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posted : 10 months ago Youth Sailors Begin Quest for Olympic Medal
The Byte Class of Bermuda (BCOB) in conjunction with the Bermuda Sailing Association (BSA) has begun an intensive training program with the goal of making Bermuda a force in the Olympic sailing arena once again.
Around 3,200 young athletes are expected to compete across all the sports on the Olympic programme at the first-ever Youth Olympic Games, to be hosted by Singapore in August 2010. The sailing competition in Singapore will feature 100 hundred young sailors, aged between 15-16 years, competing across four events. In June, 2008 the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) the Byte CII dinghy and the Techno 293 windsurfer had been chosen as equipment for the four ( 2 male, 2 female) sailing events at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Luckily Bermuda is the home of one the world’s few Byte CII fleets and was a class that had a good following locally through the World Championships hosted in Bermuda by the Spanish Point Boat Club in 2006.
The local program began earlier this year with a “get acquainted to the Byte” clinic led by veteran sailor, Adam Barboza, in January. Following the Optimist World Championships in August, a group of 5 sailors traveled to Ontario, Canada to compete in the Canadian Nationals and the Byte World Championships under the coaching direction of Pablo and Dino Weber. This past weekend saw the kick-off of the first in a series of clinics. Sunday brought 9 Byte sailors out to the Sandy’s Boat Club regatta (see results). The local Byte fleet and the high caliber of coaching available at the planned clinics has sparked interest from other countries looking to gain valuable time on the water. This week it has included three sailors from the Netherland Antilles and further interest has been expressed from top sailors from Canada, USA, Dominican Republic and USVI for future clinics.
The road to the Olympics will not be an easy one. The first stage is to qualify the country at the Byte North American Championships in the Cayman Islands in March. Only four North American and Caribbean countries will receive a berth to Singapore at this event. If qualification does not occur there, Bermuda has another chance at the World Championships in France the following month. If an Olympic berth is secured the BCOB will hold a local qualifer in June or July which will determine which sailor will represent Bermuda at the Games. Up until that time there are 7 confirmed Bermuda youth sailors that will be training to represent Bermuda at the Youth Olympics. These sailors are Alex Davis, Dimitri Stevens, Kalin Hillier, Rahiem Steede, Owen Siese, Mackenzie Cooper, and Connor Astwood. All sailors are veterans of the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association and both Steede and Stevens were graduates the BSA run and Dept of Education sponsored WaterWise programme.
For more information about the Byte Class contact Pat Young at truereflections@ibl.bm or the BSA at info@bermudasail.bm . Information about the 2010 Youth Olympic Games can be found at www.singapore2010.sg .
