on we on} Oat = fer TEnee BB Sm Been a Ee EF Se AVERT AERA GREENS TASER ENS Be ae ES AARNE Sih Peete » equipment ~made fins Wednesday, June 15, 1988 Canada’s hopes for an Olym- pic medal can safely rest on the shoulders of Sidney boardsailor Richard Myerscough. By GLENN WERKMAN Review Staff Writer His winning record in inter- national competition speaks for itself. Myerscough, 22, has. been boardsailing since he first took to the waters of Elk Lake at 12. Soon, he bought his own board and started sailing at Roberts Bay, near Sidney. “| learned everything here and | can do anything on a sailboard,’’ he says. Just two months after star- ting the sport, Myerscough entered his first race. He placed . 25th in the standings of the Canadian Windsurfing Cham- pionships, held in Vancouver that year. Every summer, he raced his sailboard in Western Canadian meets. And -after Myerscough graduated from Parkland School five years ago, he started competing full time —-.entering about a = dozen around the world each year. In 1984 he made the Cana- dian’ National team, placing fourth in trials. Funding: became. available and Myerscough started competing in. international meets, getting better every-step of the way. competitions All. the improvements have led. Myerscough to the Olym- pics. He’ll be the only Canadian in his event competing in Seoul, South Korea, during the 1988 Summer Olympics, the Cana- dian Yachting Association an- nounced from Ottawa June 6. Reaching the Olympics was not easy — it required a great deal of travel to compete against the best the world has to re) f f e r . In past years Myerscough has been home in Sidney about three months a year. He’s been to France for the Martinique Open, to Malaysia. for the World Championships, to Singapore for the Singapore Open, and to Florida for. the mid-winter championships. ’He’s also sailed in Hyere, France, at the Hyere Olympic Week of Sailing, at the Euro- pean Championships in Brest, in the north of France; and at the Canadian Championships in Kingston, Ont. Olympic trials were in Quebec, and Myerscough -has also competed in Australia and New Zealand. . The championships mean a lot to Myerscough, but not nearly as much as the Olympics. ““The only one event that really counts is the Olympics,’’ Myerscough says. - ‘ve dedicated four years of my. life,’? he. says. ‘‘Then everything depends on ‘three Travelling not easy - for boardsailor Everytime he feaves:for. an in- ternational’ competition, Richard ..Myerscough ‘hauls $10,000 to $15,000 «worth of ‘to. the. Vancouver airport, and tries to board the ' plane. “It’s like. having a ‘ball and chain "on: your ~~ Myerscough says: - : “TP go to.l0 or 12 major races per year, and I’m living out ofa. ‘suitcase,’” Myerscough says. end up in. the long: and two ‘fect. wide. Then there.: are masts, booms, bags of Sails, wetsuits and spare ‘parts. - “1 turn up at the check- -in- counter with a big heap ‘of equipment,’’ Myerscough says. -“Tt’s really hard travelling’ with 7 this stuff. The customs Toronto and recognize me." M ontrea | Myerscough . said this is the ~ side of things that people. don’t sec.“ would Jove to havea TV crew film me cleeking onto a plane.”” ~ “Once you gel great. the hard part,’’ he says. “*You can't just hopin a cab.” Some. irreplaceable custom- were “lest in the Miami airport, alongs with a bap of spare parts and some clothes, He was stuck in the Rome air- port with all his equipment, there, - it’s MR, ‘BUSINESSMAN: | 80 Anna's WRN NMR Maa ankle,’?.. ‘each 12° feet big» people. in: It’s getting there that is | New Business Phone Listings: . Wyour dusiness Phang Number i new oF Nine hean tseenity chang: 6d; ploase call ie snd Wo'th run it tree ot thargo fora period ol three “months, Uys neivicn ump to the a Revinw’ & Trading Aran, i ° ‘Company Name Day Amandla African Merchant. 655-3121 Fabrles...sveceee * ion) Big O Tires. vevece rete cine: BSBe A212 “ey Dla AsPHINt eee see 656-3078 iy -Eloctrolun of € CAMA cccveseces ees B52" 6660 & oy Muffler Bay reevewnes reer: BOB 7228 © coy Shady Crack f Dosign Industrias ,..,...5. 652-6651 iho Sver Spring Enterprises . an SWISH Grotto sss. ese cee > BH2°0600 ia The Faod Barn oo. ccs bree 655-4439 “ay Western Eloctro-Drives... . 656-7087 “Air. Canada i: the “best airline in the world for: getting my stuff for me,’’ he says. But Air Canada doesn’t fly to all the places Myerscough must reach: He spent 30 hours on several planes, flying - world, to reach Singapore. three-: - quarters the way around © the THE REVIEW 9781-2nd St., Sidney B.C. trials and only one person gets to go. , “There is no second place, you either go or you don’t go.’ Only one person from each country will compete in board- sailing at the Olympics. The favorite to win the gold medal is a French boardsailor who has won four world cham- pionships, Myerscough — says. “But if it isa mix of conditions,.. it could be any one of 15 guys who could win it.”’ He’s hoping for strong winds in Seoul, which could narrow the field to five competitors, in- cluding himself. “It’s a really competitive field.’”’ The sport is much more popular in Europe than in Canada, Myerscough says. ‘‘In division 2 racing (the Olympic event) there are 9,000 registered racers that do. two regulation races per year in France.”’ “The guy who wins the French trials has gone through hell to get there,”” he says. HOT SPOT Myerscough left. Monday for the World Championships. in Israel. He peting in the. 1988 Canadian Championships in Kingston before catching a plane to Seoul August 28. “‘The athletes’ village opens Sept. 1,’’ he says. “T’ve been in some pretty wild places,’’ Myerscough says. “The media tend to blow things out of proportion. I’m not too concerned about it.’’ He was in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, North Africa, two days before Libyan war planes dropped bombs. ‘‘Libyan -* went. from. Vancouver to. |. Toronto; Toronto. to. London, » ~ London to Bombay, Bombay to. an Singapore ° —.-all _.. © Other than clothes.in a ‘suit-- ~ case, including socks that often: - garbage,. Myerscough travels with two or’ “three. sailboards,. the © next’ day