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New Zealand’s top young sailors will soon battle it out for the title of national youth champion in five classes – and for a spot at this year's Youth Sailing World Championships.
Entries are officially open for the 2023 New Zealand Youth Championships, which will be held at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club in Auckland from 29 September to 2 October. It will once again be a selection trial for the New Zealand youth sailing team.
The four-day regatta is open to all youth classes and will include both windfoiling and kitefoiling - which is making its Olympic debut at next year's Paris Games.
Competitors in the ILCA 6, 29er, 420, kitefoil, and iQFOil 8m classes are encouraged to enter with all competitors required to be under the age of 19 on 31 December 2023.
The winner of each youth class will be put forward for nomination to be considered by the New Zealand selectors for the youth worlds, which will be held in the coastal resort town of Armação dos Búzios, Brazil from 8 to 16 December.
Yachting New Zealand talent development manager Geoff Woolley is pleased to see the return of the New Zealand Youth Championships to a standalone event after last year being incorporated into the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta.
“The youth champs are an important event on the annual calendar and we’re expecting some high-quality racing again,” Woolley said.
“It’s also an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the national youth team for Brazil – where our top talent can test themselves against the rest of the world, something they don’t often get the chance to do.”
Hugo Wigglesworth represented New Zealand at the 2022 youth worlds and will be a contender again this year. Photo / Adam Mustill Photography
A 15-strong New Zealand team returned to the youth worlds in The Hague in 2022 after a three-year absence due to Covid-19, with George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies claiming bronze in the 29er.
Three other Kiwi crews finished in the top 10 overall with Helena Sanderson and Cam McGlashan fifth in the Nacra 15, Hugo Wigglesworth seventh in the kitefoiling and Lucas Day and Sam Scott ninth in the 420.
New Zealand also finished seventh in the standings for the Nations Trophy, with Spain, France, and Italy in the top three.
The Youth Sailing World Championships is the pinnacle event for youth sailors and runs along similar lines to the Olympics, in which only one entry from each country is selected to compete in each class.
As many as 450 sailors from 69 countries competed in the Netherlands last year.
New Zealand has a proud history of success at the event, having won 56 medals since the first event in 1971, and past notable winners include Alex Maloney, Blair Tuke, Chris Dickson, Jo Aleh, Russell Coutts, Dean Barker and Stuart Bannatyne.
To enter the 2023 New Zealand youth championships, click here.
Entries close on September 17.
