Cadet Class World Championships in Nieuwpoort, Belgium - Preview

Cadet squad selection event at Parkstone © Iain Philpott

The Cadet British world championship team © Sue Pelling

The 2013 Cadet Class World Championships commence this week at Nieuwpoort, Belgium with measurement and registration on 25th/26th July. The racing will get underway on Sunday 28th July, following the practice race and opening ceremony on the previous day.

Teams from 11 nations will compete in a high quality field where visiting Cadet Associations can send up to 7 boats to complement the 10 teams from the hosts. The UK qualification series to be selected for the event is always hard fought.

Strong teams are present from Australia and Argentina and they will look along with others to break the recent dominance of the Eastern European crews. The 2012 World Champions from Ukraine will be defending their title and the Polish teams have recently been very strong with World Champions in 2010 and 1011.

The GBR team are well prepared having had 2 weekends coaching in the UK either side of attendance at the Nieuwpoort Week Youth Regatta at the same venue where the team put in a strong performance securing 8 positions in the top 10. We know that the experience will have served the team well.

The GBR World team comprises:

A Promotional regatta runs alongside the Worlds which is open entry. This year 13 GBR boats are entered in the multinational 40 boat fleet. Some of the GBR boats are younger sailors who will no doubt be looking to gain that international competition experience with an eye on the 2014 Cadet Worlds that will be held in Weymouth.

Updates are available at www.cadet2013.be, Facebook and Twitter. Regular reports will also appear on yachtsandyachting.com.

Good luck to team GBR, race hard and enjoy.