HOLLAND, Mich. — It’s officially sailing season in West Michigan. This week kicked off the official start for high school sailing at the Macatawa Bay Junior association in Holland where sailors from Holland Christian, Saugatuck, Black River and West Ottawa are training for the spring season. And with a new coach.
“I’ve sailed almost all Olympic class boats in India. But my professional boats are 49er FX and Narca 17,” Said Dr. Sweta Shervegar.
Dr. Sweta Shervegar is a world silver medalist in sailing from Mumbai, India and will be helping local kids train through June. Later this summer she will also participate in the the Oakcliff keelboat program in New York and also will be campaigning for a berth in the 2024 Olympics.
“My aim here was to learn more about boat composite work and rigging small boats and sail designing. I’m learning all of those things plus I can give my expertise back to high performance sailing. I can coach and get more sailors to represent their own countries,” said Shervegar.
For the kids at MBJA, the chance to learn under Sweta brings a level of experience they can’t find anywhere else.
“I was really excited and when you have different coaches you have different perspectives and you can pick up different pieces of information from each coach and they teach in such different ways so you’re able to really learn,” said Holland Christian senior Greta Traver.
“I was really excited. It’s going to boost our game up and hopefully we’ll be at the top of the leader boards,” said Zeeland West freshman Cameron Bert.
“I love having a diversity in coaches and seeing each coaches different perspectives on sailing. We ended last year on such a good note that going into this year hopefully we’ll have a good season,” said Sophia Pierce.
It isn’t for just high schoolers, college students from Hope and Grand Valley also train at Macatawa and were out on the water Wednesday training for their next race.
“I’m really excited, this weekend our team is going to Ohio State University and we’re competing there so I think that will be a lot of fun. Our first regatta was here at Macatawa so this will be our first traveling one and there’s a couple new people so we’re really excited,” said Hope sophomore Jack Rutherford.
In total there are about 40 sailors from high school through college that compete at Macatawa. Sweta hopes that their success this spring will help grow the sport and create the next class of elite sailors.
“The kids are really very talented sailors. And if we keep this program on and keep sailing and getting more kids into it then these kids are definitely going to represent their country and go for the Olympics. Get medals and I’m really happy to be a part of this program,” said Shervegar.
MBJA will race this weekend at the Pontiac Yacht Club and the following weekend they will host the MBJA Icebreaker Regatta at Macatawa Bay Yacht Club on April 22nd.
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