2016 Club Marine Victorian Junior and Youth Championships overall

by Yachting Victoria Media on 11 Apr 2016 Mornington Yacht Club played host to the 2016 Club Marine Victorian Junior and Youth Coaching Clinic and Championships. With over 150 boats, 190 competitors and more than 200 parents, volunteers and coaches this event was truly a collaborative effort from all.

The Coaching Clinic saw 10 classes attend with some athletes travelling from interstate and others as far as New Zealand to be here. This clinic welcomed some of Australia’s best coaches including International Cadet World Champion Coach Tony Bull, 2004 and 2008 Olympian Sarah Ogilvie and dual Olympian, Krystal Weir. Having such high quality coaches created a great level of respect to what what being taught and while also installing a strong work ethic.

All three days of the coaching clinic provided excellent training conditions; sailors were able to perfect their light wind technique and were able to learn necessary survival skills for unplanned squalls. Wednesday proved to test the mental and physical skills of the sailors when a strong squall passed through Port Phillip Bay and all classes were called back to shore. Darren Bundock attended the Championships to coach the up and coming Cat sailors and was able to reflect on his sailing career and learning to step outside his comfort zone.

“It’s important for sailors to be able to go out in conditions that are outside their comfort zone providing there is the necessary support around. For parents, understanding that equipment may be broken in heavier conditions and that it's all part of this sport allows you/ your child to push themselves and their boundaries to get to the next level in their sailing and having highly experienced coaches around is the best time to do this. Well done to those who embraced the tough conditions and well done to the coaches for creating this as a learning experience.'

Parents and coaches passed comments that this was the best coaching clinic Yachting Victoria has held and Yachting Victoria's Sailing Manager, Lesley Fasala, believes it comes down to the values installed by the coaches and parents:

“We’re seeing a new wave of junior and youth sailors coming through who are all eager to learn. It was great to see the coaches installing a strong work ethic and level of enjoyment in everyone. (Yachting Victoria) is always looking for ways to improve this event and we’ve received some great comments and feedback which we look forward to implementing in our future events.”

Along with the on water session the Coaching Clinic hosted three guest speakers delivering a holistic overview on the sport of sailing. Matti Clements, from Mental Edge Consulting, spoke about understanding the psychological aspects of sport as an athlete and as a parent, Glen Stanaway, from Yachting Australia, talked about rules, protests and how to deal with them and Warrick Pearson, AST, VIS and MyPhysio Physiotherapist, demonstrated the appropriate steps sailors should be taking to look after their bodies before, during and after sailing.

The coaching clinic finished with each of the athletes completing a class debrief on what they had accomplished over the past few days and what they intend to work on in the coming regatta and off-season.

The majority of those who participated in the Coaching Clinic stayed on to use those newly learned skills in some racing at the 2016 Club Marine Victorian Junior and Youth Championships across Saturday ninth – Sunday 10th April.

Chris Jackson, Rear Commodore of Mornington Yacht Club, Event Director to this regatta and PRO for the event has been involved with the coaching clinic and Championships for two years now and advocates that the sailing culture for an event or Yacht Club is created by the people involved there:

'We've got a great team of officials who understand sailing and love giving back to the junior and youth sailors. The flag officers at Mornington Yacht Club pride themselves on being approachable and welcoming and really enjoy being in the action. Being a sailor and a parent myself I understand what communications parents want when they're on shore. Despite the tiring nature of wearing two hats as PRO and Event Director I've been able to provide a running commentary of the decisions made by the Race Officers to the parents as soon as they occur - an advancement I believe should be used more often in modern race management.'

The size of the event attracted local FM sports radio station, 98.7 FM- The Voice of the Peninsula. This station was able to interview some of the key event personal and also sailors about how they're enjoying the event. For all the interviews visit their website by clicking here.

This event brings families and friends together, it creates camaraderie and promotes a strong work ethic. It’s great to see that although the Championships are a competition all sailors played fairly and tried to take as much from this experience as possible; this being said the racing was close and intense.

These Championships tested the skills that each athlete had learned over the last few days with conditions varying from 0 knots on Saturday to gusts of 23 knots of Sunday. Saturdays racing saw a mixed number of races conducted across the different classes with some such as the Lasers fitting only one race in while the 420’s were able to complete four races. As some classes were only able to get one race complete there was added pressure to get on the water on Sunday.

Sunday’s weather saw gusts of 20 – 25 knots in the morning which kept all classes except the Lasers and 420s postponed on shore. As the weather dissipated the remaining junior and youth classes were released and were able to join the others in completing the Championships. All classes ended up completing between five and seven seven races - providing a great playing field for all competitors. After a long day on the water, all classes returned to shore to attend the prize giving ceremony.

Along with the winners each Class the 2016 Victorian Sailing Team was announced. These sailors have proven earned some outstanding results and have committed themselves for the next season to high performance sailing.

Congratulations to all competitors and thank you to all the volunteers, coaches, parents and staff that made this event a great success. A huge thank you goes to out to our sponsor, Club Marine Insurance, who are great supporters of sailing in Victoria and who made this event a reality.

Below is a list of the winners in each Class:

The scholarship holders for the 2016/17 season are: