This month we caught up with Youth Sailing Academy graduate Kyle Langford, from Barcelona. Kyle now lives in Europe, but since his first years of catching the train down to Sydney from Port Macquarie, for YSA Winter Squads, Kyle Langford has become a highly sought after sailing athlete – one of Australia’s finest exports.
To mark the 30-year anniversary of the YSA’s inception, he reflects on the CYCA’s training program, as a truly formative experience. One that physically and mentally helped him, to be the kind of sailor he is today.
Kyle has just joined American Magic America’s Cup 37 Challenger as coach. He currently serves as wing trimmer, for the Australia SailGP Team, having joined Tom Slingsby’s crew just before the start of the 2019 inaugural season. Kyle’s role onboard the Flying Roo helped Australia win both the first two seasons of the SailGP. Kyle also competed in multiple America’s Cups, including winning in 2013 it as part of the American Team and in the Team Brunel in the 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race.
Reflecting on the 30th anniversary of the Youth Sailing Academy, Kyle says the program, staff, Club atmosphere and training, is second to none globally.
How old were you when you started at YSA? How did you get into it?
“I got into the YSA through my older brother. When I started, I was only 15. I couldn’t drive, so getting to the Club in Sydney, was a bit harder for me.
“I grew up a little bit further north, so, to do the YSA was a bit of an effort. But the YSA just had that reputation of, you know, if you’re a young kid, and you want to try racing and sailing bigger boats then you had to go there.
Did you always know you wanted to sail professionally?
“I loved sailing from when I was younger. I wasn’t necessarily the best sailor, I just knew that I loved it. So, all I wanted to do was go sailing.
“For me, it was a pretty easy decision to make, I guess the commitment over the winter – to come down on the weekends – do the YSA squads om Saturday, and the Winter Series on the Sunday, for me it was a pretty easy call to make. I was happy to sacrifice other things in life as a 16-year-old, to do that kind of thing.
How does the YSA compare to others you have experienced overseas?
“I think the YSA is second to none. I mean, it’s the best program in the world. It’s been instrumental in my career and giving me the experiences, I needed.
What was the stand out feature?
“I think the one really good thing about it, is just the differences in age in the group. When I did the YSA, I was the youngest for my years. I was always with the older kids, and the older members of the YSA, were the ones who really taught me.”
“It was great, we had great coaches and great support from the Club, but it was the older students within the squad, which were coaching the younger ones. From this I got a huge benefit. I managed to take this forward so much, into of the rest of my sailing.
How did the YSA give you an edge?
“I think compared to other countries in the world, from what I have seen, they just don’t quite have that level of collaboration and camaraderie. The YSA gave us a little bit more. It made sailing less about the individual, more about one, big, squad, working together.
Did you get to sail a variety of boats in your youth, through being part of the YSA?
“Yeah, it was great to do the macro thing on the Elliotts, but also the CYC Club Members giving up positions on their boats, to have YSA kids sailing them in the Winter Series, was just another great bit of experience. If it was not for the generosity of those Members, and the experience would be a little bit different. That was also a big part of the YSA, the Members are there, to get behind that program and offer positions on their boats, for the other young sailors to gain experience.”
Langford now resides in Stockholm, Sweden with his wife and two kids, where he likes to spend his time drone piloting, cycling and kitesurfing, whenever he is not sailing. His sail making company Seagull recently joined with Doyle’s sails from its home in Sweden.
Like Kyle, Many of Australia’s most celebrated sailors, started their careers at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Youth Sailing Academy (YSA).
On Friday 15 September, the CYCA will proudly celebrate the YSA’s 30th anniversary, by inviting members of the sailing community to a special dinner at the Club and tickets are still available.
If you are unable to attend, but would like to make a tax deductable donation towards the
Academy through the Australia Sports Foundation, please click here.
Best wishes to the Sail GP Team in St. Tropez this weekend 9/10 September, Follow Kyle here on Instagram
