Durban's Sailing Prodigy Off To The Youth Worlds

Point Yacht Club

Youth World Championships

Sanya, China: 10 – 15 December

Durban’s sailing prodigy, Benji Daniel is about to hit Chinese waters as he takes on 19 other nations at the Youth World Championships.

The 47^th edition takes place at Sanya Beach on Hainan Island, in the south of China with race days scheduled from the 10 – 15 December. With an expected 400 sailors from 70 countries, the crème-de-la-crème of the next generation of international sailors, under the age of 19 will go up against each other in nine classes. Only one team from each nation is selected to participate in each class.

Daniel, who was crowned the 29er World Champion in Alamitos Bay, Long Beach in August, will be changing it up. He trades in his familiar 29er to compete in the 420 class and will be sailing with the promising talent, Rivaldo Arendse from Cape Town.

Point Yacht Club’s star sailor will be heading to his third youth world champs, having raced in the 29er fleet with Durban’s Chad Stevenson in Langkawi, Malaysia in 2015 and then in Auckland, New Zealand last December, finishing both times towards the back of the fleet. His raw talent was revealed when, in an impromptu pairing with Cape Town’s Alex Burger, ignited them onto the international stage, and ultimately the top spot on the 29er podium.

The hard-working, modest sailor stated, “We are heading to China with realistic expectations. For Rivaldo and me, this is very much a getting to know you phase. We have never sailed competitively together before, and aren’t hugely familiar with the 420s so we aren’t going to put any unnecessary pressure on ourselves!

“Rivaldo is a really nice guy, he is 14 and I have just recently turned 17. Youths is going to be his biggest event yet. We are both really excited, and justifiably nervous as well. The other teams have a few of years on us, and have the advantage of sailing competitively together in massive regattas. It will be a major learning curve for us but so long as we stick to the basics, we will be alright.”

With his last exam scheduled for the 1^st of December, the Grade 11 pupil at Thomas More College will be putting his pen down, handing in his paper, and then dashing to the airport to fly down to Cape Town for some last-minute training with coach, former Olympic sailor Roger Hudson.

“It has been an unexpectedly exciting year. School and exams have been my main focus, so I can start the process of applying for uni. Between the chaos of school, I have been doing loads of quick trips down to Cape Town for training, firstly with Alex leading up to the 29er Worlds and now for the Youth Worlds. Having jetted off to Long Island beach in July and now to be representing South Africa lining up against some awesome sailors in China, it all seems quite surreal.”

Sailing under the shadow of one of the tallest statues in the world, the Guang Yin will see 70 Nations competing in the 47^th Youth World Championship taking place on the island of Hainan.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za or like the club’s Facebook page.

Chatting to budding new talent, Benji Daniel

Point Yacht Club

Interview with Benji Daniel

Durban has a budding new talent in the sailing fraternity, that of 14 year old Benji Daniel who hails from Hillcrest.

The youngster has just returned from the coastal town of Pwllheli in the north of Wales where he and his team mate Euan Hurter, competed in the Zhik 29er World Championships Regatta, finishing in an impressive and highly respectable fourth in the silver fleet.

Daniel was the youngest skipper competing out of 193 boats, “I enjoyed the challenge of being one of the younger skippers, a lot of the more experienced guys that were double or triple my age thought we were a joke and we managed to prove them wrong. But saying that, I learnt a tremendous amount being there, giving a gutsy performance and competing against the older guys!”

Asked how he would describe himself, the energetic water enthusiast claims it would be determined.  Currently finishing Grade 9 at Thomas More College, Daniel’s impressive international sailing CV continues to grow with each event he participates in.

“I think that Euan and I have both sailed enough in big fleets to get to grips a bit more on what to focus on. In a big fleet it is vital that you sail the fleet not a particular person, you also have to really focus the whole time because every mistake you make is punished which is good for gaining places but you lose out very quickly if you don't focus.”

Originally from Guildford in the south-east of London, the budding sailor compares, “Sailing in the UK is very structured, you learn to sail on an optimists, then you move up to RS Fevas and then on to 29ers where as in South Africa you do a bit of everything which in my opinion is just as good because you become a more rounded sailor capable of sailing anything.”

Having resided in South Africa for just over two years, he talks about the conditions when returning back to compete in his birth country, “Worlds was hard because of the venue, there were many land features that you had to know about but this was only for certain wind directions. Generally it was a pumping South-Wester which brought huge chop; that was the biggest challenge keeping the boat upright in those conditions.”

Chatting about a moment that stands out for him, he enthuses, “The moment that stands out for me most is when we got a second in the 8^th race. We had a good start but had lost out on the first upwind then came the downwind. We gybed off early and just sent it. We gained a lot of places, and on the next upwind we worked hard and sailed over the fleet followed by a consistent downwind led us to that result. Another moment would be the first day of the UK nationals coming off the water to find out we were eleventh overall. We didn't expect that!” reports the smiling lad.

At the recent Point Yacht Club’s Prize-Giving, Daniel cleaned up in both the youth and dinghy awards, raking in certificates, plaques, clocks and a trophy for PYC Youth Sailor of the Year that will take pride-and-place in his trophy cabinet at home.

His next challenge is that of training up his new team mate, Chad Stevenson. “I think in a year’s time Chad and I will be ready to take on the big names at the next worlds. It is in Long Beach, California in 2017; I would really like to go but for now the hard work starts so we can achieve this dream.”

But for now, the hard-working scholar returns to his books and concentrates on the final term of Grade 9, while getting as much sailing in on the weekends with his new sailing buddy. The next big event for him will be the start of the Point Yacht Club’s Dinghy Series at the end of October.

For more info visit www.pyc.co.za or join the Facebook group.