#sailorfofthemonth – Sam Davis of Conly Island in Strangford Lough is the Afloat.ie "Sailor of the Month" for February in recognition of his exceptional achievement in receiving an unprecedented threesome of top Irish Cruising Club awards for his great single-handed voyage from Tonga in the midst of the Pacific round Cape Horn, and home to Ireland through the length of the Atlantic.
Taken chronologically, his first award in this batch of three was the Rockabill Trophy in celebration of his great skill in bringing his Rival 41 Suvretta through Force 12 winds and successfully finding shelter in the Falkland Islands. It was ironic that he should experience such tough going in this area of ocean, as Suvretta had twice rounded Cape Horn in her three years away from Strangford Lough, and had enjoyed relatively easy conditions both times while doing so.
For a while it had looked as though the unusually long-lived storm while approaching the Falklands would sweep the lone sailor right past the islands, but he calculated his approach to port to a nicety, and they got in through the narrowest window of opportunity.
Once in Port Stanley in February 2013, the voyage completed from Tonga was such that he then became the winner of the Atlantic Trophy for the ICC's best voyage with a passage of at least a thousand miles. And when he returned to Conly Island in August 2013 after three years of ocean wandering, he and Suvretta were right on track for the Irish Cruising Club's premier trophy, the Faulkner Cup, which he received in February 2014.
