Chatting to young sailor Ryan Robinson

Royal Natal Yacht Club

Interview with Ryan Robinson

“The best thing about sailing - I would say the way in which it mirrors life, and the lessons that you learn from it. Things may go your way, things may not! The only thing you can do is try your best from the very beginning to the very end, and then the results will come.”

These are the humble and wise words of Carlteonville’s up-and-coming sailor Ryan Robinson (17) who is heading off to Portugal to compete in the ISAF Youth World Championships this month. Robinson, together with team mate, Dominic van der Walt, they will be racing in the nippy 420 dinghy class.

The Grade 11 student from Carletonville High School says, “The 420 is an amazing boat! It’s just the right pathway boat for any future sailing you could want to do. It's able to sail in wind strengths other boats can’t handle, which makes it seriously fun.”

Responding to the next question, he pauses, “The most challenging thing about sailing a 420? I have to think about this one. It would be its pointing ability, when you don't have big fleets to sail in and you have to start on the same line as lasers and those types of boats, it’s a real mission to get a good start. But that's only if you have to share a start line with other classes of boats.

Robinson, together with his family competed in the epic Cape2Rio at the beginning of the year, “The Cape2Rio race was an amazing opportunity to get hours and hours of downwind practice which helps tremendously with my dingy sailing. The most important aspect of dingy training would be time on the water. You need to get almost a six sense feel for whichever boat you are sailing before you can race competitively.”

The Robinson family, one of the successful sailing families in South Africa competed in their second Cape2Rio crossing. A massive front hit the fleet at the beginning of the ocean crossing causing immense damage to a number of boats and resulting in one death.

“We thankfully made it through the storm unharmed. The knowledge that the storm had started to pass on day three would have to be one of the strongest memories I have of this year’s race. It was great knowing that the worst was over, and that we'd got through one of the most difficult challenges imaginable.” adding, he states, “and not being seasick anymore.”

Concentrating on his next major challenge, “The regatta is going to last for about a week and a half and that is also how long we'll be in Portugal for. Unfortunately our funds did not allow us to spend some extra time in Europe to do some warm up regattas, so we lose the advantage of big fleet racing, which we will have to make up for with intense training.”

“Luckily for us, locally we have the Vivier brothers (Eben and Johan) who always give us a go.” Chatting about who the competition will be at the championships, he continues, “Internationally the entire fleet is going to be the competition. If you pick one or two people you limit yourself, whereas if you race the fleet, you will always be able to improve.”

Having only competed together in one international regatta in the 420 class, Robinson said, “Dom and I have been sailing together for two years now. At first, communication was a problem but we worked through that and are sailing well together at this stage.”

“We are hoping to build on our experience from last year’s Youth Worlds. I wouldn't like to pick a goal such as a medal, mainly because I react very badly under pressure. So we are just going there with the mind-set of doing our best.”

The duo set off to Portugal, waving the flag for the Royal Natal Yacht Club, as they prepare to compete against the best young up-and-coming international sailors at the ISAF World Champ from 12 – 19 July.

For more info go to www.rnyc.org.za

Images by Trevor Wilkins - Start of the Cape2Rio
Others by Kath Robinson and from Ryan's Facebook page