Plans for Bermuda to become a training hub for Olympic sailors are gathering pace as Sebastian Kempe takes part in a camp with some of the world’s elite.

Kempe is training out of Sandys Boat Club under coach Charlie Baillie-Strong, with Canadians James Juhasz and Liam Bruce and Hamilton Barclay, from the United States, travelling to the island for a weeklong training camp.

As well as targeting qualification for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Kempe is hoping to help the island become the go-to venue for top sailors in the world to train and compete.

“It would be good to get Olympic class sailing here again and camps like this is where it starts,” Kempe said.

“It's really nice to have guys of this calibre at home and I really hope to have more camps like this in the future. My coach, Charlie, is talking about bringing some more guys out here and it would be great to turn this into a training hub.

“The only issue is getting boats down here, so once we figure that out, it's just about getting guys to come here and enjoy the island. It is a special place to sail and hopefully in a couple of years’ time we can put together an event or two.

“For some reason we just haven’t been able to get much Olympic-class racing going on in the last couple of years, so it would be amazing to get them here again. I know that back in the 1980s and 1990s the Tornadoes were a big class and they sailed here a lot.”

Talking to Kempe’s training partners, the idea of turning Bermuda into an international centre of training excellence is not far-fetched. Juhasz, who is a regular in gold fleet at major regattas, has already fallen in love with the place.

“I got to know Sebastian racing on the circuit and it’s a pretty tight-knit group, kind of like a travelling circus,” he said.

“We got chatting about doing some training and he invited me over here, so I came for a camp two weeks ago, went home, did some training and now I’m back doing some more.

“It’s fantastic here and we don’t get to sail in many places that look like this. We’re sailing along and you can see the shadow of your boat on the bottom of the sand as you go and it’s just incredible.”

Bruce agrees and feels that Bermuda is the perfect location to prepare for upcoming regattas.

“We’ve been on the water almost every day, except for one, and the water is lovely,” he said.

“We’ve actually been getting off the South Shore, getting into some more waves and bigger sea state, which is nice.

“When we were on the outside there, it’s not too dissimilar to the Med as it’s a bit of a washing machine, which is good training. It’s challenging to keep the boat going in the right direction.”

For Kempe, this provides elite competition even while training as he gears up for the Central American and Caribbean Games, which could be the first step on the road to Los Angeles in 2028

“I’m really looking forward to the summer and I’ve got a really busy one,” he said.

“A lot of events in there might be considered smaller events but that will be helping me to just sharpen some of my skills and provide a lot of opportunities to put a good performance in.

“In terms of the sport some Games are bigger than others and the CAC Games is a qualifier for the Pan Am Games, which is then a qualifier for the Olympics, so to get that spot is very important for us, for Bermuda and for the Olympic Association.

“The aim is to qualify for the Olympics, which is the ultimate goal, and I wouldn't say that we're too far off that.”

That sentiment is something that Kempe’s coach Baillie-Strong concurs with. Baillie-Strong competed internationally and has coached sailors to the Olympics and he is convinced the Bermudian has what it takes.

“Obviously, Sebastian has been very successful as a youth and junior and he’s now moving forward to this level,” Baillie-Strong said.

“It's a big step up but he got better at each event and the last block that we did in Europe, he managed to make gold fleet, which was actually very hard.

“There was only about 15 guys in the world who managed to make gold fleet at both the big regattas, so that was really encouraging and he had some moments of being finishing top five in races and beating the best in the world.

“The next year is really big as it gives him his first chance to qualify for the Olympics, so we’re targeting a big world championships in January, where we need to be in the top 17 nations.

“But he’s right on track and we know the areas that we need to work on. That’s why we're focused on these camps on working before the next World Championships in August in Ireland. That will be a big indication as to how we're doing.”