Cirencester Sport

McKeeman takes the positives from Istanbul competition

By Danny Hall

7:30am Thursday 29th July 2010

KEMPSFORD sailor Sophie McKeeman helped the Great Britiain team into the runner-up spot behind France in the 40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Istanbul, writes Danny Hall.

Sophie, 18, finished in 13th position in the Girls’ Laser Radial competition which was won by Michelle Broekhuizen of the Netherlands.

Team GB came back with just one medal, Izzy Hamilton’s silver in the Girls’ Windsurfing but such was the consistency of their 12-strong team that only France beat them in the overall competition.

Three GB representatives missed the podium by one point with Adam Butler and Nikki Boniface in the SL16 particularly unlucky as they finished joint third only to lose the bronze medal on countback.

"It was a great experience and I have learned a lot," said Sophie. "The winds were light so we could not finish all the scheduled races which didn’t helped my chances.

"I was quite happy with 13th in such a high profile event and it was invaluable to have one-to-one coaching time with RYA Youth Racing Manager Duncan Truswell."

The bizarre sailing calendar meant that McKeeman flew back from Turkey and headed straight to Largs in Scotland the following week to compete in the Laser Radial World Youth Championships where she finished 24th behind Erika Reineke of the USA. Well positioned in 12th at one point, she lost several places on the last two days.

"It was probably significant that many of the girls who did well in Turkey did not have such good results in Scotland," said Sophie, who sails in a solo discipline. "It was mentally draining to race in back-to-back weeks."

Nonetheless, Sophie confirmed her ranking as Britain’s number one Youth Laser Radial sailor by finishing well clear of all the other home grown competition.

"It was quite an eye-opener to compete against girls who are essentially full-time sailors once they have hit 18," she said.

McKeeman’s next outing is at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta (Aug 9-14) on the 2012 Olympic site at Weymouth, where she will be competing with senior sailors.

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