Bautista Saubidet – picture credits David Branigan
Thursday 11 July 2013 – Great Britain’s Saskia Sills will aim to defend her RS:X Girls title at the Sail First ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship whilst an open RS:X Boys fleet means no certainties.
Twenty two RS:X Girls competitors and 28 RS:X Boys sailors will take to the start line on 15 July aiming to take the ISAF St. Moritz Boardsailing Championship trophy and the Paul Phelan Boardsailing trophy respectively.
RS:X Girls
As defending champion Sills will head to Limassol, Cyprus aiming to replicate her 2012 performance from Dublin Bay, Ireland.
Sills flew out of the traps at the 2012 edition winning four of the first six races to open up a strong lead at the midway point. As her opponents rallied Sills remained consistent to secure the title by 12 points.
“I’m really looking forward to going back and competing against the world’s best and seeing what happens, ” said Sills whose performances in 2012 culminated in her being nominated for 2012 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year. “It’s really nice that all happened last year but to get that all again I’ve got to keep winning so we’ll see what happens. Hopefully I’ll get another year like it.”
Sills has started 2013 well with a bronze in the senior fleet at the Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth, Great Britain as well as a bronze at the RS:X Open Youth European Championship. Despite her success she isn’t expecting an easy ride in Cyprus, “I think the door is wide open because in Dublin the conditions were what I train in at home and I don’t think the conditions are quite the same in Cyprus so we will see. It will be fun though.”
The Girls windsurfer title has been defended by Natasha Sturges (AUS), Amelie Lux (GER), Zofia Klepacka (POL) and Laura Linares (ITA) since it was first introduced to the program in 1987. Sills will be hoping to add her name to that list and knows she may be kept an eye on as defending champion, “Everybody that goes there wants to win it so I don’t think it will be anything personal, ” she laughed, “hopefully not. I think they will all want to win.”
Set to challenge Sills for the title will be Israel’s Hadar Heller. The Israeli sailor won gold at the RS:X Europeans beating Sills, who finished third, by 16 points. Despite a shaky start Heller was strong towards the latter stages of the event which was enough to stand atop of the podium ahead of her rivals.
Also showing good form at the RS:X Europeans in Brest, France was Hong Kong’s Wai Yan Ngai who finished ninth.
Saskia Sills, picture credits David Branigan
The 2012 sailors making a reappearance in Cyprus alongside Sills include Sara Wennekes (NED), Blanca Alabau (ESP), Stefanie Schwarz (GER), Anastasia Moiseeva (RUS), Annalise Gilbert (AUS), Cristina Ortiz (MEX) and Momoka Hara (JPN).
RS:X Boys
The RS:X Boys field will be wide open with plenty of sailors in the fleet capable of taking gold with good experience behind them.
Argentina’s Bautista Saubidet recently won gold at the RS:X Open Youth Europeans in Brest, France as the top six featured five of the competitors set to sail in Limassol, Cyprus.
Saubidet sailed consistently all week to finish ahead of Polish representative Radoslaw Furmanski and Hong Kong’s Chun Ting Lee on the podium. Russia’s Evgeny Ayvazyan came through in fourth with Kieran Martin taking sixth.
On his victory ahead of the Youth Worlds Saubidet said, “That was a best feeling I ever had. It’s incredible to on top of the podium representing your flag. When I crossed the finish line in the last race I started crying because of the happiness.”
With a strong performance in France the Argentinean is confident he can carry that over to the Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds, “I was sailing very fast there so I hope to do the same, ” said Saubidet. “Every Championship is different and this is one of the hardest ones. I will go out and do my best and try to win because winning a gold medal in the ISAF Youth Worlds is one of my biggest dreams.”
Saubidet sailed at the event last year finishing eighth and has put in some long hours to push for a 2013 podium finish, “I have been training so much for this Championship. The last three months I trained very hard in the gym, running and trying to get better every day on the water. It was very hard for me because most times of the year I train alone and it’s hard to improve.”
Great Britain’s Kieran Martin won bronze at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games and will be looking to draw upon lessons learnt from Singapore as well as a ninth at the 2012 Youth Worlds, “That [Youth Olympic Games] was a great experience in terms of having all the people around, ” said Martin who is also a former Under 15 and Under 17 Techno World Champion.
Martin was hit and miss at the 2012 ISAF Youth Worlds and alongside eight top ten race finishes he was black flagged twice and on the course side once to count maximum points on three occasions. “I’m really looking forward to having another crack at it, ” added Martin, “I messed up a bit last year but I’ll go back and do it all again.”
Yago Carvlho (BRA), Ignacio Berenguer (MEX) and Oleksandr Tugaryev (UKR) all finished in the top ten in 2012 and will also be contenders for the top honours.
Racing at the 2013 Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds commences on 15 July through to 19 July in eight events.
Follow The Event
The 2013 Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds Live Blog will be following the event from 15-19 July. View it on the ISAF website here http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/editions/2013/live-blog.php.
Each course has its own Twitter account. @ISAFyw13_Alpha will be following the Laser Radials and 29er, @ISAFyw13_Bravo will be focusing on the RS:X windsurfers and @ISAFyw13_Charli will keep an eye on the 420s and SL16 fleets.
Images
Attached: Bautista Saubidet at the 2012 ISAF Youth Worlds please credit David Branigan / ISAF Youth Worlds and Saskia Sills celebrates after her victory last year please credit ISAF.
Editorial rights free images will be available during the event via ISAF’s Flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/isafmedialibrary
Video
Daily highlights and raw footage will be made available during the Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds. For specific requests please contact the ISAF Communications Department below.
Saskia Sills Ready To Defend Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds Title
URL – http://youtu.be/0oPUci9ebBA
Embed – <iframe width=”640″ height=”480″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/0oPUci9ebBA” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cyprus Ready For 2013 ISAF Youth Worlds
URL – http://youtu.be/E9ZdApllADI
Embed – <iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/E9ZdApllADI” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Contact
ISAF Communications Department
Tel: + 44 2380 635 111
Fax: + 44 2380 635 789
Email: marketing@isaf.com
Links
ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship
www.isafyouthworlds.com
ISAF Athlete Participation Programme
www.isafyouthworlds.com/app.
ISAF Youth Worlds Facebook site:
www.facebook.com/ISAFYouthWorlds
ISAF Youth Worlds YouTube
www.youtube.com/ISAFChannel
International Sailing Federation (ISAF)
www.sailing.org
Notes:
The ISAF Youth Worlds was first held in Sweden in 1971. The 2013 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Limassol, Cyprus will be the 43rd edition of the championship.
Past notable winners include American’s Cup skippers, Chris Dickson (NZL), Russell Coutts (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL); Olympic medallists, Robert Scheidt (BRA), Amelie Lux (GER), Ben Ainslie (GBR), Iain Percy (GBR), Alessandra Sensini (ITA), Elise Rechichi (AUS) and Tessa Parkinson (AUS); Volvo Ocean Race sailors like Stuart Bannatyne (NZL) and Richard Clarke (CAN). The most successful ISAF Youth World Champions are Great Britain’s Sally Cuthbert and Poland’s Zofia Klepacka having won four successive titles in the Laser II and Mistral respectively.
Great Britain is the current holder of the Nations Trophy, awarded annually to the top performing nation at the Youth Worlds. France is the most success nation through the history of the Championship, winning the Nations Trophy on a record 12 occasions and holding a record 70 medals: 22 gold, 30 silver and 18 bronze.
International Sailing Federation
The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is the world governing body for the sport of sailing.
ISAF is made up of over 130 Member National Authorities (MNAs), who are its principal members, and responsible for the decision making process that governs the sailing world.
There are currently more than 100 ISAF International, Recognized and Classic Yacht Classes, ranging from the small dinghy classes for young people up to 60 foot ocean racers.
Sailing
Sailing is a lifetime sport enjoyed right across the world.
The sport encompasses a massive range of disciplines and events including Olympic sailing, offshore sailing, windsurfing, match racing, team racing, fleet racing and disabled sailing.
Sailing first joined the Olympic programme at the Paris 1900 Olympic Games. Sailing was back on the Olympic programme for the London 1908 Olympic Games and has been a part of every Olympic Games since.
