the support that Wind Athletes Canada has given us, because without it, there would be no Olympic campaign for us. I am also very grateful to my wife and everyone who sails with me and coaches me in all of the one-design, IRC and offshore boats on which I compete.”
Clarke was the Canadian Yachting Association Male Athlete of the Year in 1993, and won the coveted Rolex Sailor of the Year Award in 1999 for his performance in the Finn Class. He won the Gerry Roufs Trophy in 2002 for achievement in international Offshore Racing. He has represented Canada in four Olympic Games. Clarke is a candidate for Canadian Yachting’s most prestigious award, the Rolex Sailor of the Year Award, which will be presented in February 2011.