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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, February 27, 2015 | 24 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Setting sail on an Olympic campaign Oakville's Merry, Victoria's Berry have sights on Rio de Janeiro 2016 by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor I Oakville native Ingrid Merry (below, left) and Victoria's Erin Berry are attempting to qualify for the women's sailing 49erFX class in next year's Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. The two have been sailing together for only 12 months. | Top photo submitted / Bottom photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog ngrid Merry's analytical mind and Erin Berry's creative thinking make for an ideal combination on a sailing team that has Olympic hopes. That's not even taking into account the time the two women actually spend in the boat. "It's good for an Olympic campaign because there are a lot of aspects to it that are outside of sailing," said 25-year-old Oakville resident Merry, a Queen's University civil engineering graduate who first started sailing as a nine-year-old at Oakville Yacht Squadron. "There are things like media, logistics, planning, budgeting. It's good to have people who have strengths at either end of the spectrum. If you have two people who are good at analytics, things like media might get difficult. We're able to focus on different aspects of the campaign, and it's what we're interested in." According to Merry, competing in an Olympic Games -- which she and Berry hope to do in the 49erFX sailing class (the newest boat in extreme sailing for women) next year in Rio de Janeiro -- can be as much about campaigning as it is attempting to qualify. "The most difficult part is finding the balance to work on both parts," Merry said. "The sailing is the most important part because ultimately you're going to qualify because of your sailing abilities. But if you don't have the funding or a plan or a schedule or you don't take enough rest time or spend enough time in the gym, you won't be able to achieve your goal." Merry and Berry are a lot closer to that goal today than they were 12 months ago. Last February, they only knew of each other through the national team. Merry was still sailing the laser radial (women's singles) class and Berry, a Victoria, B.C., resident who has put her fibre arts studies at Concordia University on hold, was attempting to qualify in 49erFX with a different teammate. But after Berry's crew chose to stop campaigning, the 22-year-old Berry needed a new partner. She first contacted Merry by email, then by phone. After they realized they both already planned to race their respective boats at that year's International Sailing Federation (ISAF) world championships in There are a lot of aspects to (an Olympic campaign) outside of sailing. Spain, Berry managed to convince Merry to give 49erFX a try. "We had two months that we were going to figure things out and I would see if I wanted to continue," Merry said. "Basically, after a week, I decided this was a lot more fun than radial." Their first competition together was the Canadian Olympic-training Regatta, Kingston (CORK), where Team Berry/Merry finished second in a six-team field. A few weeks later, Berry/Merry placed 33rd out of 55 boats at the ISAF worlds. Last month, the team placed 18th in the 33-boat class at the MindIngrid Merry winters Regatta international meet Oakville sailor in Miami. Ranking mid-fleet despite being together for just one year has both sailors optimistic about their Olympic chances. To compete in Rio, they would first need Canada to qualify a boat for the Games by finishing in the top 10 at an international regatta this fall in Argentina, then meet Sail Canada's criteria to fill that spot. "We've been together for such a short time and we're confident with the progress we've made," Merry said. "We have a few more events this spring that we'll be competing in... we'll learn from them so that we can put our efforts towards qualifying in Argentina." To learn more about Team Berry/Merry or to sponsor the team, visit www.berrymerry49erfx.com. -- Jon Kuiperij can be followed on Twitter @Beaversports High school finals coverage online Four Oakville teams were scheduled to play for Halton high school hockey championships today (Friday) at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. The White Oaks Wildcats were to face Burlington's Assumption Crusaders in the Tier 2 boys' hockey final at 10 a.m.; the Loyola Hawks drew Burlington's Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the girls' title game at 11:30 a.m.; and the T.A. Blakelock Tigers clashed with the defending champion Abbey Park Eagles in an all-Oakville boys' Tier 1 final at noon. Coverage of those games will be available on www.oakvillebeaver.com this afternoon. We'll also have a story on the Halton senior girls' volleyball Tier 1 final between Abbey Park and Georgetown, a game that began yesterday (Thursday) after the Beaver's press deadline.