Wilson siblings selected to represent Britain at ISAF Youth Worlds
Daniel and Emma Wilson from Christchurch, topped the RS:X leader board at the 2015 RYA ISAF Youth Worlds Selection Event.
As
well as both winning their respective classes the Wilsons were selected to
represent Great Britain on an international stage at the 2015 ISAF Youth
Sailing World Championships 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.”