Dublin Bay, Ireland played host to the annual ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships this July 12th through the 21st. Ojai residents and brothers, Dane Wilson (17) and Quinn Wilson (15) represented the US team in the 29er class. Dane and Quinn are members of the US Olympic Sailing Development Team and qualified back in January 2012 at the US Sailing ISAF Youth Qualifier event held in Long Beach, CA for the right to represent the US at the Youth Worlds.
ISAF Youth Sailing Worlds is held annually in various locales around the globe, first held in Sweden in 1971. This year’s event, the 42nd championship, hosted 61 countries and 355 competitors across seven different types of sailing craft. The event simulates Olympic competition for competitors 19 years and under and is the breeding ground for the sport’s future Olympians.
Dane and Quinn have been training daily for the past six months in preparation. Dane summarizes their thoughts, “This is the pinnacle of youth sailing. It was first just an amazing realization to have qualified, but after we got further along in our training we felt we had a good chance to finish in the top five at Worlds.”
Competing against 24 other International teams in the 29er class, Dane and Quinn started strong winning the first race of the seven-day event, ending day one in second overall. The remaining days saw a battle ensue between the top eight teams including last year’s Gold medal winning team from Spain. The racing remained close through out with Dane and Quinn posting 6 top five finishes over the 12 race series to conclude the event in fourth place overall, the best result from any of the US teams attending this year’s event, along with fellow US team member Mitchell Kiss sailing in the Laser Radial class.
The sailing venue in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland featured extremely challenging conditions with squalls, rain, and shifting winds varying in strength from 10-25 knots. Quinn describes their preparation: “We knew the wind in Ireland was going to be higher than we usually have here in the Santa Barbara area, so we spent lots of time practicing away from home under windier conditions. This helped a ton. We are much smaller than most of the top International teams so we had to make up the difference by perfecting our technique and being as strong as possible. We also spent lots of time in the gym trying to bulk up!”
For a detailed account of Dane and Quinn’s adventure in Ireland their family penned a blog featuring daily posts and photographs, which can be found at: http://TeamDQYouthWorlds2012.blogspot.com.
For results and more information and event coverage visit the ISAF Youth Worlds website at: http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/.
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