The Sailing Regatta in the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games included five sailing events with 100 sailors from 44 different nations. It was sailed out of Club Náutico San Isidro, north of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The events were the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 15), the Girl's and Boy's Windsurfing (Techno 293+) and new to Olympic sailing Girl's and Boy's Kiteboarding (Twin Tip Racing).

Will Cooley and Evie Haseldine from Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron finished 7^th overall in the mixed multihull event sailed in the Nacra 15 class.  The event was won by the Argentinians sailing on home waters.  “Shifty conditions made for complicated racing’ commented Evie after the event.  ‘The Argentinians did have the home advantage, they knew where the best areas were to sail and that definitely helped them.”

Over the thirteen race series Will and Evie had five, top five places which was a substantial improvement over their performance at the Youth World Championships in Corpus Christi, USA earlier in the year.  Racing was tight in the fleet with the top ten boats usually changing positions throughout the race, and finishing within less than one minute of each other.  An incident on the start line in Race 8 with the Austrian team seemed harmless, and AUT acknowledging their mistake doing a 360 degree penalty turn.  The Australians however seemed to lack boat speed in both race 8 & 9 and it was not until back onshore that they realized they had been taking on water and their port hull was three quarters full of water.  Seeking redress for the results the jury decided to protest both AUT and AUS to establish the facts.  AUT was disqualified in race 8 and AUS awarded average points for race 8 & 9.  Unfortunately, the following day the Australians could not find their form again which saw them loose touch with the chance of a podium finish.  Second overall after winning the last two races of the event was FRA and NED placed third.

The regatta was particularly brutal for the Windsurfing (Techno 293+) completing 11 races in the series over the course of the competition. There were long waits on shore for enough wind to sail, long sails to and from the course area, and long waits on the water for either the wind to settle from a steady direction, or for the race committee to re-configure the course in an attempt to include slalom format racing.

Alex Halank had three top 10 finishes in the Boy's fleet, finished 15^th overall and commented “The conditions for the windsurfing competitions were really tidal, with a shifty wind most days which made for really tactical racing. On the board I just stuck to my process and not think emotionally, trying to keep calm to make good decisions.  My goal coming into the regatta was to get into the top 15 and I managed that.  The training has paid off and all of the hard work was not in vein.  The whole Youth Olympic Experience has been really great. The racing was super close, tough competition and I love being here with the team. I loved racing and testing myself against windsurfers from all across the world and I'm looking forward to coming up against them again in the future. I've learnt so much from this competition, the experience I've gained will help me go much further.  My parents, little sister and grandfather have been over in Buenos Aires to support me, they're so proud to see me compete for Australia with the Olympic rings on my shirt.  On the podium in the Boy’s Windsurfing event was Gold GRE, Silver ITA and Bronze GBR.

Hailey Lea from Lake Cootharaba Sailing club represented Australia in the Girl's Windsurfing (Techno 293+) event and finished 21^st overall.  Hailey commented “I came over with the idea of learning as much as possible from the worlds best sailors.  In Australia we don’t have much in the way of a windsurfing fleet and I largely train by myself.  I don’t get the opportunity to compare myself with other boards, and the different board handling techniques.  I have had the opportunity to start with 24 other sailors, get up close and personal with other competitors and see how I compare.  The standard here was extremely high with the best youth sailors in the world and I am very lucky to have the opportunity to learn as much as possible from them.  Highlight was probably my last race.  A lot of my training was focused on a certain aspect, and I made huge gains from a technical change in my technique and it was nice to see that a lot of my training did pay off.  I gained three places in one downwind leg with was fantastic.

I have really enjoyed the team atmosphere with the other sailors, we met for the first time in Champ Camp.  There is a bit of banter amongst us but we all have a laugh, and obviously the windsurfer is the better class.  Representing Australia has been a great source of pride. Participating in the Youth Olympics was not really something I ever thought I would have the opportunity to be part of, it has opened my eyes to other possibilities to sail in the future.  On the podium in the Girl’s Windsurfing event was Gold ITA, Silver FRA and Bronze RUS.

Kiteboarding had its Youth Olympic Games debut in the form of Twin Tip Racing.  An ambitious program was scheduled including up to 24 qualifying races, with a heats-based system eventually determining which four athletes progress to the final. The racecourse contained several obstacles as an extra challenge for the kiteboarders.  Unfortunately light mostly offshore winds throughout the week that made it challenging to fly the kites.

Representing Australia in the Boy’s Kiteboarding (Twin Tip Racing) was Mani Bisschops from Western Australia.  Mani commented “It is really good to be the first Kiter at the Youth Olympics for Australia, this is the first time kiteboarding has been included as an Olympic event.  I started off all right on the first day, in the first race, had some good wind and won that race.  Then I had a tangle with the French guy in the second race, and my kite ended up ripping and popping.  We tried to fix it, it was up in the air and then it popped again.  That kite was then out for the rest of the regatta.  There is not much you can do when things go wrong, I just do what I can to keep it all going straight and then hope that it is all all right.”

Light winds meant that only 7 races were completed in the Kiteboarding event and Mani finished 12^th overall.  The Gold medal was won by DOM, Silver PHI and Bronze SLO.  Australia did not have a representative in the Girl’s Kiteboarding event.  Mani will be home in Perth for two days and then will be heading off to the 2018 Australian National Racing Titles - Hydro Foil Pro Tour Event being sailed out of Townsville Sailing Club.

Travelling with the team was three time Olympian Karyn Gojnich and Laser sailor turned foiling kiteboarder and WA coach Ryan Palk.  Karyn said “It has been an amazing three weeks.  Started with the Champ Camp in Sydney bringing together the Australian Team of 88 athletes and 62 officials.  It was a hectic two days of information gathering, and being kitted out in our Australian Team uniforms.  We squeezed in a bit of model boat racing before the three planes and over 25 hours of travel to arrive in the city of Buenos Aires.

Life in the Youth Olympic Village with 4,000 athletes from 206 nations was surreal.  We all ate in the enormous food hall that was open 24 hours a day.  There were 32 sports and 36 disciplines featured in the programme, including four new sports having their Olympic debut: sports climbing, karate, breaking and roller speed skating.

At Australian Head Quarters (HQ) we had amazing support.  Doctors on hand when we were concerned for Hailey with an ear infection after taking a dunking in the murky chocolate coloured sailing waters.  All of the sailing team took advantage of the physio rub downs on offer after a long day on the water.

Our days were long with a 2 hour commute each way to the sailing venue.  We had to have breakfast and be on a bus by 7:15am, and quite often we were not back in the village until 7:30pm at night.  But as Hailey said ‘it has been different travelling to and from the venue each day however we had the opportunity to see a bit of Argentina on our 2 hours bus trip each day’.  Alex observed ‘The sailing team is a really strong group - the bus trip to the sailing venue is about 2 hours so we have a lot of time together. It's really important, we're there to support each other. On any given day some people might have a good day or a bad day and we're there for each other.’

After the sailing event we had the opportunity to watch other Australian competing in the boxing, diving basketball 3x3, athletics and slalom canoe.

Overall an incredible experience for our young Australian sailors who I hope are inspired to build on their experience and represent Australia in the future.