Great to see the following announcement from Australian Sailing.
Another exciting opportunity awaits Australia’s brightest young sailing talent, with the Australian Sailing Board confirming the nation’s re-entry to the Youth Sailing World Championships (YSWC).
The move will see Australia return to the YSWC in 2025 and in future editions, following a wide-ranging and exhaustive consultation process that engaged key stakeholders across our sport and community.
Australian Sailing exists to grow sailing by leading, inspiring and supporting sailors and their communities, and remains committed to the ongoing development of youth sailors in accordance with our SAILING 2032 strategy.
YouthSail events are generating greater interest and growth in participation numbers with over 1000 sailors in 2024, while the Australian Sailing Youth Squad is providing development opportunities for sailors with aspirations to represent Australia on the world stage.
“We are delighted that we have been able to re-introduce the option for selected youth sailors to represent Australia at the YSWC,” said Australian Sailing President Shevaun Bruland.
“The original decision to stop sending teams in 2022 was scheduled to be reviewed this year, and through that process we have listened to our stakeholders and been able to find a way to re-enter the YSWC without compromising our existing strategy.”
The decision to re-enter the YSWC was made after consultation with stakeholders including National Class Associations, Australian Sailing Youth Squad parents/carers, World Sailing, Australian Sailing Performance Pathways staff, Member Yachting Associations, Regional Advisory Committees and Affiliated Clubs who run Youth Development coaching programs.
Australian Sailing acknowledges there has been declining numbers in some youth classes and expect this decision will assist with participation growth.
“We look forward to continuing to work in close collaboration with National Class Associations to welcome more sailors to our sport and are keenly interested in finding strategies and solutions to keeping them engaged as life-long sailors in whichever pathways they choose to participate,” Bruland said.
Participation and Youth strategies remain Australian Sailing’s key focus and funding priority, including strong coaching programs within clubs and class associations, YouthSail events and Youth Squad, giving more youth sailors access to age and stage appropriate initiatives at this critical time.
The Australian Sailing Board has approved a model where re-entry to the YSWC can complement these existing programs.
Re-entry to the YSWC includes:
- Australian Sailing generating and delivering a Selection Policy
- As the recognised Member National Authority (MNA) by World Sailing in Australia, Australian Sailing is responsible for the selection and entry of team members (including athletes, coaches and a team leader) to participate in the YSWC
- All selected athletes attend the YSWC on a self-funded basis
Australian Sailing encourages all sailors interested in competing at the 2025 YSWC to complete an informal Expression of Interest (EOI) by 9am AEST on 13 May 2025, which can be found here.
Due to the timing of World Sailing’s YSWC entry deadline, this is an informal EOI to assist in determining the interest and availability of sailors in each class, with a formal EOI process to take place as part of the YSWC team selection process.
The Australian Sailing Youth website will house all YSWC information and links. The 2025 YSWC selection policy inclusive of all selection regattas will be available there on 1 July 2025, with planning for the 2026 YSWC selection policy to commence soon thereafter.
We look forward to seeing young Australian sailors seize their opportunities and grow into the next generation of sailing stars— on their own terms and at every level.
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