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With one day to go New Zealand is assured of a gold medal at the 2013 Sail First ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships now drawing to a close in Cyprus with Isaac McHardie (Hamilton Yacht Club/RAYC) and Micah Wilkinson (Ngaroto Sailing Club/RAYC) now unbeatable in the SL16 multihull. Across the other four classes where the 2013 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team feature, our sailors remain in the top seven places with Markus Somerville and Jack Simpson (Wakatere Boating Club) now in 2nd place and eyeing a podium finish in the 29er skiff. Just one day remains with only one race on the schedule to determine the final placings.

The first day of the regatta dawned dull and overcast with virtually no breeze - but the locals said the wind would come and it did with an Ora wind arriving around 11am and whilst it started off a little shifty by the time racing was underway it was a good 15-18 knots with a few good gusts to watch out for.

In a departure from previous years, the RORC Rating Office launched a competition on 15th July to select the photograph that will grace the front cover of the 2014 edition of the RORC IRC Yearbook, published by Yachting World.

The last two days before the 2013 Optimist World Championships has seen plenty of activity and the town of Garda, Italy has filled with opti sailors, supporters and all their gear - there are certainly some great sites to be seen with teams all loaded up and truly set to travel around Europe. Several teams have been 'in camp' for two months doing a circuit around Europe and the confidence amongst these teams is high.

The Sail First ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships on now in Limassol, Cyprus has passed the mid way mark and all five of the 2013 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team remain in the top six places in their fleets.

This drill is designed to get sailors starting in the centre of the start line.

This drill is designed to improve the sailors boat handling skills by maneuvering their boat around the mark without tacking.

The Day that almost was. Bright sunshine, gentle breeze, excited sailors ready for the first real day of competition. One of us out on a patrol boat ready for duty when the AP went up and an ominous dense , white mass approached very quickly.

The 2013 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team have returned more solid results from day two of the Sail First ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships on now in Limassol, Cyprus. The New Zealand crews are now all within the top six of their respective fleets with Isaac McHardie (Hamilton Yacht Club) and Micah Wilkinson (Ngaroto Sailing Club) still leading the SL16 event and Sam Barnett and Zak Merton (pictured above) (Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club) improving to 3rd overall in the boy’s 420.