Endorsed by the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the regatta will be held in the clear, naval waters of Sattahip in Cholburi Province, Thailand and include most of the kingdom’s top-ranked sailors.
Over 100 sailors in 10 different classes will be participating including the hi-performance O’pen Skiff, the PYC’s chosen youth sail-training platform.
“The club is very proud to see these home-grown sailors competing in their first ever major regatta,” PYC’s Commodore Scott Duncanson told The Phuket News.
“Three of these young sailors were supposed to have been in Sardinia, Italy for the World Championships last month but unfortunately the COVID 19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions put a stop to that,” he added.
“Although initially very disappointed, the World’s have now been rescheduled to July 2021 so we view the Thai National Championship Regatta as a perfect stepping stone for these young sailors towards international level competition.”
The PYC’s youth sail-training program has gone from strength to strength in 2020 operating at or near capacity every weekend. The school summer holiday sailing program has been an enormous success with six courses varying from beginners to intermediates being held over the past seven weeks.
The program welcomes children from the ages of seven to 16 with swimming being the only pre-requisite skill required. What is very encouraging is that nearly 100 children have now visited the club and taken the opportunity to get themselves on the water and try sailing.
The PYC’s location in Chalong Bay is very safe, shallow and near ideal for learning to sail. It is largely protected from the full force of the North East and South Westerly monsoon winds making sailing all year round possible.
Not letting the kids have all the fun, adult sailing courses were recently introduced and the first three day dinghy sailing clinic was held in July. This included a short passage sail to Koh Lon and an overnight stay at the Cruiser Island Resort.
Most all of the participants were families and it was fantastic to see them connecting face to face and building relationships through sailing. Hermit crab racing, collecting firewood, a beach bon-fire, toasting marsh-mallows and mostly the simple things in life were very successful in creating lifetime memories and detaching the young ones from their electronic devices for a few days.
“They were simply too busy having fun to even ask for them,” quipped Scott.
For more information about your learn to sail adventure please contact: school@phuketyachtclub.com