Some of the world’s top sailors could be based at Mylor Yacht Harbour and sailing in Falmouth’s waters in the build-up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the UK.

A bid for Olympic Training Centre status is being prepared by a specially-formed consortium – the Mylor International Sailing Centre - led by Mylor Yacht Harbour (MYH) with Windsports International, Restronguet Sailing Club and Mylor Yacht Club.Mylor Olympic Bid Team 

The bid, for submission to the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, outlines the consortium’s “totally flexible package to suit any Olympic sailing team’s needs.”

MYH owner Roger Graffy explained: “The teams can vary from one sailor with his Laser or windsurfer to as many as 40 or 50 people, competing in all the classes. At the top end of the range, we are looking at the world’s very best – from the likes of Australia, New Zealand and France.

“Lots of other locations will be competing to host these people, but there is arguably no place in the world better able to meet their needs in this respect than here at Mylor and in its neighbouring sailing waters.”

He added: “In their build-up to the Olympics, the competitors want maximum training and practice in waters and conditions as similar as possible to the real thing. In Sydney, the British Olympic team won three gold medals after sailing in this way every day for six months beforehand.

In the build-up to the Olympics, the competitors want maximum training and practice in waters and conditions as similar as possible to the real thing.

“The UK Olympics will take place at Weymouth, but not all the teams will want to train there.

“So there could be over 40 other countries looking for alternative facilities. At Mylor, we can offer all the physical and technical benefits and support facilities for a primary training camp, while the layout and wind and tidal patterns of Falmouth Bay effectively mimic those of Weymouth Bay.

“And if the weather gets really bad, the sailors can come into the shelter of Carrick Roads to continue their preparations.”

In anticipation of the Olympics, all consortium members are committed to the constant improvement of onsite facilities.

Their bid document stresses: “By January 1, 2010, the consortium aim to have the following developments/additions available on the Mylor Harbour site – squad-style accommodation unit, additional Paralympic accommodation, improved wheelchair changing facilities, new static single point crane, updated Yacht Club accommodation, plus other ideas to ensure the facilities are state of the art and what our customers require.”

It also points out: “Over the past 48 years, Restronguet Sailing Club has produced 26 world, European and national champions in 14 classes. Ben Ainslie learned to sail and race at Mylor and has gone on to become Great Britain’s most successful sailing Olympian ever. “ . . .

In the last ten years, (Mylor) has been transformed into the most perfect sailing centre that provides everything anyone could possibly want when choosing the sailing venue.”

Mr Graffy said the Olympic prospect was a win-win situation offering major benefits all-round, for both the sport and the whole community. Longer term, it would provide a lasting foundation for better facilities for Cornwall, attracting more people into the sport and more teams coming to the county to train.

He said Mylor and its resident companies had come a long way with the benefit of the major redevelopment programme of recent years and the Olympic bid was “an unparalleled opportunity to really put it on the world map.”