Sailor uses Plan B to get to Pan Am Games
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KINGSTON — National team Laser skipper Evert McLaughlin switched boats to make sure he didn’t miss out on the opportunity to sail in the Pan Am Games.
McLaughlin, now practising out of Portsmouth Olympic Harbour for the Laser World in two weeks, didn’t qualify for the Pan Am Games in his boat of choice, the Laser.
Oakville’s Lee Parkhill won the Canadian Laser qualifier to sail at the Pan Am Games in a February regatta in Clearwater, Fla.
McLaughlin finished second and immediately went to his Plan B.
“Basically I flipped the switch and started really getting into Snipe,” said McLaughlin, a Queen’s University graduate.
“It has always been in the very back of my mind that I wanted to go to the Pan Am Games in Toronto, my hometown. If I didn’t make it in Laser (for the Pan Am Games) I wanted to have this backup for Snipe.”
The Snipe is a heavier dinghy with less speed.
Parkhill was impressed to see McLaughlin turn around and qualify in the Snipe.
“It is really cool that he can transfer his skills to another boat and still go and get that Games experience,” Parkhill said.
Equally cool is that McLaughlin will join his father, Terry McLaughlin, a Canadian sailing icon, in the Pan Am Games.
The 58-year-old senior McLaughlin, who won a silver medal in the Flying Dutchman in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, is the skipper on the four-man J24 keelboat.
Father and son plan to march into the Pan Am Games stadium together at the opening ceremonies on July 10.
“It will be pretty special. It’s pretty exciting that the person who taught me to sail is going to be back sailing in the same event,” Evert McLaughlin said.
His father’s last attempt at competing in the Pan Am Games was 41 years ago in the Lightning class and Terry came second in the trials.
Terry McLaughlin, whose career resume includes the Olympics and skipper of Canada I in the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1983, said on the Sail Canada website he was thrilled to be going into a major Games event with his son.
“My father, Evert’s grandfather, sailed in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics for Canada. His and my Olympic sailing experiences certainly did not overlap,” McLaughlin said.
“It is great that this is happening.”
Evert McLaughlin’s mentor for Snipe sailing is American Augie Diaz, who will be at the Pan Am Games. Diaz introduced McLaughlin to the Snipe class two years ago.
Unlike the Laser, the Snipe is a two-person boat. While it is not popular in Canada, the top two Olympic sailing medallists, Torben Grael and Paul Elvstrom, have won Olympic medals in the dinghy.
McLaughlin has recruited Mississauga’s Alexandria Damley-Strnad, who is attending the University of Miami.
“We have both been learning from scratch. (The Snipe) is a very technical boat, quite complex,” McLaughlin said. “So it has been a pretty steep learning curve.”
McLaughlin could be sailing in the Laser World as late as July 8 and then have to get to Toronto for the July 10 opening for the Games. The sailing in the Pan Am Games begins on July 12.
“It will be interesting. The question is will I be able to come off the biggest Laser event of the year into another huge event,” McLaughlin said.
“I’ll have to manage that. It’s good I am switching boats. I think it would be harder if I was going Laser to Laser.”
The Laser World is important for the national team sailors that include Kingston’s Robert Davis, Vancouver’s Luke Ramsay, Parkhill and McLaughlin. Whoever performs the best at the Laser World is going to earn a leg up on gaining the selection to sail for Canada at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics.
The Laser is one of the two boats Canada has qualified for the Rio Games.
Sail Canada has changed its selection process from one major trial to seeing how the national team members sail at a series of events.
“(Laser World) is one of the events where I think you need to perform quite well just to get your name in the hat just to be nominated for the selection,” McLaughlin said. “It is at major events where you really need to step up and show you can compete not only against Canadians but on the world stage as well.”
The Laser World in Kingston will have more than 160 sailors from 62 nations. Sailing will take place on Alpha course directly south of Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.
The fleet qualification racing takes place from July 2 to 5. The medal round for the Gold fleet is July 6 to 8.
