The Youth scheme has recently been represented at the Harken Youth International at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and the Musto Youth International at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, both in Sydney.
At the Harken regatta we had Sam Mackay leading the team of Ben Caundle, Kate Johnson- Lee, Stuart Williams and Will Eastman. The team got through the round robin stage relatively easily relishing in the moderate to heavier breezes. However when it came to the semi-final stages the breeze was down and the team had to take on a far lighter team. This made it difficult to keep the racing close if their opposition from CYCA got a sniff of the lead. Unfortunately they ended up losing the semi. However the team bounced back well to defeat the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Team in the petit final to take out the third place overall.
For the next event at CYCA Will Eastman jumped off the bow to helm the boat and James Ayr replaced Stu Williams in the middle of the boat. In a very tough Round Robin phase the team won 7 races to tie for fifth with four other boats before going into the knockout stages. With a tough tiebreak the team only had the opportunity to sail off for ninth and tenth place. They sailed well to claim ninth overall.
The Youth Scheme Squad will continue training over summer in the build up to the Youth International in Auckland and the CentrePort Youth Regatta in February 2015.