Celebrating Junior Sailors

JUNIOR SAILORS BANJO & SOPHIE

I’M SOPHIE, I’M 14 AND I LIVE IN BELMONT, I WAS 6 WHEN MY PARENTS ENROLLED ME IN MY FIRST LEARN TO SAIL COURSE AND I HAVE SAILED EVERY SEASON SINCE!

I’M BANJO, I’M ALSO 14 AND LIVE IN BELMONT, MY DAD FIRST TAUGHT ME TO SAIL WHEN I WAS 3 THEN SAILED MY FIRST SEASON WHEN I WAS 4!

Our Club recently sent off two talented Junior Sailors 14-year-old Sophie and 14-year-old Banjo, to compete in the O’pen Skiff 2022 World Championships in Lac d’Hourtin-Carcans, France. Both teens have been sailing with Belmont 16s for most of their lives. Banjo’s first sailing experience was at 3 years old with his father, with his first official sailing season at the tender age of just 4, while Sophie wasn’t too far behind starting out on Belmont Bay at the age of 6.

The pair were more excited than nervous about the prospect of competing amongst the world’s best in their age group and they took preparations in the lead up to the Championships very seriously. Sophie and Banjo trained consistently after school and on weekends with other sailors from the Belmont 16s fleet. Recognising that there could also be cultural barriers to success, they made time for learning a few French and Italian sailing terms and pleasantries that they felt could assist them throughout the Championship experience.The Regatta was held over 5 days commencing July 18 and concluding July 23 2022, with both Sophie and Banjo securing

positions in the top 40 in their division of 153 boats from countries such as France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Japan, India, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia.

Both took away a lot from this experience, Sophie found it interesting how racing in huge fleets is very different to sailing with not many people on the course, while Banjo felt he gained more insights on how to have better boat handling on the start line to get a clear start.

What’s next for these two? Banjo is thinking of heading into more foiling boats like moths in the future while Sophie feels that for now she just wants to have fun on the water with her friends in her Saturday Club racing however, eventually getting into 29er’s and 49er’s is where her focus lies.

SOPHIE: MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE WAS GETTING TO LEARN ABOUT HOW REGATTAS WITH 200+ BOATS ARE RUN AND MY LEAST FAVOURITE PART WAS TRAVELLING TO AND FROM FRANCE!

BANJO: MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE EXPERIENCE WAS GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO OVERSEAS AND COMPETE IN A SAILING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

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TUESDAY 6 DECEMBER! Raffle on sale 5:00pm drawn in club at 7:00pm

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