Teen sailors representing Thailand at the Sail First ISAF Youth Worlds 2013 were tested by formidable talent and fluctuating wind conditions at this year’s premier youth sailing championship held in Limassol, Cyprus, from July 13-20, which welcomed 351 sailors from 61 countries in eight classes.
Two-time Thai Laser Radial champion Kamolwan Chanyim, 17, who had been singled out as a medal contender in her class before the event, returned home without a trophy but with a very clear idea of what is needed to increase her odds of returning home with one next year, the last year she is eligible to sail in the event for those under 19 years of age.
Thai champion Kamolwan Chanyim sails her Laser Radial during the ISAF Youth Worlds in Cyprus. (Photo/Icarus Sailing Media)
“I won valuable experience and insights into what I need to do to reach my goals,” said Kamolwan, 17, who aspires to be the first Thai woman to qualify for the Olympics in the Laser Radial class. “Because it has been a year since my last big international regatta, I lost my confidence and didn’t trust my instincts, thinking too much.”
With the support of new sponsor Kingdom Property, her objective is to attend more international regattas to hone her starting skills in large, high performance fleets, and to rebuild her self-confidence in strong, tricky winds, which were shifting up to 25 degrees and gusting up to 20 knots at this year’s event.
Last year, when she finished seventh at the ISAF Youth Worlds in Ireland, she was fresh from the Laser Radial Women’s Worlds in Germany, an ISAF Emerging Nations training camp in Indonesia, and her first Olympic qualification regatta in Australia. She credits her fourth place at the ISAF Youth Worlds 2010 in Turkey, when she was just 14, to lucky decisions in shifty winds.
This year, Kamolwan was part of the selective ISAF Athlete Participation Program, whose coach, Hugh Styles of the World Youth Sailing Trust, commented, “She has good boat speed but she needs to start in the first row to allow her to make her own decisions.” In one race where she had a clean start, she wisely chose clear wind over the obvious course others took, he said, adding “the Radial Girls had difficult starts, with a very short line and lots of boats.”
Don and Dylan Whitcraft power there 29er class boat to another strong finish at the ISAF Youth Worlds. (Photo/ISAF Youth Worlds 2013)
Among other Asians in the 40-strong fleet, China’s Wang Yajie finished in 26th place, Hong Kong’s Sofia Marie Mascia in 29th, Japan’s Midori Tada in 30th, and Korea’s Jia Kim in 32nd.
While Kamolwan’s results suffered in higher winds, Thai brothers Don and Dylan Whitcraft, 18 and 16 respectively, rose to the challenge in them. Sailing in the 29er class, they placed 17th out of 29 boats with three finishes in the top 10 as well. This was an improvement on their performance in 2012, when they placed 21st in a fleet of 24.
“As the wind got strong, the boys found their rhythm,” said their coach Steven Thomas, 29er World Champion 2008.
“We do really well in high winds. With the winds of 15 knots gusting to 20 knots, it was ideal for our weight,” said Dylan, noting that teams that finished in the top five in strong winds were all composed of boys whose combined weight appeared to be over 130kg. Only the French champions, Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros, were able to perform consistently well in varied wind conditions.
Don and Dylan were heading to Denmark for the 29er World Championship Regatta, which was due to be staged from July 26-August 2 in Aarhus. Kamolwan’s next major regattas meanwhile will be the Laser Radial Women’s Worlds in Rizhao and the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Quindao, both in China, running from late September through late October. She also plans to sail in the Hua Hin Regatta 2013 being held August 7-11.
In other Laser Thailand news, Chusitt Punjamala, 15, finished 59th out of 105 sailors in the Under 16 fleet at the Groupama-OTP Laser 4.7 Youth World Championship, held in elusive wind conditions in Balatonfured, Hungary, July 6-13.
