Sailing Magazine
pic by Nikos Pantis.
pic by Nikos Pantis.
by Richard Crockett
The 470 Pre-Worlds event is wrapping up, and the new South African 470 men’s team of Asenathi Jim and Sibu Sizatu continue to sail well – maintaining their 3rd place overall after 6 races.
Their results are: 4; 2; 10; 12; 10; 8.
These young guys, coached by Roger Hudson, have had some really good grounding in the pre-worlds, being their first ever international event as a sailing combination, and will take the experience gained into the World Championships.
Their coach Roger Hudson has a very astute sailing brain plus an uncanny ability of vastly improving the sailing skills of those he coaches – which can be seen from these results despite it being early days.
Today South Africa has some of the very best rising young sailors that the country has ever seen – and they happen to be black. They are talented, hungry to succeed and ready to commit to Olympic sailing.
What is sad though is other than the RaceAhead Foundation there are no proper national support structures, nor any assistance from the South African national sailing body. This simply makes it tougher for our up-and-coming sailors to perform against the best in the world.
