2021 LASER UNDER-21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

IMAGES © ROBERT HADJUK, SHUTTERSAIL.COM

2021 LASER UNDER-21

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

IJUST WANTED TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU to Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club for their assistance in getting myself overseas this year. I wouldn’t have financially been able to afford to come earlier to Europe for these Worlds if it wasn’t for your support. So, thank you!

I was lucky enough to get permission to leave Australia a few weeks before U21 Worlds started. I really wanted to do this event but due to a lot of factors It wasn’t realistic to go earlier to Europe. However, a few things fell in place and before you knew it, I decided to come do the event and five days later, I was on a plane out of Australia.

The last time I competed overseas was 2019 in Poland, Gdynia at the World Sailing Youth Championships. I went into the last race of the regatta leading the Worlds but didn’t execute well enough and got a silver medal. Even though the silver medal was good, I was disappointed. Fast forward to U21 Worlds this year, and they are at the same venue in Gdynia, which I was really excited about.

The pre-regatta training was exciting. Being around 20–70 boats just for training races felt so different. I wasn’t consistent enough in the pre-regatta training. I was either winning races or being quite deep, so it took a bit of time to be more automatic with my starting and racing processes.

Day 1 of racing was 0–7 knots, with 4 hours on water waiting for wind. It was kind of cool to be back in that environment where you have to stay switched on the whole day, not just a 3-hour training session. We had 3–4 general recalls for race 1 (70 boats on the line) and I managed to have a good start, just didn’t execute well enough on my first upwind. I scored a 30th which didn’t faze myself too much. The next race I sailed the same strategy, but I executed my first beat a lot better and won the race.

Day 2 was 8–14 knots, shifty and heavily cloud influenced. I scored a 2,1 but still wasn’t executing as well as I could. Day 3 was 10–16 knots and a more steadier wind

direction. I scored a 1,1 going into finals racing (Gold Fleet – Top 70) the next day. Day 4 was a weird day. Offshore breeze ranging from 5–16 knots and big differences in pressure. I scored a 1,2 but it was a tough day where I managed risk a bit better than everyone else. Day 5, we spent 2 hours on shore waiting and 4 hours on water for the wind to not be as light and shifty. We got one race away and I posted a 7th but weren’t able to get any more racing in after that.

The last day I had a 23-point lead over second place but had a 30th as my discard. The regatta only let you drop one race, so with 3 races planned I had to have a solid day if I wanted to win Worlds.

I got down to the boat park and there wasn’t any wind.

We waited onshore for an hour and got sent out with the wind being 2–5 knots, shifting 40 degrees and constant rain.

They tried to start us three times in these conditions, with their last attempt to start us at 14:59, one minute before last warning signal. It was so hard to stay switched on and be under the mindset that we will race in these conditions. 1min until the start, it was so Pinn End bias, half the boats are racked up on starboard and the other half on port tack. Three big horns were let out to abandon the race and that was it. I won the Worlds. It wasn’t a screaming and jumping celebration, but I just sat down in my boat and took it in. I was so focused on the racing I didn’t realise that it was over until I was on top of the podium at presentations while the National Anthem was playing. The whole week was an incredible experience, racing with boats again and being able to finally win a World Championships in Gdynia. I’m in Marseille, France now doing some training before I head off to Bulgaria for the Senior Europeans. A few weeks after Bulgaria in November, I’ll be competing at the senior World Championships in Barcelona before I try head back home. I also understand how fortunate I am to be here in Europe while parts of Australia are struggling in lockdown and have friends/family stuck abroad. My thoughts go to you and I hope for better days ahead.

Lastly, I’m very thankful for the support from the Western Australian Institute of Sport especially Head coach Belinda Stowell. The Australian Laser Squad was a massive part of my development as well, letting me join them last year and train in a great environment during the period where we couldn’t compete. Coaches Michael Blackburn, Ben Walkemeyer, Arthur Brett, Matt Jerwood were a big part of this journey the past few years. Ron Tough Yachting Foundation was also a big part of my support team. So thank you!