Ready to race at the 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships

Great Britain’s best young talents are ‘excited and ready to go’ as they head into the final countdown for the Youth Sailing World Championships which gets underway on Italy’s Lake Garda on Monday (15 July 2024).

Sixteen British athletes will be among the 400 competitors from around 70 nations set to converge on the iconic venue, where honours will be at stake across 11 events.

The Youth Sailing World Championships is often dubbed the ‘Youth Olympics’ for sailing, and over the years has been a springboard for many of the world’s best sailors who’ve gone on to perform at the highest levels of the sport.  This includes Britons Sir Ben Ainslie and Hannah Mills OBE – the world’s most successful male and female Olympic sailors.

Just like the Olympic Games, only one entry per nation per event is permitted so the young British sailors have earned their places following selection trials in the spring and early summer.

The British Youth Sailing Team in Italy will feature three athletes with past experience of the regatta – including windsurfer Darcey Shaw who earned bronze at the 2023 event in Brazil.

Shaw will fly the flag in the iQFOiL female category, while 29er sailors Annabel Vines and Charlie Gran return for another edition alongside respective new partners Amelie Hiscocks and Finian Morris. 

The full team line-up

One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6:

Male: Hamish Collingridge (Waldringfield Sailing Club)

Female: Amélie Hacker (Aldeburgh Yacht Club)

Windsurfer – iQFOIL:

Male: Will Ziegler (Queen Mary Sailing Club)

Female: Darcey Shaw (Parkstone Yacht Club)

Kiteboarding – Formula Kite:

Male: Oli Evans (Parkstone Yacht Club)

Female: Emma Rennie (Parkstone Yacht Club)

Skiff – 29er:

Male/Mixed: Finian Morris and Charlie Gran (Royal Lymington Yacht Club/Hayling Island Sailing Club)

Female: Annabelle Vines and Amelie Hiscocks (Royal Lymington Yacht Club/WPNSA)

Two Person Dinghy – 420:

Male/Mixed: Arwen Fflur and Matthew Rayner (Welsh National Sailing Academy - Plas Heli/Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club)

Female: Sabine Potter and Merle Nieuwland (Warsash Sailing Club/Cardiff Yacht Club)

Mixed Two Person Multihull – Nacra 15

Eloise Smith and Oli Laker (Starcross Yacht Club/Weston Sailing Club)

James Hadden, Team Leader for the British Youth Sailing Team at the Youth Sailing World Championships, commented: “The team is really excited as we build up to the Youth Worlds. Final preparations have gone really well and we’ve already seen some medals in the 29er for Annabelle and Amelie and for Charlie and Finn at their European Championships as well as some fantastic performances elsewhere with most of our sailors racing in European regattas to fine tune going into the event.

“As a team we’ve been looking to build momentum over the last few weeks as we work towards our goal of placing well in the Nations Trophy. We are excited and ready to go racing in one of the best sailing venues in the world.”

Racing at the 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships runs from Monday 15 July-Friday 19 July.  You’ll find results at worldsailingywc.org and we’ll bring you updates via British Youth Sailing’s Instagram.