ISAF Youth Sailing Worlds – Siblings to represent Britain

by RYA on 9 Sep 2015 2015 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships – As well as both winning their respective classes the Wilsons were selected to represent Great Britain on an international stage in Malaysia in December.

A full schedule of racing took place over three days (29-31 August) with sailors competing for the one selection spot in each class at Hayling Island Sailing Club.

Both were inevitably very happy to win the event and a spot on the British ISAF Youth Worlds team. Emma who won the event convincingly, hopes to continue her winning form in Malaysia said: “I am pretty happy, I wanted to go to Malaysia the whole time and I have done it so that’s good. “I want to medal when I go, I hate coming fourth after Poland and I know I can do it.”

At the RS:X Youth World Championships earlier this year, Emma finished a disappointing fourth in Gdynia, Poland, a result, she does not wish to repeat. Older brother Daniel faced fierce competition from Andy Brown (Largs) and James Hatcher (Bristol Corinthian) although still managed to come out on top: “Both have improved a lot over the summer, Andy has had a couple of good results and has a lot of confidence at the moment. James is our training partner so knows how to race. It was always going to be tough whatever.”

After winning here in Hayling, Daniel now looks forward to competing for medals at the ISAF Youth Worlds: “I’m pretty happy with my results here. Hopefully we can now go on to Malaysia, where I want to win a medal.”

The 2015 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships will be held in Langkawi, Malaysia from the 27 December 2015 – 3 January 2016, open to competitors aged 19 and under the event brings together the best youth sailors from across the world to compete for Youth World Champion glory.

The RYA have currently selected a team of 12 sailors who will represent British Youth Sailing. The event is a proven talent indicator, past notable British winners include Olympic champions Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy.

Oli Woodcock, the Team Leader said: “I think we have a really strong team heading out to Malaysia with a lot of fresh faces. We are going to work with all of the sailors to create tailored training plans we need to make sure they work around their school commitments. We will then meet once as a team in December. “I think we have a good chance of medals in a lot of the classes and I’m really looking forward to working with them all over the next few months.”