RPAYC sailor Daniel Links recently took on an exciting European campaign, representing Australia at Kiel Week, the 49er European Championships and Junior Worlds. Here, Daniel reflects on his time competing overseas and shares his experiences from the campaign.

In June, Keizo Tomishima and I travelled back to Europe for the second half of our 2026 international season. The trip included Kiel Week and the 49er European Championships in Germany, followed by the Junior World Championships in Medemblik, Netherlands. After the progress we had made earlier in the year at Hyères and the 49er Worlds in Quiberon, our goal was to see if we could take another step and start racing consistently with the front of the international fleet.

Our first event was Kiel Week, which turned out to be by far our best international regatta so far. The 49er fleet had 90 boats and included a very strong group of senior international teams and Olympic campaigners.

The conditions during Kiel were mostly light, around 6–12 knots, which suited us well. We had worked very hard after the Worlds on our starts, speed and communication, and almost immediately we could feel that the work had paid off. We were able to get off the starting line with more confidence, hold our lanes, and actually race the way we wanted rather than always having to find a way out of bad positions.

We started the qualifying series with scores of 8, 2, 4 and 4, which put us in a very strong position and eventually qualified us for the Gold Fleet. From there, we were able to keep racing well against the top boats and won our first international Gold Fleet race. This was a pretty special moment for us and gave us a lot of confidence that our speed and racing had moved forward significantly.

We then qualified for the top 10 final. In the last race of the regatta, we rounded the first top mark in 3rd and eventually finished 2nd, only a few seconds behind the winner. We finished 9th overall out of 90 boats, only four points away from 4th.

Kiel was probably the first regatta where we really felt that when we put everything together,er we could race properly at the front of a world-class senior 49er fleet. It was also rewarding because we didn’t have a coach boat at the event and had to manage our preparation, racing, boat work and debriefing ourselves. At the same time, the result showed us how small the margins are. We still gave away quite a few points through penalties and a couple of tactical mistakes, so although 9th was a result we were extremely happy with, there was also plenty we could improve.

We also quickly learnt that an Olympic campaign is about much more than just what happens on the racecourse. There is the travel, the planning, the boat preparation, the teamwork and the challenge of keeping everything running smoothly across a long international schedule. It was a great introduction to the bigger picture of campaigning and all the moving parts that come with it.

The lighter-wind days were definitely the most rewarding part of the trip for us. When the breeze eased, we could finally see some of our training at home beginning to shine through. Unfortunately, those days were a little few and far between, but when they did arrive, we were able to race with more confidence, handle the pressure and put some of the skills we had been practising into action. The windier days were a slightly different story, but probably taught us even more. They showed us very clearly where our next big focus needs to be and gave us plenty to take home and work on.

So now it is back home, back to training and back to the gym. Our focus will be on becoming stronger and more confident in windy conditions, while continuing to build our fitness, strength and consistency ahead of the summer season.

Europe gave us plenty of challenges, a few really encouraging moments and a much better understanding of the level we are working towards. Most importantly, we came home with a long list of things to improve, and plenty of motivation to get started.