ISAF Youth World Championships 2003.

Madeira

Madeira was a wonderful setting for the ISAF World Youth Sailing Championships held in late July. The climate and scenery are magnificent and the championship organisation was first class. The organisers laid on sun and good wind so that all classes were able to sail at least 11 races over the period. A first for the championship. In the 420s Ally Martin and Bethan Carden improved steadily during the week to grab the bronze medal, and the GBR team as a whole finished 4^th overall with all members completing in the first ten in their class.

The format of the event is that there are three disciplines of sailing, single handed, doublehanded, and sailboards with separate races for girls and boys. There is a course for each discipline.� The boats this year were Lasers, 420 and Windgliders, all of which are provided by the organisers. The boats are supplied on Thursday morning as a kit of parts. The practice race is on Friday and then the real racing starts on Saturday. Boat preparation skills are important. The GBR team was Callum MacDonald and Haakon Karlsen, Alison Martin and Bethan Carden (420s), Stephen Powell and Charlotte Dobson (Lasers) and Peter Bird and Stephanie Thompson (Windgliders) with coaches Tom Saunt, Mark Barron and Nick Sturgess.

Everyone met at Gatwick on Tuesday afternoon for the 3 hour flight out and got settled into the hotel. This hotel was taken over by the organisation and all sailors coaches and organisers stayed in it. On Wednesday it was a short drive to the sailing site, a new Marina on the south shore of the most eastern part of the island. Here the Island is less than 1 km� wide and by Madeira standards quite low. But it still has hills some 200 m high. These hills made the north east trade winds particularly gusty and shifty. From the high point you could see patches of black water skittering across the bay. They made good vantage points for watching the racing. The sails had national letters nearly a metre high so boats could be identified all over the course.

Thursday was boat rigging. This was largely completed by 4pm ready for a short sail. Then improvements were made ready for the practice race on Friday. This took ages to get started. The race committee tried to set the line a mile off shore in 20knots of breeze. Unfortunately none of the marks would hold. After 3 hours and moving� a bit in shore they were able to get a windward leeward course . What seemed to be the problem was that the water shelved so fast, that with over 300 metres depth and a rocky steep bed, nothing would hold. But a lesson was learnt and for the rest of the week the committees for all the classes stayed inshore with 2 mark courses. The programme ran to time but the wind was extremely shifty meaning that consistency was very hard to achieve.

Saturday�s racing was held in 12 -15 knots of wind. Three races were held for each class. Sunday was similar with another two races. In the 420s the Aussies shone in both flights. But after that positions were very varied. Both Callum and Haakon and Alison and Bethan started well some good and some more average results (despite some difficulty with sail damage) to be in the first 6 overall. On the Laser course Charlotte was just in the first 3 but Stephen was not so lucky. , capsized by a gust on the run on one race when leading.

Monday�s wind was lighter and even more shifty. The Aussie girls achieved a last in one race to go with all their other first and seconds. Ally and Bethan managed to win the lightest race moving them up to fourth. Callum and Haakon had a not so successful day dropping them slightly in the order. As did Charlotte and Stephen. The Windgliders continued with consistent places just in the first 10 in their races.

Tuesday was a lay day for sleeping. Wednesday was two more races in 10-15 knots. Although the placings looked up and down the overall results changed very little. Except Charlotte recovered a bit with a first place in race 9. Thursday blew hard. Ally and Bethan had a great day to finish 3^rd after being the only boat to carry its spinnaker all the way down the first run. This moved them to within 2 points of the 3^rd boat from Singapore. The German girls were flying and the French girls were starting to make ground on the Aussies. In the boys the Aussies were too good and the French were also consolidating. Callum and Haakon couldn�t make any ground on their opposition. Unfortunately for the race committee decided that one race was enough for most people so the final race was left for Friday.

On Friday again it started windy. Ally and Bethan failed to find the right route up the first beat and trailed the Singapore team. But again they flew down the run to second place and comfortably to their medal place points. They then had a good race with the French, Kiwis and Danes to finish third for their medal. The French girls finished the week strongly but had not done enough earlier in the week to get the Aussies. In the Lasers Stephen had a great finish by winning the last race. Charlotte Dobson held on well to finish 5^th overall.

The Aussies won both 420s (from the French), the Laser boys and were second in the Laser girls. They had both experience and speed with the same teams being 1^st and 2^nd in the doublehanders (29ers) last year. Team GBR sailed well with three of the� four dinghy teams winning races.� I am sure the team next year in Poland will have a great time and we wish them every success, who ever qualifies.