RSYC Youth Match Racing Champs

by Dave Moxey, RSYC on 26 Jun 2007 The Royal Selangor Yacht Club, in association with the RSYC Sailing Academy, and with the approval of the Malaysian Yachting Association, is pleased to announce the inaugural 'Selangor Gapurna International Youth Match Racing Regatta', believed to be the first of its kind in Malaysia (and perhaps South East Asia). Participants are all required to be under the age of 26 at the start of the Regatta.

The event, fully sponsored by the Gapurna Group, will see 12 teams of international standard youth sailors competing on the testing waters of the Klang Estuary.

Indications are that the entry will be full well in advance of the event, with provisional entries so far from Australia (2), Philippines (1), Hong Kong (1), Thailand (1) Malaysia (3) and Singapore (1). This is a superb indicator as to the need for organised youth specific keelboat one-design regattas in the region.

This is the second Gapurna-sponsored event targeting youth sailing to be organised by the Royal Selangor Yacht Clubs Sailing Academy, with the specific aim of producing keelboat sailors of international ability from the region as a whole.

The fleet racing event earlier this month (June 2007) constituted the nucleus of an International Youth Racing Circuit, with Singapore SMU now aiming to host a Youth OD Championship in August or September this year, building on the success of the Gapurna-sponsored initiative by RSYCSA.

It is hoped that there will be a youth OD class – Platus - at next year’s Presidents Cup Regatta in the Philippines, and we hope to further develop the tour to include a one design racing event in Thailand, either at Phuket or Pattaya, in 2008.

This will give our existing Asian youth dinghy sailors a development programme to move from dinghies into keelboats and yacht racing classes.

The development of youth sailing does not come without a cost, and without the financial support of Gapurna Group we would not have been able to get the initial events running in Malaysia, nor would our Malaysian teams be able to travel so widely. We are currently seeking sponsors for all of the planned events, and would welcome enquiries from any interested parties, at any level, to support the initiative.