Thank you sincerely for your support that enabled us to compete in the Australian Sailing NSW Zhik Youth Championships, from the 3rd to the 5th of October.
In preparation for the World Sailing Youth Championships in December, we set out with the goal to try to win this Regatta. We sailed 9 races over the regatta in a variety of conditions, with 15 boats on the start line bringing some enjoyable, high quality racing.
Day 1
After a brief postponement on shore, we launched from Toronto Royal Motor Yacht Club to sail out to our race area in Belmont Bay. The shifty north easterly brought challenging conditions, and the fleet’s placings would rapidly change throughout the race. By the end of day one, we found ourselves with a three-point lead over second place, a girls team who have been our closest competition at national events
Day 2
In the light seabreeze, we had a consistent day with four race wins. By tuning our boat for maximum speed and staying in phase, we were able to execute clean races with a comfortable lead. Utilising our compass and diligently updating our observations and rig setup between races kept us faster than our competition. By the end of day two, we had won the regatta, having completed eight out of nine races with a 15-point lead.
Day 3
Despite having already won the regatta, we set out on day three with the intention of maintaining high intensity and quality for the last race. However, we made some critical errors which left us with our worst score of the regatta (sixth place), as we were late to get in phase and sailed too much through the middle of the course and out of clear air. Overall, this regatta was a success for us, as we achieved our goal, placing first overall, winning six out of the nine races in the series (RESULTS LINK).
The opportunity to travel nationally and test our skills, fitness, and teamwork amongst unfamiliar competitors has once again given us valuable insight into where our racing needs to focus. We look forward to implementing learnings from this regatta to our training at home and sharing our experience with squadmates. We aim to replicate this performance at the next Nationals in January 2027. We will continue to train hard leading up to the Youth Sailing World Championships in December 2026.
