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Byron White and Tom Koerner have just returned from representing Australia at the ISAF Youth World Championship in Turkey. They finished 8th overall and it's probably fair to say that they were hoping to do better. Unfortunately, the conditions were light throughout the regatta so they had no opportunity to test themselves in a bit of breeze. Nevertheless, they clearly had a great time and have learnt a lot. I asked Byron to write a review which he has kindly done so read for yourselves.....
We went to the ISAF Youth World championships in July. They were held in the city of Istanbul, in Turkey. Turkey is a beautiful country full of culture and history. We were lucky to arrive a few days early, on the 3rd July, before the regatta with the Australian Youth Sailing Team. This gave the team time to acclimatise to the sudden summer weather, and the jet lag. We spent a lot of this time looking around the marina where the event would be held, and observing wind patterns over time. We were also lucky to spend time visiting the markets in the city and finding bargains with the locals.
On the 8th July the venue opened to the competitors and boats were allocated to the teams. At the youth worlds, boats are supplied by the organisers and are all exactly the same, creating no equipment advantages. Most teams spent the next two days setting their boats up and testing them on the water. This year was the biggest event in history, with 61 nations and 341 sailors competing in the Lasers, 420s, RSX, SL16, and 29ers.
The day the racing started was the day the wind disappeared. With most of the regatta sailed in less than 5 knots, and 20-30 degree shifts up the course, we had a lot to do to succeed. I last went to the youth worlds in 2008, in Denmark with Rhys Mara. Since then, the European 29er fleet has been building, and getting a lot more competitive. This was obvious straight away from the start line, where an almost perfect start would only keep you up with the standard of the fleet. This is probably due to the Europeans competing in high standard fleets, with lots of competitors. The light winds and shifty conditions meant long days on the water in the heat with racing being somewhat questionable in terms of fairness. However, the race committee did an excellent job considering the challenge they had been given with the conditions. Unfortunately the conditions got the better of myself and Tom, leaving us with some high scoring races in the first few days. Once we got the hang of the conditions, and used to racing once again (our last competition was in the Australian summer) we were climbing back up the leader board. There wasn’t enough time to get into a medal position, and we finished 8th.
The youth worlds was a great opportunity to learn more about competitive sailing, travel, and make new friends from around the world. We also learned more about how different set-ups of trim by different nations can lead to similar results.
In future, it would make a lot of sense to send the nominated Australian team to an earlier regatta in Europe prior to the Worlds. Y.A are considering this, I hear.
The 29er class will again be sailed at the 2012 Worlds to be held in Croatia mid next year. I encourage people to try to win qualification to the Youth Worlds – it’s an awesome event!
Byron White
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