On a cloudy Saturday in July, when the coast mountains flanking Howe Sound barely peeked through the mist, dozens of teenagers readied their one-person sailboats to launch into the Squamish Harbour.
With the boats arranged in haphazard rows in the Squamish Yacht Club鈥檚 parking lot, some spilling over onto the other side of the road, the kids unfurled sails in the mud. Family dogs yipped as parents looked on, some helping their kids and others looking amused by the organized chaos.聽
It was the 小蓝视频 Sailing Championships, and Squamish was hosting for the first time in three years. But the scene didn鈥檛 look like other regattas might at more established yacht clubs in Vancouver.
There, explained Garry Cotter with Sail Squamish, young sailors would be able to unroll their sails indoors. They鈥檇 even be able to change in a room instead of standing atop their boats. And they鈥檇 even be able to use a flush toilet instead of the row of porta-potties standing beside the wooden clubhouse.
鈥淓veryone wants to sail in Squamish,鈥� Cotter said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just like mountain biking, skiing 鈥� it鈥檚 one of those types. You鈥檙e out in nature 鈥� But the facilities here are limited.鈥�
Cotter, 62, is a master sailor who鈥檚 known to throw his one-person Laser boat on the roof rack of his red Mini. He鈥檚 clearly one of the most knowledgeable people here, being approached to answer questions about everything from race heats to regatta T-shirts.
He knows Squamish is already an incredible sailing destination because of its reliable and powerful winds. The sport has come a long way since the days when the town had a predominantly industrial waterfront. He only wishes the sport鈥檚 potential could be fully realized by adding the proper facilities to make sailing here a smooth and seamless experience.
That鈥檚 why Cotter, and nearly everyone else in the Squamish sailing community, is excited about the new sailing centre that鈥檚 part of the proposed development plans for the former Nexen lands.聽
When it releases further details of the park聽 鈥� the company says it should be soon 鈥� Newport Beach Developments will have a few more specifics of the sailing centre plans.
Back at the regatta, Ben Sweeny, a 13-year-old sailor, explained that the youngest kids go first while the winds are still light. More advanced athletes like himself sail in the afternoon, when the winds get stronger.
The geography near Squamish means winds follow a daily cycle in the summer, promising good sailing most afternoons.
Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, explained that as temperatures inland heat up throughout the day, cooler and denser air from the coast rushes in. The mountains surrounding Howe Sound act like a funnel to concentrate the gusts over the aquamarine water.
鈥淗owe Sound is well placed because on the coast you鈥檝e got a cooler body of water, mother nature鈥檚 A/C if you will, and you have the interior like Pemberton and Lillooet where temperatures increase,鈥� he said.
At night, when air temperatures fall, winds move the opposite direction back out to sea.
Cotter recalls the 1976 Montreal Olympics that got a sailing centre built in Kingston, Ont. as the first time people wanted to make something similar happen in Squamish. But though the winds were there, the waterfront access was not.
鈥淎t that time you physically could not get to water in Squamish. It was just the chemical plant, 小蓝视频 Rail and logging,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here was nothing.鈥�
Tine Moberg-Parker, a former Olympian and sailing coach, remembers sailing in Squamish gaining popularity in the early 2000s, when the Sea to Sky Highway made the Vancouver-Squamish connection quicker.聽
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 go there in the 90s,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 developed and everybody thought it was too windy, too scary, too everything.鈥�
But after the Nexen chlor-alkalki plant shut down in 1991 and remediation began in 2000, things picked up.
Now there鈥檚 a thriving learn-to-sail program run out of the yacht club every summer. Its 130 spots fill up within days of registration opening. Cotter loves how quickly kids can go from knowing nothing to controlling their own one-person Optimist dinghies.
He also points to the bursting learn to sail program as proof that interest in sailing is outpacing current resources.
Right now, he says there鈥檚 a bit of a missing link. Kids can learn to sail in Squamish, but once they get to a certain age and skill level, they have to move elsewhere.
Sweeny had to do just that. He lives in Squamish and grew up sailing there, but now he sails out of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club with its more robust junior sailing program and high-calibre coaches.
鈥淚 want to do the best I can, get as far as I can and sail for as long as possible,鈥� he said.
Grayson Blann, 14, is in a similar position.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of things I鈥檇 like to see change [about sailing in Squamish],鈥� he said. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 really much in the way of, like, an actual racing centre for sailing. I mean there鈥檚 a yacht club and a clubhouse. But there isn鈥檛 much.鈥�
With the new sailing centre, Cotter hopes talent will flow the other way, with accomplished sailors flocking to Squamish instead of leaving it.
Besides the racing circuit filled with athletes, there鈥檚 also a community of big boat pleasure sailors who love taking to the water in Squamish. Christina Botros joined it when she bought a boat with her boyfriend.
鈥淲e call it our loveboat,鈥� she laughed. 鈥淏ecause our relationship started with this dream of sailing. So we bought this condemned boat, and we鈥檝e pretty much been renovating it from the bottom up.鈥�
Right now, she鈥檚 waiting for a spot to moor it at the Squamish Yacht Club.
鈥淚 think it represents freedom,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou can go wherever. You can use the power of the wind to get you there. You don鈥檛 need a motor, and you don鈥檛 need to rely on gasoline.鈥�
Cotter has a big boat too, but he thinks smaller racing boats are more fun 鈥� and are better teachers.
鈥淵ou can make mistakes in big boats and not know it until you鈥檝e run into a difficult situation,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n a small boat, if you make a mistake you swim.鈥�
The kids at the 小蓝视频 Sailing Championships mostly readied Optimists, one of the most popular boats for kids to learn to sail. They鈥檙e built standard all over the world, and competitors aren鈥檛聽 allowed to spend money to make the boat better. The Optimist鈥檚 race performance is supposed to purely be a reflection of skill.聽
Older kids readied their Lasers and 29ers. Athletes were there from all over Canada, and some had their sights set on the Olympics one day.
Moberg-Parker watched several of her mentees race. Some little ones were competing in their very first regatta. In every race up until the Olympics, boys and girls compete together. She likes the equal footing it gives kids in that way.
She also likes the sense of freedom the sport gives.
鈥淭here are no walls and no roof. I think that鈥檚 what the kids like most,鈥� she said. 鈥淪quamish has the beautiful mountains, the waterfall. the Chief and the different coloured water. It鈥檚 like playing with nature.鈥�
