Sudbury's Northern Water Sports Centre to open this summer

Paddling enthusiasts in Sudbury will soon hitthe water, but they will have to start the season off at the existing boathouse facility on Ramsey Lake.

Construction is nearly finished on the main building for thenew Northern Water Sports Centre(NWSC) off Ramsey Lake Road, but paddling programs are not expected to move to the new location until later in the summer,saidboard chair ThomasMerritt.

"What we will end up doing is moving across to the new facility over the course of the season and how far we get moved in or how early we get moved in is going to depend on that construction," he said.

"What we have to do is make sure that we have a facility that is well built that is going to last for decades,and if it takes a month or two longer to get in, it takes us a month or two longer to get in."

A boat storage area has yet to be built at the new facility because early frost in the fall delayedconstruction crews fromgetting the foundation poured, Merritt said.

"That's an easy build. It will take us two months, three months maybe to put it together," he said.

The Sudbury Canoe Club, Sudbury Rowing Club, Sudbury Dragon Boat Festival and City of Sudbury workedtogether to build the new multi-million dollarNWSC.