Page 14 - July/August Kwasind

SAIL CANADA YOUTH
Not many people get to announce that they are attending Youth Worlds; let alone two Youth Worlds!
My name is Will Bonin and I skippered the 2017 edition in Sanya, China in the 29er class with my brother Sam Bonin (crew) where we placed fifteenth out of 30. This year, we are proud to announce that the Sail Canada Youth Worlds sailing team has two RCYC representatives! I've recently qualified with Alec Baird (RStLYC) for the upcoming 2018 Youth Worlds in the 29er class alongside Tate Howell in the I420 for the 2018 edition of Youth Worlds in Corpus Christi, Texas on July 14th-21st.
This regatta is the pinnacle of all youth sailing and is as close to going to the Olympics as it gets. Each country can send one gender team for each of the five classes of boats. Sailing athletes are hosted in an "Olympic village" which provides us with the opportunity to make friends from all over the world. World Sailing also provides all teams with new boats which cannot be modified in order to make sure that the competition is fair and is a true representation of a sailor’s abilities. We are not allowed to train at the venue before the regatta and only receive our boats two days before the event. Throughout the regatta, races are filmed similar to World cup events and are televised all around the world.
As a youth sailor, sailing with the Canadian flag on my sails comes with great honour and responsibility. The privilege to represent my country on the international scale is something which is truly remarkable and an
Will Bonin &
opportunity of a lifetime. That being said, qualifying for Youth Worlds is no walk in the park and is only achieved through years of hard work, dedication and sacrifices. Qualifying is one thing but the real work is in the preparation required for this greatest challenge of a youth's sailing career.
For this edition of Youth Worlds, my goals are to beat my previous result of 15/30 (50%) and expand my international fleet racing capabilities. Sailing against the best teams in the world will certainly present a challenge in achieving these goals. The margin for error is so small that starting one second too early or too late could put us at the top or bottom of the fleet. The
elite calibre of fleet racing means that any mistake is capitalized by the whole fleet within seconds. Some sailors find this very stressful. The key to success is what Canadians bring to the table with our exceptional resilience and the ability to turn this stress into a challenge to prove ourselves!
With only weeks until Youth Worlds, we are training very hard to bring the best results back to Canada. We will approach this challenge with humility and appreciation for the support that we are getting from everyone at home throughout this journey. Specifically, we thank the RCYC, their athlete development fund (ADF) and Sail Canada for providing us with such high calibre coaching in amazing training venues and overall support. Thank you to our parents, friends and everyone at the RCYC who support us on this journey!
Left and Above: Will and Sam Bonin at the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships. Photos: Courtesy of Sailing Energy
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JULY/AUGUST 2018 • KWASIND
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SAILING