Brits in strong positions at halfway stage of Youth Worlds

Rebecca Kalderon and Rosie Sibthorp in action at the 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships © Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race

RYA Youth Racing Manager Duncan Truswell is urging his young charges to keep their focus as RYA Volvo Team GBR head into the business end of the 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Brazil.

At the midway point of the regatta, and with today (Tuesday 14 July) a lay day, British sailors sit in strong positions across a number of the classes with three more days of racing still to come before the medals are dished out on Friday (17 July).

However, with one full day of racing already lost due to excessively breezy conditions on Sunday, the sailors have actually only completed four of the scheduled 12-race series.

And with a possible seven more races still to come, Truswell insists his team of 10 must keep their feet firmly on the gas if they are going to match or better their showings during the opening exchanges.

He said: “So far the regatta has been a really positive experience for all of them. We have been in Buzios a week now and all the sailors are settled into their routines and you can see that increasing familiarity and comfortableness being displayed on the racecourse with more confident and mature performances.

“However, although we’re three days down and have three days left, in reality we are not even half way through the regatta in terms of the number of races and things are only going to get more difficult as the pressure starts to mount at the top of the scoreboards.

“We have got to make sure that the standards we have set ourselves since we have been here do not start to slip because if we stop ticking some of the basic boxes then it will have a knock-on effect on performances. The last thing we’ve been saying to all the sailors before they go afloat is ‘Look after the processes and the rest will look after itself’ and that’s what they need to pay attention to right until the end.”

The top placed British team so far are Rebecca Kalderon and Rosie Sibthorp who currently sit second, but level on points with Martine Soffiatti Grael – daughter of Brazilian Olympic sailing and Volvo Ocean Race legend Torben – and Kahena Kunze in the girls’ 420, while Izzy Hamilton is 3rd in the girls’ RS:X windsurfing.

Phil Sparks and Ben Gratton were left ruing a race four disqualification for a right of way infringement at the leeward mark that saw them topple from pole position in the boys’ 420 to seventh overall. However with the discard coming into play after the next race the pair will be looking to resume the dominant form that had propelled them to the top of the leaderboard.

Also harbouring top 10 positions are RS:X boys’ windsurfer Ali Masters who recovered from a jittery opening day to score 2,1 yesterday to sit in sixth while Hobie 16 duo Adam Butler and Nikki Boniface sit narrowly outside the medal positions in fourth. Oscar McVeigh and Hannah Tilley lie 39th and 24th respectively in the boys’ and girls’ Radial.

The Brits currently sit second behind France in the race for the Volvo Trophy for best performing nation overall.

RYA Volvo Team GBR will spend their lay day riding buggies on the Buzios beaches before racing resumes tomorrow (Wednesday) at 12pm local time (4pm British time). It is expected a revision will be made to the sailing instructions to allow three races to be run tomorrow and Thursday with one final race as planned on Friday.

To learn more about all the RYA Volvo Team GBR sailors competing in Buzios visit the new RYA website at www.rya.org.uk/racing/youthjunior/youth/Pages/2009ISAFYouthWorlds.aspx