International Yngling World Championship preview

International Yngling World Championship is being held in Sydney, Australia from 2nd to 8th January 2012. The regatta has got off to a great start with the combined Yngling Open Championship and Youth Gold Cup setting the pattern for spectacular one design racing on Sydney Harbour when the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron hosts the 2012 Worlds next week.

The Yngling World Championship is the first of two world championships being hosted by the Squadron to mark their 150th anniversary, the second being the International Etchells in February.

A fleet of 32 Ynglings contested the Open Championship and Youth Gold Cup series, sailing eight races over the past three days in excellent conditions on the Harbour. A fleet of 45 has entered for the Worlds.

The outcome of the Open Championship as a lead-up to the Worlds was a triumph for Sydney fleet sailor Michael Nash, sailing Slam, who won the final race to clinch an overall victory with a net 18 points. The Australian champion’s scorecard for the series was a consistent 2-2-3-4-6-2-4-1, giving him a clear winning margin.

An OCS in the final heat prevented current world champion Maarten Jamin, sailing Nynke from The Netherlands, any chance of beating Nash. The scorecard of Jamin, a dual world champion, was 8-6-2-2-7-3-2-OCS to finish with 30 points.

Third place overall went to another dual world champion from The Netherlands, Tom Otte, sailing Meyke, who finished on 37 points, while an impressive fourth was the Dutch youth crew on Mass & Roer, skippered by Anne-Chris’n Kengen who won two heats to finish on 39 points.

Next best of the Sydney fleet boats was Miss Pibb, skippered by Hamish Jarrett, who won the first race but slipped back to place fifth overall on 48 points.

A fleet of 45 boats, more than half of them from overseas, have entered for the 2012 International Yngling World Championship. Among the entrants are four past world champions and a former Olympic representative in the three-crew keelboat class.

Crews have arrived from Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden to race against 20 Australian crews, almost all racing out of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron..

The Netherlands has six crews competing, headed by Maarten Jamin and Tom Otte, while the Danish team of six boats includes Jorgen Ring, the 1978 World champion who has competed in every World title regatta since 1977. Australia’s Chris Harper has sailed in 25 worlds.

Also in the strong Australian team is Neville Wittey, who won the 1996 and 2004 World championship and also represented Australia at the 2000 Olympic Games in the Soling class, and Karyn Gojnich, who sailed as a crew member in the Yngling women’s class at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, as well as in the 470 women’s class at the 1988 Olympics.

Yngling World Championship website