Varsity sailor Kyle Burgess has been unanimously voted Sailor of the Year and named to the All-Virginia Interscholastic Sailing Association (VISA) team.The Bermudian had these honours bestowed upon him after helping Christchurch School achieve glory at last weekend’s Virginia Interscholastic Sailing Association State Fleet Racing Championship in the Collegiate 420.“Being named the Virginia Sailor of the Year is a great accomplishment that I am extremely proud of,” Burgess told The Royal Gazette. “It feels good to be at the top of my competition. “Being named to the All-Visa Team for the second season is another satisfying accomplishment. And I have to thank my new coach Isaac Clark who has brought an energy to the team which has helped us to succeed.”Seahorses coach Clark said Burgess, who is the captain of the team, is an inspiration to his fellow team-mates.“Kyle is the glue of the Christchurch Sailing team, always working to improve others as well as himself,” he said. “He has never once put himself before the rest of the team.“Kyle is the most honest sailor I know. When in doubt he always takes his penalties, though he often does not find himself in those situations.“I dread the day Kyle graduates because we will have truly lost a driving force from the team.”The Seahorses remained unbeaten en route to this year’s VISA State Fleet Racing title.When asked what was the key to the team’s success, A Division sailor Burgess replied: “. . . keeping our finishes as low as possible and consistent. Taking every race as its own race because every point counted.”Burgess admitted his school’s success had surpassed his expectations.“For sure this season has been one of many surprises,” he said. “After losing two largely contributing seniors to the team I was nervous.“When the team met in August for our preseason training I was happy to see the amount of younger talent we had, and we have developed that throughout our season.”As reward for winning this year’s VISA championship Burgess and his team-mates have qualified for this weekend’s mid-Atlantic Scholastic Sailing Association Fleet-Racing Championship in Rochester, New York.“My team and I worked very hard this season winning every fleet racing regatta,” added Burgess, who plans to sail at college level in the US next year. “So winning the Virginia State Championship this past weekend was very rewarding.“This year has been one of personal competition, my crew Annabel Carrington and I have had to work extra hard on trying to up our level of sailing. Fine-tuning boat handling and working on communication have been two of our top priorities.”