The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) welcomed some of the world’s top youth sailors for the RS Tera World Championships last week from 28 July to 2 August, with 122 entries made up of 50 Pros and 72 Sports drawn from 9 countries.
There was ample excitement amongst the young fleet as their event coincided with the anniversary of London 2012, where the world’s top sailors battled for gold on the waters. For the rising stars, to begin their own World Championship in the wake of their Olympic heroes was very fitting.
The 29 July saw the start of the event, with wind strengths too high to race WPNSA put on some supervised sailing as a warm up for the competitors who were itching to get out there and get accustomed to the venue before their opening ceremony at 5pm.
The youth sailors got straight into the action with three races taking place on the first day of competitive racing; the competition was high with a great deal of determination and skill shown by all participants. By Wednesday, South African youth sailor, Georgou had taken a comfortable lead; however there was still plenty to play for amongst the budding young sailors as they provided some top-level racing throughout the week.
The week continued and the RS Tera fleet were greeted with beautiful sailing conditions on their last full days racing, with sunshine and the wind at around 10 knots. The young sailors lead out on to the water as the sun beamed down on the academy, where many of the parents spent the afternoon enjoying the Academy’s café and the spinnakers balcony, both offering glorious views of the racing.
The prize giving was held at WPNSA, a lovely setting right on the waters the top youth sailors had been competing on. Winners then took their place on the podium, one year on from the Games where the likes of Ben Ainslie graced the same spot; it was a special finale for the RS Tera fleet competitors.
The event was a great success, with WPNSA drawing in some of the country’s top young racers, as well as attracting interest from overseas competitors who came to challenge themselves in the UK’s waters. The RS Tera fleet provided top-level racing and WPNSA look forward to hosting their future events.
