After a turbulent year for us all, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) Youth Sailing Academy (YSA) today announced its intention for its regular world-leading youth training program to commence in May. The YSA has also released dates for its 2021 events and is looking forward to a productive regatta schedule.

As COVID-19 restrictions ease, the YSA will continue to conduct a safe program and work with fellow Clubs to offer youth sailors as many opportunities to get back on the water and racing this coming year. The YSA’s Winter Squad program will commence Saturday 1 May and run through to the end of August.

These squads, which have produced National & World Champions, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race winners, America’s Cup victors and Olympic medallists are expected to be back to full capacity for 2021. The three-tier program caters for a variety of youth sailors aged 13 to 25 years.

After a year’s hiatus, the entry-level Talented Sailor Squad (TSS) will be back to a seven-week program conducted on Sunday afternoons from May to June. The program is designed for sailors 13 years old and above who are graduates of the YSA’s School Holiday Courses or active dinghy sailors who want to gain valuable skills in the tactics and strategy of keel-boats racing and become involved in yacht racing.

The Development Match Racing (DMR) Squad will run Sunday mornings from May to July and incorporates both fleet racing and match racing disciplines. The popular program, which is designed for sailors 15-18 years of age, will provide opportunities for sailors to represent the CYCA at local, state and national events later in the year. Many school sailors continue to apply for the program which compliments school teams racing programs over summer.

Finally, the world-leading Advanced Squad (AS) will commence Saturday 1 May through to Sunday 29 August and will be open to sailors 17 – 25 years of age. This course fine-tunes participants in all aspects of sailing. Racing rules, tactics, physical fitness, campaign planning, sail trim and boat maintenance are just some of the subjects covered over the course. Along with the DMR course, Advanced Squad sailors also have the opportunity to represent the CYCA both locally and around the world.

The 2021 Winter Squads are expected to be some of the strongest in recent years, having won back-to-back World Championships in youth match racing in 2019 and 2020, along with another eight national titles over the past five years.

Prospective applicants are invited to visit cyca.com.au/winter-squads to learn more or apply now.

For detailed information, please contact the Youth Sailing Academy by phone +61 2 8292 7806 or via email.