Venues for Youth Sailing Worlds

World Sailing has confirmed the host venue of the 2023 Youth Sailing World Championships will be the coastal resort town of Armação dos Búzios, Brazil, and the 2024 edition is being planned for Lake Garda, Italy.

The 2023 Youth World Sailing Championships will take place from December 8-16 within Rasa Beach Bay, from Praia Rasa in the west of the bay to Praia dos Ossos at the eastern end.

Known as a popular vacation destination, the 52nd edition in Búzios is located 137km east of Rio de Janeiro and boasts 23 beaches within a calm, natural horseshoe bay with ideal sailing conditions courtesy of annual trade winds from northeast to east and between 10-18 knots.

The race village will be located at several sites in Búzios including the planned community of Aretê Buzios, which is capable of providing on-site facilities for sailors, coaches, equipment and visitors, and the Iate Clube Armação de Búzios (ICAB), venue of the 2009 edition.

The Organizing Committee will be led by Marco Aurelio de Sá Ribeiro, President of the Brazilian Sailing Federation, and comprise leading sailors with support from the Brazilian Navy.

“The great legacy is to inspire young Brazilians to sail more and to continue sailing, in addition to keeping the boats in the country, doubling the size of youth sailing in Brazil,” said Marco Aurelio de Sá Ribeiro.

“Another goal is to consolidate the training center in Búzios as a reference location for teams from all over the world. This event opens the door to our future goal of hosting a World Sailing Championship here in Brazil.”

The Notice of Race for the 2023 Youth Sailing World Championships will be published in February.

Alto Lago di Garda is being lined up as the site of the 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships.

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy and borders the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, and Trentino-Alto Adige. Blessed with inspiring scenery, clean waters and constant winds – known as Peler and Ora – coming from the north in the morning and the south in the afternoon – it is a great venue for sailing and windsurfing.

In a new concept, it has been agreed subject to contract, that World Sailing will work with several Italian clubs located on the lake, each with a wealth of tournament experience, including Fraglia della Vela Riva, Lega Navale Italiana Riva del Garda, Circolo Vela Arco, Circolo Surf Torbole, Circolo Vela Torbole, Fraglia Vela Malcesine.

The Youth Sailing World Championships was first held in Angelholm, Sweden in 1971 where 16 nations competed for the inaugural titles in the two-person dinghies, 420 and Flipper.

As the regatta evolved further classes were added to bring the best young sailing talent across the world together in one place and in 1984 the Mistral windsurfer was added to the list of events with Knut Budig (GER) taking the first gold medal in San Diego, California.

Open to sailors aged 19 and under, past notable winners include American’s Cup skippers, Chris Dickson (NZL), Russell Coutts (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL); Olympic medallists, Ben Ainslie (GBR), Robert Scheidt (BRA), Alessandra Sensini (ITA), Iain Percy (GBR) and Elise Rechichi (AUS); Volvo Ocean Race sailors like Stuart Bannatyne (NZL) and Richard Clarke (CAN).