Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Kiel Schilksee - Preview

International Laser Radial fleet in Kiel © Sascha Klahn / Kiel Week

Just like on the Whit weekend for the Young Europeans Sailing (YES), Kiel Schilksee will again be fully dedicated to the young sailors from 18. until 25. August. But it will then be only one boat class on site with an impressive number of participants: 357 active sailors from 41 nations did register for the Laser Radial Youth World Championships.

After the measurement and the opening ceremony on Sunday, 19. August, two races are scheduled per day on the six race days, before the male and female Youth World Champions 2018 are certain.

After the Youth World Championships of the Laser 4.7 and the Laser U21 in 2016, the Laser Radial Men Worlds did follow during this year's Kiel Week. Now the Youth Worlds in the Laser Radial will be the fourth big Laser event in Kiel.

Already 259 male starters have registered for the event. The German fleet as the hosting nation is with 36 young sailors of course the biggest one, followed by the British with 25 participants.

Julian Hoffmann is self-confident about the Worlds. The Bavarian sailor (born 2002) did change from the Laser 4.7 into the Radial at the beginning of May and could convince with his performance by winning the YES regattas and thus gaining the qualification for the Youth Worlds of the World Sailors' Association (Youth Sailing World Championships) in Corpus Christi/Texas (USA) from 14. until 21. July. And three weeks after the YES, the student at the sports high school in Oberstdorf, where normally mainly winter athletes are going, did finish the Kiel Week on rank six. In August, it will be his third appearance in Kiel, maybe with a sense of achievement from Texas in his luggage.

The French sailor Anton Guilmin did already sail onto rank 18 at the Laser Radial Worlds during the Kiel Week - photo © Sascha Klahn / Kiel Week

Germany's new hope will be meeting extremely strong international competitors, who did already get prepared on the sailing territory in Kiel. During the Laser Radial Open at the Kiel Week, Tytus Butowski and Lukasz Machowski were dominating the fleet. The sailors from Poland (born 2000) did sail on ranks one and two in the fleet of 168 participants. In the second part of the Kiel Week, at the Laser Radial Men Worlds (92 starters), the French sailor Anton Guilmin did sail on rank 18 and the Russian Kirill Tereshkin on rank 29.

In the fleet of the female sailors, it is also Great Britain with the second biggest fleet of 11 participants after Germany with 17 sailors. In total, there are 98 female participants from 29 nations.

Julia Buesselberg (VSaW Berlin) and Laura Schewe (Kiel YC) can hope for a top rank. Buesselberg, who was extremely successful in the Laser 4.7 in 2015 and 2016, is now in her second season in the Radial. The 18-year old did decide the German Junior World Championships for herself and thus qualified for the Youth Sailing World Championships. After starting in the USA, there will be the Worlds in Aarhus (30. July - 12. August) and finally the Laser Radial Youth Worlds in Kiel. The Youth Worlds of the World Sailors' Association in the USA are the icing on the cake, the Sailing World Championships in Aarhus the compulsory program, according to Buesselberg's analysis of the regatta series. Kiel could become the closing show program.

"We are very much looking forward to the Laser Radial Youth World Championships. It is a very enjoyable cooperation with the Laser class association. Their organization is very well structured and organized and they can come by any time also on short notice", said the Head of Organization Dirk Ramhorst, who is of course also happy about the high number of participants and the internationality. This is a matching and adequate complementation of the high-class standard program of the Kiel Yacht Club with Maior, YES and Kiel Week.

Randolph Bertin, clerk of the International Laser Class Association follows the same line. "It is great to again work together with the Kiel Yacht Club. Kiel is offering great conditions in Schilksee, and with Point of Sailing and the whole team from the Kiel Yacht Club, it is a great organizational team", said Bertin.

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