Youth Worlds - Medallists' reactions on the water in pictures

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZ on 21 Dec 2016 There were a range of emotions on display as each class finished its final race in the Aon Youth World Sailing Championship.

For five of the nine classes the Gold medal had already been decided the day before, and in a couple of others there was only a mathematical chance of the Yellow bib wearer not going on to turn that into a Gold medal. In others it was tight end tense.

Despite those sometimes pre-determined outcomes there was plenty at stake with the other medals and places, in a regatta for many in which there is no 'next year', as they are too old to be eligible.

Our photo boat managed to get to all but one of the class finishes (or in one case caught the competitors within a few minutes of the race finish). The emotions ranged from complete elation at a goal achieved, to despair at what might have been, and to the very poignant sight of the Israeli sailors winning three medals in a series from which they were effectively, and very disturbingly, banned for political reasons in 2015 - when in two classes they had current World Youth Champions.

One of those Yoav Omer in the Boys RS:X windsurfer was still eligible to compete and won in emphatic style winning nine of the 13 races sailed.

The final day of racing did not have Medal races as such - just a final fleet race - providing a contrast with the Olympic regatta in August.

For the all the talk about the Medal race concept putting it all on the line etc with its pernicious double points scoring and reduced fleet size, supposedly made for television, having been on the water for the Final/Medal races for both Regattas, there is little doubt that the Final race concept is far superior.

The whole fleet is involved, and fleet sizes/total competitor numbers were at the Youth Worlds were greater than the Olympics. The size of the fleet meant that the artificial double points weighting for the small fleet is irrelevant. It keeps all competitors involved in the regatta right to the end. And the spectacle of fleets of greater than 20 boats is a lot more impressive than the compact Medal race fleets of 10 boats.

While winning a Medal at a Youth Worlds (staged annually) is not on a par with winning an Olympic Medal at the end of a four year campaign, everyone is well aware that the Youth sailors are treading in the footsteps of some great Olympic sailors and Medalists, and this is really the first chance for the sailing world to applaud the emergence of this sailing talent.

The images really tell the story of the emotions of the day.