In September, 100% Canadian, Nova Scotian team will sail in the New York Yacht Club's Inaugural Women's International Championships, competing against the world's best.
The field of twenty boats brings together the top professional and amateur female sailors from across the globe: athletes from the PUIG Women's America's Cup, SailGP, Olympic podiums, the Ocean Race. All racing the IC37.
Success will come down to skill, familiarity with the platform and crew chemistry, the kind that only comes from months of hard, deliberate work together.
That work is already underway. And it all starts in Nova Scotia.
Kairos Racing carries a quiet fact worth saying out loud: Nova Scotia (and Canada) punches well above its weight in producing world-class sailors. This team is evidence of exactly that. Lisa Ross, two-time Olympian, leads as skipper with Georgia Lewin-Lafrance, Olympian and SailGP athlete, calling tactics. Alongside them: Savannah Taylor, Maddie Gillis, Elsie Gillis, Grace Flemming, Lesley Taylor, Sophia Josenhans, Jen Aftanas, Samantha Webster, and Jessie Bennett bring a wealth of experience on many platforms and disciplines of sailing.
Olympians. National Team athletes. Offshore, match racing, and inshore specialists.
Supporting the team is Speed and Strategy coach - Andreas Josenhans, World Champion, Olympian and America's Cup winner - and Performance Coach - Erin Rafuse, Olympian - two people who know exactly what it takes to get a team to a startline ready to win.
Here is what your support actually buys.
Not just training time. Not just covering travel costs. It buys the margin between a team that participates and a team that competes. It removes the barriers that have long sidelined talented Canadian women from international stages; not for lack of ability, but lack of access.
That's the Kairos Racing model: high performance and accessibility are not in opposition. They reinforce each other. And every dollar donated through Wind Athletes (tax deductible) makes that model more durable.
We have a comprehensive training plan in Nova Scotia over the spring and summer in preparation for the Women’s International Championships. We are training in the IC37s in Newport for the Kick Off event in June and the Safe Harbour Regatta in August where we will foster our team cohesion and push our execution on the racing platform. To succeed we need time on the water sparring with some of the same talented teams competing at the International Invitational in the fall as well as experienced Corinthian teams.
You know your support has helped put us on the water in September, ready to show the world what Canadian sailing looks like at its best.
Want to go deeper than a donation? Kairos Racing is actively building community partnerships. Reach out, as there is a role here that fits what you care about, as we work to reduce barriers for our Canadian women to compete (and win) on the international stage
Lisa Ross