Who I am

My name is Chris Wilson and I am from Vancouver, British Columbia here in Canada.  I am currently 19 years old and a Cognitive Systems student at the University of British Columbia. I sail a boat called a Laser Full Rig which is the one of the two single-handed male Olympic Class'. I have been sailing for as long as I can remember but have only been on the competitive racing scene for about 5 years.I began racing in a Laser Radial and had notable finishes of First place in Western Canadian Championships in 2011 as well as a 12th place finish as Canadian Youth Championships, both in the radial. In 2013, I made the full switch to a Laser Full Rig and began competing in local events throughout British Columbia with the following results:

Top 2013 Full Rig Results:

4th place Spring Time Regatta, Kelowna

3rd Place Rocky Point Regatta, Port Moody

5th Place Pumpkin Bowl Regatta, West Vancouver

While I would have preferred for the 2013 season to have included more higher level events, financially it did not make sense to do so.

2014 has brought a higher level of training and competing which looks to be all over Canada and the USA. Training, fitness and nutrition are very important for all higher level sports. My weekly schedule contains 5 on the water training sessions, 3 sessions with a personal trainer, several runs and workouts and constantly eating what my body needs to stay healthy. 

Regattas and Training camps that are currently planned for this season are as follows:

Regattas:

Laser Midwinter East, Florida

March Madness Regatta, Vancouver

Kitten Cup, Vancouver

Spring Dinghies Champs, Victoria

Springtime Regatta, Kelowna

North American Championships, California

Pacific Coast Championships, California

Squamish Regatta, Squamish
Whistler Regatta, Whistler

Laser Canadian Championships, Vancouver

Cork - Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR), Kingston

Rocky Point Regatta, Vancouver

Fall Dinghy Championships, Victoria

Pumpkin Bowl Regatta, Vancouver

Bluenose Regatta, Vancouver

Training Camps:

1x Two week Training Camp in the Gorge, Oregon (Blowout)

2x Squamish Heavy Air Weekend Training Camps, Squamish

3x Victoria Training Camps, Victoria

Being the end of February already, I have competed at Laser Midwinters Regatta in Clearwater, Florida. It was an unfortunate event for results as I had a minor back injury early in the second day of racing and we also only had the conditions to race 2 of the 4 days so I could not unfortunately not make back the losses I had due to injury. I finished in 47th place in the Full Rig fleet, but I was still very satisfied with the event and my time training in Clearwater. This is because I learnt a lot from the extremely good competition in my fleet and am able to apply and work on that in my training here in Vancouver.

The goal for the 2014 season and beginning of the 2015 season is to qualify for the Canadian National Sailing Team. This is done through results at Cork OCR and Miami OCR, CORK being this season and Miami being in January of 2015.

This goal is attainable! I know what I need to do to reach this goal and I am well on my way. I am very excited to prove to everyone I have what it takes. I been working very hard this season already to being extremely productive with the time I have had so far. I am extremely motivated and ready to compete. I know from my experience that I am focused enough to reach my goals and excel beyond.

I constantly update and post information about my training and event achievements on https://www.facebook.com/ChrisWilsonLaserSailing. Feel free to have a look at the page and see how much I have done this year already! I am working extremely hard to reach my goals! I am trying to raise $13,000 to cover my coaching, events, fitness and many other expenses that will come of me working my hardest and getting the proper training necessary for the main two events I will be competing in to qualify for the Canadian National Team. Any donations of any size will be greatly appreciated and used to propel me towards my goals!

I will also be making monthly blog updates at http://chriswilsonlasersailing.blogspot.ca/  .