Kingston’s James Fair continues to make waves. The talented sailor is off to Morocco for the U21 world championships.
“It’s very competitive. Everybody who’s there has been sailing their entire life,” Fair said. “In Canada especially, we don’t get to sail all year, where many countries do. So it provides an extra little challenge for us.”
During sailing season in Kingston, fair spends most of his days on the water, but to make up for the lack of sailing during the off-season he’ll head down to the southern United States to get some extra time in.
“It’s extremely important,” he said. “Any time that we miss is time that we’re behind any other country in sailing, so we try to get out as much as we can.”
But short-term, Fair is getting set to hit the waters in Kingston as a part of next week’s CORK regatta and he’s looking forward to having the home-course advantage.
“Out of everywhere and growing up here it’s still, by far, one of my favourite places to sail in the world,” Fair said. “The quality in terms of the sailing is amazing. The competition, I mean, you still get most of the best people in Canada and some of the best people from the United States. So it’s still up there.”
Dedicating so much of your time to one thing can grow tiresome, but that’s not the case for Fair.
“I think more than anything I enjoy being out there,” he said. “I mean, if we’re working six or seven days a week all season, there’s times it can feel tiring, there’s times it can feel a little bit like a job.
“But I mean at the end of the day, it’s still what I love to do.”
The U21 world championships take place in Tangier, Morocco from Oct. 15 to 22, and you can be certain you’ll see Fair getting his “fair share” of reps in before he sails on the world stage.