July 24, 2025
3 minutes reading time
A carousel of wind and a lottery on the water at the Youth World Match Racing Championships
After 10 flights, the leaders of the World Match Racing Championship are beginning to emerge. The leaders include Josh Hyde from New Zealand, who has four wins – all of them, as the New Zealand crew competed in four races today. Joining the leaders is the French crew, led by Marin Micoulot, who has an 83% success rate: five wins and one loss – to Benjamin Tylecote from Great Britain.
The conditions on the water today demanded incredible precision and accuracy. Although match racing has its own rules, the conditions in Gdynia definitely didn’t make things easier for the competitors – the wind changed direction throughout the day, and its strength varied from zero to as much as 10 knots.
Also worth noting are the sailing performances of Daniel Kemp (AUS), Morgan Pinckney (USA), and Benjamin Tylecote (GBR), who each have four wins from six races. Some crews have only raced four times today, and they will be the ones starting tomorrow’s regatta. Justin Callahan from the USA is in this situation.
“We don’t have much experience in match racing, as we’ve only been racing in this format for three years, competing in two or three events a year. Despite this, we have a lot of fun. Our crew is relatively new, although we’ve known each other for a long time – for as long as I can remember, we’ve either sailed together or against each other, so we get along great. This is our first time competing together as a crew, ” said Justin Callahan.
“Until now, I’ve only raced in the US, so being here and competing against crews from all over the world is an incredible experience. We’re happy with today’s starts, despite a single penalty we received in the third flight – we were racing against Michał Krasodomski’s crew. The crew works well together, and we managed to get to know each other and navigate the boat well, ” adds the US competitor.
Despite a slow start (three defeats), the Polish crew won the next two races. The HRM Racing crew defeated both the Americans, led by Callahan, and the Australians, led by Daniel Kemp.
“In two of those lost races, we came really close to winning, so I’m optimistic about the next starts, ” said Michał Krasodomski, helmsman for HRM Racing and a member of the Polish Yacht Championship National Team. “We started the championships competing against strong opponents, the top of the rankings, so we’re even more pleased that we were so close to winning, ” he added.
For Polish youth match racing, in this case HRM Racing is a debut in this type of regatta.
“My crew isn’t listed in the rankings because this is my first match racing appearance as a helmsman. Before this championship, I had only competed in match racing once – last year as a mainsail trimmer during the Polish Championships. Jakub Gołębiowski was the helmsman. We managed to win the Polish Championships then, ” recalls Krasodomski.
“Being at the helm for the first time is an incredible experience, especially considering the high level of the crews we race against. Thanks to this regatta, I can see what world-class match racing is all about. It’s already clear that we’re learning from race to race and doing better with each subsequent start, ” the helmsman concludes.
Tomorrow’s races are scheduled to start at 10:00.
Text and images courtesy of the Polish Yachting Association.