Laser at the ISAF Youth Worlds - Gydnia, Poland
by Laser Centre 20 Jul 2004 17:13 BST
Gydnia in Poland was the venue for this year’s ISAF Youth Worlds. The Laser Fleet, 76 boats (combined standard and radial) was the biggest number ever at an ISAF Youth Worlds event. 52 nations were represented by young sailors in Lasers, Hobies, 420s and Mistrals.
Britain squad, with 5 medals, finished in 2nd place, just 3 points behind France.
In the Laser class, Britain’s Nick Thompson led the fleet from the second race. As team leader of the Laser squad, one of the New Zealand coaches commented “Nick was the only Laser sailor who had the ability to sail back through the fleet if he made a mistake.”
Nick dominated the Laser Class, and by winning his first and last ISAF Youth Worlds (he will be too old to compete next year), and by coming 5th at the Olympic Trials (Weymouth, April 04), he has secured Olympic Development Funding. Nick is now considered Britain’s best Laser talent since Paul Goodison. Nick’s coach, Dave Mellor said “Nick may have made the odd tiny mistake in sailing, but he always fought back and did everything to secure a great result – it has been an absolute pleasure coaching Nick and I am sure he will do enormously well in the future.”
After a shaky start on the opening morning, when she failed to tally-on, Laser Radial sailor, Charlotte Dobson, sailed a good regatta, staying inside the top 5 places throughout the event and winning the Bronze medal. In the Laser Radial class Sarah Steyaert (France) dominated the regatta, staying in front from the start and winning with a day to spare.
Dave Mellor said “At times it was very difficult to watch both fleets at the same time. From what I saw of Charlotte, she made a few mistakes but sailed a consistently good regatta.”
The results in the Laser Radial Fleet for British competitors were the best since Natalie Lloyd.
In the other classes, Tom Phipps and Jonathan Cook in the Hobie 16 did brilliantly well throughout the regatta. Using their knowledge of the new spinnaker system to good effect resulted in them winning Gold for Britain, ahead of France.
In the 420s (Boys) Jonathan McGovern and Stuart Bithell had a bit of an accident at the beginning of the week, resulting in a rebuild of the boat, but again sailed very well to secure Bronze. Pippa Wilson and Hariette Trumble also won Bronze in the 420 (Girls).
One of the great things about the ISAF Youth Worlds is the care and attention taken by the organisers to make sure that all the sailors have more than just great racing. The Polish community of Gydnia provided superb hospitality and assistance throughout the event, and ISAF organised a number of debriefs and informal chats for the sailors. Although Jim Saltenhall’s northern dialect often bemused the South Americans his words of encouragement and advice to the sailors were readily accepted and regarded as most useful.
However, the highlight for the young sailors was the arrival of Russell Coutts at the boat park – to the young sailors this was the equivalent of Pele turning up at a Football Youth event. Russell, (a former Olympic Champion, Americas Cup sailor and holder of the Rolex Sailor of the Year Award) spent time in the boat park chatting with the sailors. In the evening, Russell gave a more formal talk about his experience at ISAF Youth Worlds and his other sailing exploits. To have met and listened to a sailor of this calibre, “a legend”, is something that the young sailors will never forget.
After a fantastic week of racing, and despite coming second in the overall rankings to France, strong individual performances by members of the British youth squad demonstrated that Britain is one of the leading sailing nations in the World. For the ISAF Youth Worlds in Korea in 2005 and for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 the future of British sailing looks very good indeed.
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