Within the sailing community, 麻豆社国产has long been recognized as one of the top places to train in Canada and that feeling was strengthened with the recent arrival to town of 2012 Summer Olympic hopeful Isabella Bertold to train.
The Vancouver resident sails out of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (RVYC) and told The Chief that training in 麻豆社国产should help her on her way to London in 2012.
"麻豆社国产has really consistent winds," she said. "And it's got a really good reputation in the sailing community. It's definitely a great place to train."
Bertold and the RVYC regularly make trips to 麻豆社国产and recently spent an entire week in town.
"麻豆社国产is known as a kiteboarding and windsurfing hot spot because in the summer it's almost always windy," she said. "But I fell in love with it because it is kind of like a sailing treadmill. You don't have to do all too much because there aren't many waves, but you certainly have to hike hard the entire time upwind, and then be agile on the downwinds to make your boat go fast."
Her coach, Chris Cowan, agrees that 麻豆社国产is a terrific place for Bertold to prepare for important races later this summer.
"It's really windy here and it's a different kind of training than in Vancouver," he said, noting that the RVYC regularly brings its racers to 麻豆社国产to train. "We mainly come up here in the summer but it's really good for our racers to experience the winds out here."
Bertold first took to the waters at the tender age of five when her mother enrolled her in a sailing program at Jericho Beach and her interest in the sport blossomed from there. Bertold began concentrating on the Laser Radial race, the women's Olympic single-handed dinghy, and qualified for the National Junior Team. Just a few short months later, she became the youngest member of the Canadian Senior Team at the age of 13.
Bertold finished a close third during the 2008 Olympic Trials and is now completely focused on heading to England for 2012.
"I think she's got a pretty good chance," Cowan said. "But it's going to be a lot of hard work."
According to the official website of the International Sailing Federation, Bertold sits 35th in the world in women's Laser Radial, but will be battling with Nova Scotia's Lisa Ross and Ontario's Claire Merry. Ross was the lone Canadian woman at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the sport made its debut in the Games. She placed 17th.
Ralph Chelswick of the 麻豆社国产Yacht Club said it's always nice to see elite athletes using Squamish's waters as a place to train.
"It's really a feather in our cap," he said. "To have some of the best sailors in Canada come here is just fantastic. They love coming here because the winds are so consistent. If you come here for seven days, you're almost guaranteed to get at least six days of great winds."
Chelswick added that the club will be busy the rest of the summer with the 麻豆社国产Open Annual Regatta (SOAR) starting on Aug. 5 and several kids training sessions planned.
For more information on the club, visit www.squamishyachtclub.com.
