Canadian sailor Georgia Lewin-LaFrance knows that her sport might not be the world’s most popular — but that hasn’t stopped her from travelling around the globe chasing her dreams.
Often competing in two-person event with her older sister Antonia, the Montreal-born duo finished 11th in the 49er FX (Skiff) event at the Paris Olympics.
“Canadians are so interested, and they are really the best supporters, they get into it, whether it’s a new sport that they don’t know, like sailing,” Lewin-LaFrance said in an interview on location in Dubai with Daily Hive.
Whether it’s at a competition, an airport, or anywhere else in the world, Lewin-LaFrance said she’s always happy to explain a few new things about her sport.
Growing up in Montreal, her family moved to Nova Scotia when Georgia was 12, which is where her sailing journey began. While she was interested in the sport after going to summer camps, Lewin-LaFrance wasn’t quite expecting to make it her livelihood.
“I definitely didn’t predict this,” Lewin-LaFrance added. “I almost quit sailing in high school because you’re going through puberty, and everything is interesting… I did not expect this. But once [my sister and I] started the Olympic route, it fueled the interest in making it more of a career.”
These days, much of her competition will be coming with the Canadian NorthStar SailGP team, which can best be described as F1 racing on the water. With her sister having suffered an injury in the lead-up to the Olympics, Lewin-LaFrance joined the team two seasons ago, the first with a Canadian SailGP team.
In SailGP, 12 teams representing different countries and sponsors compete in races around the globe, with multiple events in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, as well as one-off competitions in Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. (Canada had previously hosted an event in Halifax but is not slated to host in the 2024-25 season.)
While SailGP has quite the financial backing from different partners, the same isn’t always the case when she’s competing alongside her sister.
“For our Olympic campaign, a huge misconception is that you just show up and go sailing. We have to fundraise for the money [to support our career],” she added. “We’re basically logistics people. We have to organize how our boat gets from point A to point B to point C, all around the world, in containers and trailers and vehicles. And there’s just so many different components that you have to check off before you can actually get on the water to go training.”
Though she took last season off to focus on the Olympics, Lewin-LaFrance is excited to continue her journey with NorthStar.
“I feel extremely grateful [for my career],” she added.
After completing the Dubai event in sixth place, the next event for the Canadian team and the rest of SailGP is on January 18 and 19 in Auckland, New Zealand.
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