CAN Team for 2023 Youth Sailing Worlds

The Canadian team has been confirmed for the 2023 Youth Sailing World Championships on December 8-16 in Búzios, Brazil from December 8-16. Canada will compete in 8 of 11 events, not sending representatives in the Formula Kite Female, iQFOiL Youth Female, and Nacra 15 Mixed events.

Here is Team Canada that will be racing in Brazil:

• Formula Kite Male – Nathan Pearce (North Vancouver, BC)
• 29er Male/Mixed – Thomas Desrochers (Toronto, ON) and Ford Amery (Toronto, ON)
• 29er Female – Johanna Pickart (Bald Rock, NS) and Rebecca Driscoll (Glen Haven, NS)
• i420 Male/Mixed – Nikhil Damji (Vancouver, BC) and Emil Damji (Vancouver, BC)
• i420 Female – Maggie Tripp (Toronto, ON) and Claire Podolsky (Toronto, ON)
• ILCA 6 Male – Sullivan Nakatsu (Hammonds Plains, NS)
• ILCA 6 Female – Annie Balasubramanian (Toronto, ON)
• iQFOiL Youth Male – MThomas Hung (Vancouver, BC)

Two members of past Canadian teams at the Youth Sailing World Championships will be back: Annalise Balasubramanian and Nathan Pearce. The ten other members will be taking part in this competition for the first time.

The sailors were selected after being the top Canadians at the Sail Canada 2023 Youth Championships for the 29er and ILCA 6 classes, at the 2023 U.S. Youth Championships in the iQFoil and i420 classes, or at the Sail Canada 2023 Kiteboarding Championships in Kiteboarding.

Sail Canada’s National Training Centre Coach-West Kyle Martin (BC) will be the Team Leader and will be accompanied by coaches Stephen Waldie (Sail Nova Scotia/Sail Canada’s National Training Centre Coach-East) and Rosie Chapman (Canadian ILCA 6 coach), who will coach the ILCA 6 athletes.

At last year’s Youth Sailing World Championships, Balasubramanian took the 12th spot in ILCA 6 in The Hague, Netherlands, recording the best Canadian performance in this class since 2009.

“I am super excited to be representing Canada at the Youth World Championships for the third time,” said Balasubramanian. “Leading up to these Worlds in December, I am going to be training on and off the water as much as possible both at Queen’s University, where I go to school, and in places like Victoria, California, and Miami.

“At each World Championships that I have competed in, I have learned so much and the experience gained from the past two championships has been invaluable. I’m looking forward to building on that knowledge to give it my all this time around!”

The Youth Sailing World Championships are an important stepping stone for the sailors as they progress towards the Canadian Sailing Team and Development Squad. Among the sailors who have competed in past editions are Georgia Lewin-LaFrance, Ryan Wood, Coralie Vittecoq, Sam Bonin, Ryan Anderson and Clara Gravely, as well as 2020 Tokyo Olympic Canadian Team member Ali ten Hove in 2012 and 2013.

At the 2022 Youth Sailing World Championships, a total of 450 youth sailors 19 years of age or less represented approximately 70 countries from all over the world in the 11 events held.

Source: Sail Canada