Burlington's Rachel Green sets sail for Pan Am Games in Chile

Rachel Green was working at Sail Ontario when the news release hit everybody’s inbox.

Green’s co-workers knew she had competed recently, but until now they didn’t know what event she had been sailing in. The release, naming Canada’s sailing team for the Pan Am Games, gave away her secret.

Suddenly, the office group chat lit up.

“I didn’t really tell anyone in case it didn’t go well,” Green said. But it did go well. And now the Burlington sailor will be off to Santiago, Chile next week to represent
Canada.

After graduating from Queen’s University in the spring, Green moved to Vancouver with the intention of joining a crew to compete in the Lightning class Pan Am trials. When Green’s initial plans fell through,vshe was left without a team with trials quickly approaching.

Around the same time, two-time Olympian Luke Ramsey’s plans for competing at the Pan Am Games also hit a roadblock. Ramsey competed in the trials for the Sunfish class, in which he had won silver medals at the previous two Pan Am Games. However, he was edged in a tiebreaker by Oakville’s Lee Parkhill for the Pan Am Games berth.

Still wanting to compete in Chile, Ramsey was looking at Canada’s team when he noticed the Lightning class qualifiers were a few weeks away in his hometown of Vancouver. Ramsey quickly began working to assemble a crew. Green’s friend recommended her and a week before trials, the trio, rounded out by Victoria’s Jessica Hirschbold, began training in a boat borrowed from the host Kitsalano Yacht Club.

Green was the only member of the team with Lightning class experience, having competed in the class at the youth world championships. But despite learning the nuances of a new boat and crew, the trio clicked on the water.

“Luke’s a phenomenal sailor, and he didn’t disappoint,” the 22-year-old said. “Everyone was open minded on how they wanted things to run. We had great communication on and off the water to solve or prevent any problems that came along.”

They were thrown one last curveball. After training in heavy winds all week, the winds died down when the regatta began.

None of that seemed to matter though. The newly formed team won the first two races and three of the first four. They would add two more victories over the final four races and with a third-place finish in the final race, they locked up first place in the 12-boat field as well as Canada’s Pan Am Games entry.

“I went in with no expectations, but those first two wins really instilled confidence in us,” Green said. “The intensity was there through all the races and winning it was a great feeling.”

Green, a fourth-generation sailor, will carry on a family tradition. Her grandfather won the Canada’s Cup in 1978 and she took part in her first sailing camp at the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club when she was just four years old.

“It’s kind of in my DNA,” said Green, who won a fleet racing national championship while at Queen’s.

But it is the challenge of sailing that has kept her involved.

“It’s a problem-solving sport. The boats are so different, there are so many different positions (within a crew),” she said. “I also like the longevity of the sport. My grandfather didn’t really start racing competitively until he was in his 40s.”

The Pan Am Games open Oct. 20 with the Lightning sailing competition running from Oct. 29-Nov. 5.