World Sailing provides free coaching at Youth Match Racing World Championships

While the world’s top junior match racers compete for the world title in Middelfart this week, World Sailing is providing coaching support for teams without their own coach at the regatta.

Approximately one third of the teams competing at the World Sailing Youth Match Racing World Championship receive regular coaching through yacht clubs or sailing academy programmes. These teams often travel to international events with a coach and regularly perform better than teams without access to the same level of support.

To strengthen the competition and support sailors who do not normally have access to a match racing coach, the Youth Match Racing Working Group proposed that World Sailing provide an Event Coach at the Youth World Championship.
The Event Coach in Middelfart is Dayne Sharp, who has extensive experience as a professional sailing coach.

“Some of the teams here are not as experienced as the teams with their own coach, so it has been great to help them with their boat handling and tactical decisions – both during the clinic before the regatta and now as we are getting into the serious racing. The teams have been really receptive and have asked for feedback on their performances. It is all about helping each other and getting better, and I really like that,” says Dayne Sharp after the first couple of days at the event in Middelfart.
Before the World Championship began, Sharp led a training clinic and has continued to provide insight and constructive feedback to skippers and crew members throughout the event.

“It has been great having Dayne here to help us. We do not have our own coach, but now we can always ask him about things like sail trim, our decisions on the water and anything else we need help with. He has been a great support, and we would not have made it to the quarter-finals without him,” says Theo Westerlind from Team Sweden.

For World Sailing, providing a coach at the Youth Match Racing Worlds 2026 – powered by Bunker One has been an important priority. Cory Sertl, World Sailing Vice President and World Youth Sailing Trust trustee, is pleased to see the coaching initiative become a reality thanks to the Trust.

“Match racing is one of the strongest pathways into competitive sailing for young people. The format is easy to understand and forms the foundation for youth-level competition around the world. However, not every national federation can fund a coach to support their teams at international level, so I am very proud that the World Youth Sailing Trust has been able to help athletes from all eleven nations represented compete on equal footing with their peers,” she says.

Today, the sailors will complete the quarter-finals before moving on to the semi-finals. The final race day at the Youth Match Racing Worlds 2026 – powered by Bunker One takes place tomorrow.

Text and images courtesy of Mick Anderson, Press Officer – Youth Match Racing Worlds 2026 – powered by Bunker One