Tradition continues for Sydney sailor at Youth World Championship

Sydney sailor Paul Darmanin will be continuing a family tradition when he competes at this month’s 2012 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship.

Darmanin, who will be racing in the multihull class alongside Lucy Copeland in 2012, will be competing at his third straight Youth World Championship and making it a seventh straight year when a member of his family will race at the event.

Darmanin won gold at his first Youth World Championship appearance in 2010 alongside Chase Lurati, with his sister Lisa, and cousin Jason Waterhouse, victorious in 2009, having also competed at the event in 2008, while Waterhouse represented Australia in 2007 and 2006 as well.

Darmanin and Copeland, both from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, qualified for the team following their performance at the 2012 Australian Youth Championship, where they won five of the 10 races and finished third in a further four.

“Our preparation has been great,” said Darmanin. “Lucy and I have been out on the harbour blasting around with a spinnaker training really hard. It was good to see how our progress was going when we went to a regatta on the Gold Coast recently and got a good result of fourth in a tough fleet.”

Darmanin is looking forward to the challenge of competing at a third straight Youth World Championship, with a third different crew.

“This Youth Worlds is very different for me as I feel a lot more experienced and mature about how I operate when I sail,” he said. “Also I think we have put a lot of quality time on the water so this time we can really take it to the other countries. Having lots of history sailing with Lucy also makes me feel confident about us as a team for Youth Worlds. 

“The thing I enjoy most about the Youth Worlds is the experience of racing against the top boats of every country at the pinnacle of youth sailing,” said Darmanin. “I also love being part of the Australian Youth Sailing Team and taking our unique Australian character overseas.”

Copeland will be making her ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship debut this month in Ireland and is keen to experience racing on the SL16 catamaran compared to the Hobie 16 they train on in Sydney.

“I‘m very excited for the Youth Worlds and I’m most looking forward to meeting and sailing against people from all over the world that I’ve never sailed against before,” said Copeland. “Since Paul has been twice before it’s very useful especially being in the cat because we will be sailing a different boat at Youth Worlds that I’ve never sailed before.

“Paul knows what is different about the SL 16 compared to the Hobie so we have been able to focus on these things in training,” she said.

With the mixed multihull to be introduced for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games an Olympic appearance is an incentive for Darmanin or Copeland though they’re well aware the competition for the Australian position will be tough.

“The mixed multihull for the Games is on our radar but I just want to focus on the Youth Worlds at the moment,” said Darmanin. “Also my cousin Jason and sister Lisa are training very hard, working towards the 2016 Games so for me to try to get to the Olympic would mean that I’d have to battle it out against them.”

Racing begins at the 2012 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship on Saturday 14 July and continues until Friday 20 July.

For more information on the event visit www.isafyouthworlds.com/.