SLYC Junior sailor James Westhead has written about his experience at this year’s Topper World in France.
Jostling for position at the start of the world championships in Quiberon, I realised I had come a long way from my first Sunday sailing session at SLYC!
Being at the world championships was an amazing experience: meeting competitors from other nations, taking part in the opening parade and discovering the joys of how seriously the boat measurements were taken. However, racing is the same whether you do it at Strangford Lough or the World Championship – the wind will always shift, just when you really didn’t need it!
Light shifty winds made the qualification series over two days of racing tricky and frustrating with postponements but the hard work paid off and I qualified for the gold fleet for the finals. Seven others from the Northern Ireland sailing team also qualified into the gold fleet, some of whom were experienced at the world championship level and others like me who were experiencing it for the first time. The final championship series saw 7 races over the course of three days with conditions continuing to be light and shifty, and closely contested. It would have been great to have placed at the very top but not too bad for a first-timer coming 43rd! There were also lots of sailors from the Irish sailing team which meant that there was good craic on the water and afterwards on the shore. All of our coaches did a great job at getting us ready for the world championships and we all owe them a huge “thank you”. I should also thank Michelle Green, the parent of another competitor, who gave me so many great hints and tips. Next year’s worlds are in Wales, so not as far to go, but you will still have the chance to swap mementos with other sailors at the parade, the Chinese team T-shirts were hot property. Congratulations to all the sailors who took part and for making it such a fantastic experience.
Huge well done to all our Junior Sailors!
5.3 Fleet
Caroline Byrne -26th Gold fleet
James Westhead – 43rd Gold fleet
Charlie Haslett – 55th Gold Fleet
Max Boyd – 22nd Silver Fleet
4.2 Fleet
Daniel Long 9th
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