Six young Geelong sailors will head to Plymouth in south west England this July, having earned their place at the 2024 Cadet World Sailing Championships.
The three two-person teams, all members of the Royal Geelong Yacht Club (RGYC), secured their spots at Worlds at the National Cadet Championships in Hobart in December.
Geelong skipper Josh Garner, 15, and Torquay’s Jack Benyan, 13, took out the national title in Tasmania with a race to spare, while 16-year-old Cate McCoy and nine-year-old Jack O’Brien came in at third, narrowly beating clubmates Will Farnell,15, and Louis Davis, 9, who finished in fourth place.
Josh said it was “really fun” winning the national title and the whole junior RGYC contingent was thrilled to be heading off to England to compete at the world championship.
“We know it will be really tough competition, but it will be great,” he said.
RGYC club captain Brendan Garner said the three Geelong teams were part of a contingent of ten Australian teams heading to Plymouth in July.
“Geelong has always had a really strong cadet sailing program and these national wins and now competing in the world championships is really huge for these kids,” he said.
“It really rallies everyone at the club and the life experience of heading overseas and competing against the world’s best will be fabulous for the youngsters.
“We’ll be training really hard between now and July and there will be two Australian team training camps which our guys will be involved in. We will certainly be putting in the hard yards to make sure our kids are as prepared as they can be.”
