Windsurfing queen Islay Watson crowned as Youth World Championships finishes
by Will Carson 21 Jul 2018 12:05 BST
21 July 2018
Islay Watson - 2018 Youth Sailing World Championships © Jen Edney / World Sailing
British windsurfing sensation Islay Watson was crowned Youth World Champion as compatriots Vita Heathcote and Milly Boyle secured 420 silver on the final day of the prestigious regatta.
Watson, 18, from Aviemore in Scotland, went yesterday's final race in Corpus Christi, Texas, with an unassailable lead and victory already sown up, but finished on a high with a third in the 17-strong fleet.
Over the course of the regatta, the pinnacle of youth racing and where Olympic talent is developed, Watson finished in the top three in 12 of the 13 races and counted fourth as her worst score.
Watson ended the competition two points ahead of the runner up, New Zealand's Veerle ten Have, and seven ahead of third-placed Gio Speciale of Italy.
Her victory continues Great Britain's legacy in the RS:X windsurfing class at the Youth World Championships following Emma Wilson's back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017.
In the girls' 420, Heathcote and Boyle, from Lymington, Hants, started the final race with silver guaranteed, but with an outside chance of snatching gold from frontrunners Emma and Carmen Cowles of the USA.
In order to do so they had to force the American pair down to 18th. At the first windward mark the sparring teams were 14th and 15th but on the second upwind leg the Cowles sisters were able to pass the 17-year-old Brits and claim gold.
Heathcote and Boyle's silver is Great Britain's best result in the girls' 420 class in a decade.
In the boys' 29er class, Brits Ewan Wilson from Fife and Fin Armstrong from Totnes finished with a show of strength, claiming victory in the final race to complete the regatta in eighth.
Girls' 29er team Freya Black and Millie Aldridge also finished eighth.
Matilda Nicholls from Durley, Hants, finished her Laser Radial campaign in fifth, while boys' entry Jake Bowhay from Bishop's Waltham, Hants, was 21st.
William Smith and Abigail Clarke finished 17th in the mixed multihull Nacra 15, while boys' windsurfer Isaac Lines came home in 11th.
Full results can be found here.
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The British Youth Sailing Team for the 2018 Youth Sailing World Championships:
420
Girls: Vita Heathcote (16) and Milly Boyle (17) – Royal Lymington Yacht Club
Boys: Rhys Lewis (16) and Drew Wright (16) – Cardiff Bay Yacht Club
29er
Girls: Freya Black (16) and Millie Aldridge (17) – Parkstone Sailing Club
Boys: Ewan Wilson (14 – Wormit Boating Club) and Finley Armstrong (16 – Royal Torbay Yacht Club)
Laser Radial
Girls: Matilda Nicholls (16) – Royal Lymington Yacht Club
Boys: Jake Bowhay (17) – Stokes Bay Sailing Club
RS:X
Girls: Islay Watson (17) – Loch Insh
Boys: Isaac Lines (18) – Toward Sailing Club
Nacra 15
William Smith (16) and Abigail Clarke (17) - Grafham Water Sailing Club