The 2019 World Sailing Youth Match Racing World Championship will begin tomorrow with Australia represented by Tom Grimes, James Hodgson, Jess Grimes and Harry Hall. Twelve teams from 12 nations will contest the 5-day event, hosted by Komatek Yacht Club in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

This will be the third time the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has contested the World Championship, having returned as Silver Medallist’s in the 2016 World Championship, and winning the 2017 Youth Match Racing World Championship.

The start of competition will mark the final stage of this team’s long campaign towards the World Championship, which has included the past two NSW State titles, and Australian National titles to their name.

Having arrived on Friday morning, the team has spent the past three days training on Verkh-Isetskiy Prud, using the Club’s fleet of Ricochet-747s, getting to grips with the new type of yacht and tricky lake conditions.

The biggest competition for the week no undoubtedly will come from our close friends at Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, with Nick Egnot-Johnson entering the competition as the highest ranked competitor at World #11. Great Britain’s Matt Whitfield (#21), along with Sweden’s Mans Holmberg (#23) are seeded second and third, in front of our Australian entry as current World #24.

Strong competition is also expected from France’s Aurelien Pierroz, who spent summer training in Perth, WA. Rocco Attili will be looking to defend Italy’s World Championship crown, after fellow countryman Bottocini won in 2018.

Other nations including Denmark, United States of America, Russia, Poland, Japan and the Czech Republic  complete this year’s World Championship line up.