Cape Town - Calvin Gibbs from Cape Town claimed the best result for a South African since 1998 at the Youth World Sailing Championships in Sanya, China, last
week.
Competing in the Laser Radial class, Gibbs finished fourth, level on points with third-placed Guido Gallinaro from Italy. He missed out on the bronze medal on countback.
The last time a South African produced such a promising result was almost 20 years ago when Gareth Blankenberg won a Youth World title.
Gibbs fought hard, finishing with a win in the last of the nine races.
“It’s gone really well,” Gibbs said from China. “I’m very happy. This is my first Youth Worlds and I’ve done really well. Losing a tie-breaker to third place is a little bit disappointing but it is how it is.
“The lightest wind we had was six knots but it was usually between eight and 12 which is amazing - perfect conditions. “I felt good the whole regatta.
“The second race where I got a 22nd,
I made quite a big mistake and that’s what caused me to go really deep. I
don’t want to say if I had done things differently I would have got a medal - it was great and I just put my head down and worked hard so I’m happy.”
Damian Gibbs, The Wynberg Boys’ High student’s proud father, admitted that the last couple of days have been a real emotional roller-coaster for him.
“At times he was second, then fifth, then third, then fourth. I knew he would finish strong, it's almost his trademark, and seeing him finish first in the last race and by almost a full leg was just the best.
“We didn't communicate much during the event as he let me know that he was ‘going to be in the zone’ and not up to chatting much. I felt comfortable with this as he had been working a lot with Roger [Hudson] and they get on really well.”
Two-time Olympian Roger Hudson served as coach for the young team of six South Africans competing in China and played an integral part of their training leading up to the event.
“It has been amazing working with Roger Hudson and the RaceAhead team who have been instrumental in mentoring Calvin over the last 18 months. The multiple layers to the coaching have been staggering, and the optimised use of time, athletes, and resources has been really fantastic,” said Damian.
“This result is an amazing way to finish off his youth sailing career and a perfect way to launch into being an adult sailing athlete,” he added of his son, who has just finished matric.
“I feel that this Youth World Sailing Champs campaign has brought the best out of all the young sailors and we have a good base to build on for the next few world events.”