A tough Tavira test for the British Youth Sailing Team 

The 2014 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships come to a close in Tavira, Portugal.

The British Youth Sailing Team can leave Tavira with their heads held high as the 2014 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships came to a close on Friday (18 July) after a tough week of racing at the Portuguese venue.

With light variable winds, postponements and long delays across the five days of racing, Britain’s young racing talents found the light Mediterranean style conditions challenging as they battled it out in five classes across eight events against 67 competing nations. 

And although the British team left the 44th edition of the prestigious event empty-handed this time around, Team Coach Oli Woodcock maintains his team of twelve have gained an invaluable experience from competing at the world’s premier youth sail racing event. 

“It has been a really tough week of racing out here in Tavira. We had a light sea breeze, which on most days didn’t fill in until late in the afternoon, which meant the sailors had to deal with long postponements and racing late on in the day. It is disappointing to leave Tavira without any medals but each and every sailor has given it their all this week and can walk away with their heads held high. They have shown great professionalism all throughout the event, have dug deep in some extremely challenging conditions and have stuck to their processes even when things weren’t going their way.” 

“Many of our sailors who we had here this week would have been in with shot at a podium finish on a different week here in Tavira - we were just extremely unlucky with a light wind regatta. Our sailors, unfortunately, are inexperienced in these types of light Mediterranean style conditions as we just don’t get the opportunity to race and train in them when back home in the UK.

“Saying that, it has been a great experience for them to learn as much as possible from this type of regatta and to be up against the best sailors from around the world who are masters of light wind sailing,” explained Woodcock.  

“Some team members still have their class World Championships to come which I’m sure they will all be fired up for after such a frustrating regatta here this week. It is now a great chance for the sailors to identify their weaknesses and to use this regatta as a springboard for other major events this summer.”  

Imogen Sills was the highest placed Brit finishing fifth overall in the girls RS:X windsurfing event. After an impressive opening day to the regatta, with her first international race win on the RS:X, the 17-year-old was disappointed not to have finished higher up the leaderboard on what was her first and last attempt at an ISAF Youth Worlds medal.  

“I’m happy with the process goals but am slightly disappointed with my overall result – I kind of wish I could have held onto my lead from day one but it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Sills.

“Today was a good day and I really enjoyed the breeze that we had. I am really happy that I managed to move up a place today from sixth to fifth. I proved today and on the first day that I am one of the fastest out on the race track when the breeze is up which is positive I guess. I have trained all winter in the big breeze so to know that I performed well in the conditions I have trained in is a good thing to take away.”  

29er sailors Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach bowed out in style, recording their first race win of regatta in the final race of the series. The pair finished seventh overall, with Peach admitting it was the perfect way to end what has been a tricky week of racing.  

“Winning that last race today was absolutely amazing for us. It has been a really tough week of racing with such a competitive 29er fleet so to finish on a high was just great! We had two days of racing where we could have and should have done a lot better, but we kept our heads high, kept plugging away at the process goals and managed to get a good result in the end.”  

“The breeze started to build towards the end of today which is why I think we did so well and which is why I think a lot of other GBR boats had a good final day, we love the wind so it was a shame it arrived so late on in the regatta,” said the 29er crew from Torquay.  

Tim Riley-James Taylor and Sarah Norbury-Mari Davis finished their regattas off in 10th position overall in the girls and boys double handed 420 class. Riley, who was one of two ISAF Youth Worlds veterans for the British team, was pleased to have finished seven places higher than his 2013 result.  

Riley said: “You always wish you can do slightly better and you always want to be in contention for a medal but when you come out here and you see how good some of these guys really are you have to sort of readjust your aims. For us we readjusted to aim for a top ten and we managed that today so we are really happy, and of course it’s a great for me to be able to improve on my result from last year’s regatta, especially in a fleet which was a lot more competitive this time around.”  

15-year-old Jamie Calder, the youngest member of the British Youth Sailing Team, gave a good account of himself in the 57 strong Laser Radial fleet. Making his Youth Worlds debut, the young Scot posted two top five finishes across the nine race series to finish 18th overall. Ellie Cumpsty finished 13th in the girls Radial event, while Robert York finished 11th in the boys RS:X windsurfing event.  

On his Youth Worlds debut, Calder said: “The ISAF Youth Worlds is a fantastic event and it has been a great experience to be here competing and to be a part of the British team. It has been everything and more than I expected it to be and it has been a great honour to represent Great Britain at such a prestigious event.”  

2013 ISAF Youth Worlds bronze medallist Oli Greber was unable to repeat his success from Limassol, Cyprus. Competing with crew Jess Eales in the mixed multihull event, the pair finished 11th.

Mark Nicholls, RYA Youth Racing Manager, commented: “The reality is that most of the team have sailed pretty well and done about as well can be expected, it’s just that they are not skilled enough at the current time in the type of conditions we have experienced in Tavira. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, they have all given it everything and should be proud of their efforts.”  

For the latest news and information from the British camp follow the team on Facebook or on Twitter @RYAyouthracing.

For further information on the 2014 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships and the full list of results visit the event website.