I thought that there may be some who are interested in what the youngsters out on the Derwent are up to and what we have planned over the next few weeks/months.



We've been working hard to get as many up and coming new guys on this exciting, one-design class as we can, and now the fruits of our efforts are showing. We have 7 guys ranging from 17 to 13 and we have 3 scheduled trainings a week, 2 after school and one weekend. This group atmosphere is awesome to be a part of, and its a great place for the new guys to learn off some of us more experienced boys - but having said that, I am constantly surprised by some of the brilliant things the lads come up with and how often I think 'what a good idea'.



These trainings aren't ALL for fun however, because lots of the squad will be heading interstate over the summer holidays to compete in the Australian Youth Championships, in January on the warm waters of Perth. So far we have myself, my brother Angus Calvert and Morgan Davies booked into make the trip and I'll be trying to get as many as we can to join us! The Youth Championships historically hasn't been a hugely popular event for the Techno 293 class (recognised by Yachting Australia as the feeder to the Olympic RSX) and have been vastly outshone in recent years by those sailing more conventional dinghies like the Laser or 29er class. While this is unlikely to change, it is great to see that we have so many currently in Tas this year when we only had 5 people compete at the nationals in the January we just had. We can only hope this growth has occurred in the other states and we can start an upward trend. This will help YA continue to see the value in supporting the windsurfing class.



With Tassie claiming the top two steps of the podium last year, we will be looking to go one better this year and take all three. So we'll keep training and I'll keep this thread updated with all of our progress, maybe some photos/videos and any other relevant information. These young lads are the future of windsurfing in our state and it will awesome to watch them learn and get the skills to win!