by Sienna Brown,
On the behalf of Ellis Merrett and Angus Renton

RPAYC- Post regatta article Europe 2025

Our experience was tough and exposed us to the incredibly tactical and tight racing within the Olympic 470 class. Ellis Merrett, Angus Renton and I have been racing on the Pittwater alongside each other for many years growing up with RPAYC and recently we attended the 470 Junior Worlds in Los Alcazares, Spain and the Junior European Championships in Matosinhos, Portugal.

As a team Ellis and I have been working together for a year alongside Angus and his crew who joined us seven months ago. We had been training hard leading into the trip, both teams were feeling ready to put our skills to the test!

We stepped into the boat for the first time overseas knowing it was going to be a huge learning experience for the two teams. It was an exciting yet nerve wracking day as we sailed out with 41 other boats from across the globe, about to line up on the same start line. We were lucky with conditions throughout our trip, allowing two full weeks of competitive racing with variable conditions over the two events. With light conditions in Spain for the Worlds we saw some incredibly dense fleet patterns as everyone battled to find clear wind lanes without falling too far behind. We found the racing tricky as we were adjusting to a new set of conditions, a new fleet and new equipment. We finished the Junior Worlds with a long list of things to work on, but we weren’t done just yet the following week we competed at the Junior Europeans.

Matosinhos brought us big swells and stronger winds, pushing both teams to apply everything we’ve learnt so far. With a larger fleet of 49 boats this regatta was split into two fleets, which gave us the opportunity to sharpen our racing skills with fewer boats on the course. While we managed to stay in the mix, a few costly mistakes pushed us further down the leaderboard. These moments were tough but incredibly valuable and we were so grateful to have the opportunity to compete with the world’s best Junior 470 sailors.  With huge improvements seen from the Junior Worlds we finished the regatta proud of ourselves and the gains we made against the fleet in a short period of time.

Now we’re back home reconnecting with other Australian teams to reflect on our experiences and diving back into focused training. With the Australian summer series closing in and next year’s international circuit in planning we are excited, and our goals are clear.

Check out our results here:

Junior Worlds: https://2025juniorworlds.470.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall

Junior Europeans: https://2025junioreuropeans.420sailing.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall