This year, while the summer Youth Foundation sessions were going in full swing I had the honor of taking a distinctive approach to a summer of sailing. I boarded a 747 with the other members of the youth U.S. Sailing team and headed to Copenhagen, to compete in the 2008 ISAF Youth World Championships.

We arrived in Copenhagen a few days early, where we joined Chris Segerblom's, the catamaran crew on the team, grandparents, who lived just outside of Copenhagen. At Chris' grandparents we were able to get adjusted to the nine-hour time difference, as well as get a great sense of Denmark from a local perspective. In the few days we were there we went mini golfing, went to the beach, toured the local glass factory, and explored the world renowned Carlsberg Brewery.

Eventually, the time came for us to board a train to Arhus and get to the sailing side of things.

Things kicked off in Arhus with the opening ceremonies, a day of festivities that included a parade with 60 countries represented- some 300 sailors. The parade ended at the City hall, where the mayor and the Danish royal family greeted us. We even got to talk to the Prince one on one, he was a really friendly guy, and actually a great sailor too, once a regular on the Farr 40 circuit.

After several more days of practice the racing began. The U.S. had 9 sailors competing, Luke Lawrence in the Laser, Annie Haeger in the Radial, Chris Segerblom and Andrew Mason in the SL-16 catamaran, Hans Henken and Judge Ryan in the boys 29er, Karoline Gurdal and Julia Paxton in the girls 29er, and yours truly in the boys RS:X windsurfer.

Throughout the regatta we saw very similar conditions everyday, a very challenging, inconsistent 8-25 knot breeze with as big as 40-degree wind shifts, short steep chop, cold air and water, and daily bouts of torrential rain. Being inexperienced in the RS:X, I suffered in the inconsistent and testing conditions, but I made improvements everyday and gained massive amounts of knowledge about racing the fast, physical windsurfers.

On the other racecourses, though, some of my teammates were able to make the best of the conditions and put up some impressive finishes.

In the Laser, Luke finished second overall, losing only to the full time laser sailor from Cyprus, who is currently competing in the Olympics in China. In the 29er Judge Ryan and Hans Henken were pushed out of the gold due to a lost protest with the French that resulted in disqualification. However, Judge and Hans still managed to hold on and finish off the regatta on the podium, with bronze medals.

The closing ceremonies and awards ceremonies were an emotional experience, with the national anthem of winning countries played as the sailors stood on the podium draped in the flags of their countries. It was great to see the U.S. represented with medals in two divisions.

The regatta concluded with a rowdy night of post regatta parties throughout the city of Arhus, and unfortunately a rather early 4:00 AM trip to the airport, the end of one regatta, but the beginning of another.

We left Arhus and headed for Medemblik, Holland, where Hans Henken and I would team up to compete in a 115 boat 29er fleet for the European Championship. Once again, the regatta kicked off with an opening ceremony, featuring a parade with the 15 countries competing in the championship.

Next came two days of practice, where we saw consistent 25-30 knot breeze that caused plenty of carnage before the event even began. Hans and I loved the breeze though, weighing in at 320 pounds we were one of the heaviest teams sailing. It was also our first time sailing together, so the breeze helped us hide our lack of time in the boat together a little bit.

Unfortunately, the breeze did not hold, and we spent the next five days racing in fickle 5 knot breezes, spending more time in postponement than we did racing. Although we had our share of moments, including some top five races, the regatta concluded with us nowhere near a medal in the results.

Everyone had a good time though, as we had plenty of time to fraternize with sailors from other countries while we were postponed ashore. We had huge games of "football" and Frisbee, and even a few barbecues down on the beach.

It was an experience I would highly recommend to any Youth Foundation sailors who are serious about pursuing sailing at a high level. Invaluable knowledge is gained through racing in such talented fleets, and great lifelong friendships are forged. It was an amazing four weeks of sailing that I was very fortunate to be able to take part in, and I would greatly encourage other Youth Foundation sailors to take steps towards their own European sailing adventures, perhaps just by applying to the CISA clinic, or the U.S. Youth Championships, and seeing where that path of high level sailing leads oneself.

-Cody Shevitz

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