Three years, almost to the day, after first stepping into a sailboat, 15-year old Quinn Haines left Kenora to race against the country’s top sailors at the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland. With the ambitious goal of “not finishing last”, Quinn was under no illusions regarding the competition he was up against, including the top-rated Nova Scotia 19-year old sailor Sullivan Nakatsu, who finish 10th at the 2024 Youth World Championships in Italy.
Quinn’s path to the Canada Summer Games began in the spring of 2023 when a mountain biking injury forced him to miss a summer freestyle ski camp on Whistler’s Blackcomb Glacier. To keep busy during that week, Quinn and his friend Kash took part in an impromptu sailing clinic hosted by Phil Burns from the Black Sturgeon Sailing Club. Phil encouraged the boys take up sailing competitively to attempt to qualify for the 2024 Manitoba Games, and Quinn took him up on the challenge. In the process of qualifying for the Manitoba Games in Dauphin, Quinn surprised everyone (including himself) by winning all three qualifying races for the Canada Games and he was selected as Manitoba’s representative to go to St. John’s.
The Canada Games sailing schedule included one day of practice and five days of racing planned over the week, which was Quinn’s longest regatta ever in this physically demanding sport. In the first race on the Monday, Quinn had an eight place finish out of a field of 11 boats, demonstrating to himself and the rest of the field that he was right in the mix with the country’s top sailors. The races on Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled due to a nearby forest fire as the neighbourhood where the racing was taking place (Conception Bay South) was put on an evacuation alert. Quinn took advantage of these days to pursue two of his other favourite summer sports; golfing with some locals on Tuesday and spending Wednesday mountain biking with his dad along the St. John’s coastline.
When races resumed, seven races were held over the final three days from Thursday to Saturday. Quinn’s best finish was a sixth and he met his goal of “not finishing last” for the regatta. The weather was uncharacteristically warm for most of the week, but Saturday the sailors were reminded that they were on the North Atlantic. A nor’easter brought in cool weather and a stiff breeze so strong that one of the Race Committee boats was unable to make headway into the wind and needed to turn back in to the harbour. While his grandmother Jo-Anne, who had traveled to Newfoundland to cheer Quinn on, could barely watch her grandson head out into these conditions alone in his 14-foot boat, Quinn had one of his favourite days on the water. With his teammates chipping in to layer Quinn up with gear from head to toe, he was warm and grinning ear to ear as he set new personal speed records on his downwind “surfing” and finished the week with two ninth place finishes and exciting back and forth battles with the Newfoundland, PEI, and New Brunswick boats.
But the Canada Games is about much more than races and results. At the Athletes Village at Memorial University, Quinn forged new friendships through Spikeball and basketball games, notably enjoying spending time with the Nova Scotia Canoe/Kayak team and sharing a love of mountain biking with his fellow sailor from Newfoundland, Joel Smith. Spikeball was a focus for the evenings, and while the Manitoba sailors did not make it to the podium in sailing, they will be quick to point out that they went undefeated at the Spikeball net!
Quinn’s experience at the Canada Games demonstrates what a positive influence that sport can have in the lives of youth as part of their development and growth as young adults. Now back in Kenora, Quinn is getting caught up with friends as school looms on the horizon. With the sailing season winding down, Quinn is already looking forward to the snow flying and launching off jumps and rails on a pair of skis…
Article written by Ryan Haines
