Silver lining for rising star Wilson
by Imogen Stanley, RYA 21 Jul 2015 15:44 BST
18 July 2015
Emma Wilson, British Youth Sailing Team windsurfer, won under 17 silver at the RS:X Youth World Championships, finishing fourth overall at the under 19 event in Gdynia, Poland.
Tricky offshore conditions with 30 degree wind shifts meant consistency was key to keeping in the medal mix at the five-day event.
Wilson, just 16-years-old, spent the week battling it out with French sailor Berenice Mege for the under 17 crown and went into the medal race only a few points apart. Wilson led most of the way round but just lost out on the final leg and Mege took the opportunity to take third overall.
"Going into the medal race it was still pretty close for the bronze medal between third, fourth, fifth and sixth. To get bronze I had to get two people in between me and the French girl.
"The medal race was onshore for the first time all week and really light and patchy, about 3-5knots. I had a really good start and was leading for the whole first lap. On the second lap I covered the fleet but somehow three people managed to pass me, including the French so I finished fourth in the medal race and fourth overall."
Christchurch sailor Wilson continued: "I am a bit disappointed about coming fourth, it's not a nice place to finish but I did all I could in the medal race. I pumped the whole race and made some good decisions so I have to be happy with that."
Emily Hall and Alice Read, members of the British Youth Sailing EUROSAF Team, finished 19th and 27th respectively. The pair will head to Brest, France, at the end of this week to compete at the EUROSAF Youth European Sailing Championships (27 July – 2 August).
Israeli Noy Drihan won the overall event picking up the U17 and U19 World title.
Emma's elder brother, Dan Wilson led the British boys, finishing 22nd overall including a spectacular race win in the qualification series. Cameron Coghill ended the week in 51st with teammate James Hatcher just one place behind in 52nd.
For more information from the 2015 RS:X Youth World Championships, visit the event website: www.rsxclass.com/youthworlds2015
For more information on the RYA Youth Racing programme please visit: www.rya.org.uk/racing