IOM World Championships at Sdot Yam Sailing Club, Israel
by Tim Long 28 Oct 2013 14:25 GMT
11-19 October 2013
The recent IOM World Championships were held at the Sdot Yam Sailing Club in Israel between 11th & 19th October and attracted an entry of 43 skippers from more than ten different countries.
The IOM (International One Metre) Class is the most popular radio sailing class in the world and has a great following. Racing is conducted under the same ISAF rules as used by full size yachts which are changed by appendix E to account for the skipper not being on the boat.
GBR were well represented by 5 skippers, a mix of talent, some who had competed in previous worlds and two skippers that had not.
After registration & practice days on the 11th & 12th the competition got underway on the 13th with Rob Walsh winning his seeding race and his first A fleet race. The rest of his week went well with some excellent results in the A fleet where he fought hard with Marko Matic of Croatia and eventually Rob was crowned IOM World Champion after a dramatic last race in which one of the shrouds broke on his boat.
Rob Walsh said, "We are very fortunate to have a great IOM fleet in the UK which is probably the strongest in the world. Without competing against such a strong home fleet winning at world level would probably not be possible.
The best moment of the worlds has to be the Thursday/Friday that I dominated and pulled away from the Croatians. Then there was getting thrown in by the Croatians; that's when it hit me what I had achieved.
The next step is to qualify for the IOM Europeans and RM worlds and hopefully do well."
Keith Coxon MYA Chairman said, "Rob's success follows that of Peter Stollery the previous World Champion demonstrating the depth of talent that exists within Team GBR.
Rob is always at the top of the fleet in all major UK events showing his talent and ability in all conditions. As a young man he is an inspiration to many aspiring model yacht racing skippers. Rob also puts much back into the sport acting as the International Officer on the Model Yachting Association Council"
Rob, 27, started model yachting at the age of 8 sailing vane Marbleheads with his dad. He got into the IOM class in 1997 with a Dave Creed designed boat and competed in his first National Championships that year after receiving the boat as a Christmas present! He sails a multitude of classes in both radio and vane disciplines and is competitive in whichever class he turns his hand to.
For more information on getting into model yachting visit www.radiosailing.org.uk
www.iomwc2013.com