The Youth Sailing Academy took part in its first interstate match racing competition in more than 12 months last week when a team flew to Perth for the City of Perth Youth Cup, hosted by Swan River Sailing (SRS).
The YSA Team of Finn Tapper, James Hodgson, Louis Schofield, Will Sargent and Nick Rozenauers finished in third position after the three-day competition.
The Regatta was sailed onboard SRS’s fleet of Foundation 36s in front of Perth city, and our YSA Team completed a triple round robin, semi-finals and finals against five strong Western Australian teams. Like many events over the past 12 months, SRS made the decision to host an alternative event to their annual Warren Jones Memorial Regatta which is usually conducted in February each year.
As part of the Regatta, the youth teams also took part in a beach clean up initiative set up by SRS with over 18 bags of rubbish collected along Elizabeth Quay and Perth’s waterfront.
The City of Perth Regatta gave teams the opportunity to participate in a smaller event while gaining valuable experience in the largest match racing boats used on the youth sailing circuit. The opening day saw a light sou-west breeze of 5-7 knots, making it ideal conditions for the newer teams who sped around the confined racetrack in Elizabeth Quay.
The lighter conditions saw our CYCA team come out firing, finishing the first round robin in second position behind Alpha Racing (Will Boulden).
The following two days saw a strange, gusty westerly breeze fill in, condensing the racing area even further, with an approximate leg length of 350 metres. The short track put an emphasis on good starting and crew work.
In a hard-fought semi-final, the YSA team went down fighting, losing 2-3 to Ethan Prieto-Low and his SRS Team. In the petit-final, the YSA team managed to claim the final podium position, winning 2-1 over Marcello Torre.
Applications for the Youth Sailing Academy’s Winter Squads is now open. The 2021 Winter Squads are expected to be some of the strongest in recent years, after the YSA has won back-to-back World Championships in youth match racing in 2019 and 2020, along with another eight national titles over the past five years.
