Provincial sailing team soaring

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This article was published 08/10/2003 (8282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT was a productive summer for Manitoba’s competitive sailors, and they certainly trained for it.

“The whole of July was preparation for the Western Canada Summer Games (held in Gimli in August). We had a number of regattas and high performance camps and flew in some high performance coaches from Vancouver,” says Brigette Smutny, head coach and executive director of the Manitoba Sailing Association. “Our group is too big now and there are too many different categories and I can’t do it all by myself. Every coach focuses on one category, and so that’s how we trained successfully.”

At the Summer Games, Team Manitoba’s Tanya Smutny, 20, won gold in the Europe class (an Olympic boat class), while her younger sister, Katja Smutny, 19, and partner Kristy Slough also came first in the 29er class. Tanya and Katja are Brigitte’s daughters. Royden Brousseau, 17, captured a bronze medal in the Laser Radial division at the Games.

“I’ve been racing since age 10,” says Brousseau, a Grade 12 student at Fort Richmond Collegiate. He competed in the 2002 Optimist European Sailing Championships in Italy and the 2001 Optimist World Championships in China. He won the Under 15 Canadian Optimist Championships two years ago.

“Ultimately, my goal is to sail in the Olympics. But for now I just want to keep sailing and win the Canada Summer Games in 2005,” says Brousseau.

Smutny notes that Brousseau placed first in his first race at the Canadian Youth Sailing Championships in Vancouver, which were held in August.

“He ended up 11th overall. He did very well,” she says.

Meanwhile, Brousseau’s brother Scott won bronze at the Western Canada Intermediate Sailing Championships in Port Moodie, B.C. one week after the Youth Championships. Another Brousseau brother, Bryce, 12, finished fifth at the Canadian Optimist Sailing Championships at the Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club in Kenora.

“He (Bryce) qualified for the Optimist World Championships in Ecuador, South America next July,” says Smutny.

Other provincial team successes were registered by Chris Bradley and Gordie Park, who teamed up to win bronze and silver medals in the boys’ 29er class at the Gimli and Port Moodie competitions, respectively; Manitoba’s Mark Townsend and Tristan Bruning, who won bronze medals in the 29er class in Port Moodie; and Ryan Martin-Patterson won silver and Austin Ross won bronze in the Optimist class at the Western Intermediates this year.

“I started here in 1999 as head coach with nine team members,” recalls Smutny. “Now we have 65 on the provincial team. People have bought lots of boats in the past few years and we have a big fleet. I’m trying to run programs and regattas at each yacht club throughout the year. I had a two-week program in Thompson this year, and 20 participants turned out at Paint Lake.”

Now she’s preparing for the winter.

“We have trips planned down to Florida and Southern California. I take my best sailors down there for a week to each place. I also take the kids for a Christmas camp in Vancouver, and we have theory sessions here in Winnipeg.”

PHOTO MIKE DEAL/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS