Texas Sailing Association Youth Circuit Joins Sailors for the Sea Clean Regattas

Corpus Christi Yacht Club, to attain the Sailors for the Sea Platinum Clean Regatta Certification for the Youth Sailing World Championships, will follow prescribed environmental guidelines and include educational messages throughout this prestigious international regatta welcoming 381 competitors from 66 countries. With the support of 11th Hour Racing, the official Sustainability Partner of the Championships, the event is poised to meet this high international standard.

This is just the beginning for Texas sailors as the Texas Sailing Association has pledged to continue what has begun in Corpus Christi. Each TSA circuit event will register as a Clean Regatta and work towards implementing Sailors for the Sea best practices and educating sailors on the unique benefits and challenges of local waters.
In this way, TSA will educate and inspire the next generation of Texas sailors. The TSA youth circuit hosts fifteen events throughout the year across the State of Texas, from the lower Gulf Coast to north Texas lakes and the famous Texas Hill Country. Each of these events draws large fleets of Optimists, Lasers, and C420s to compete on different waters with different sets of skills. The common factor for each of these venues is that plastics, invasive species, and environmental change threaten our state's fragile waters. Through Sailors for the Sea Clean Regatta practices, TSA will foster a new era of conservation and encourage a deeper understanding of our waterways.

Texas youth regatta organizers will work with Sailors for the Sea throughout the 2018 sailing season and beyond to minimize the impact sailing events have on the shores and the sea. As each regatta works to implement Clean Regatta practices, sailors and organizers will focus on bringing reusable water bottles instead of disposable plastic ones; avoiding the use of single-use plastic such as straws, bags, and bottles; properly securing trash in sail boats or coach boats to avoid littering; and using recycle containers at the venues.

The Texas Sailing Association is proud to follow in the footsteps of the 2018 Youth Sailing World Championships and become the first statewide circuit to commit to the Clean Regatta program. Please consider joining Texas by encouraging your state or regional sailing organization to adopt the Clean Regattas practices, commit to a sustainability practice at each regatta, and make a difference by educating sailors about the importance of protecting our water.

To learn more, visit:
- www.sailorsforthesea.org
- www.txsail.org/sustainability
- www.worldsailingywc.org

About the Texas Sailing Association
With more than 40 member clubs, Texas Sailing Association works to promote and coordinate sailboat racing in the southwest as well and implement Sailors for the Sea Clean Regatta practices throughout Texas. As part of the United States Sailing Association's regional structure, club representatives compete each year in TSA events for the right to continue on to national adult and youth championships. With an active statewide youth circuit, TSA supports national, club and community level young sailors.

About Sailors for the Sea
Sailors for the Sea is a leading ocean conservation organization that engages, educates, inspires, and activates the sailing and boating community toward healing the ocean and local waterways. The global boating community is a natural constituency of environmental stewards and Sailors for the Sea provides this group with concrete examples of how they may individually and collectively address such issues as marine debris, overfishing, coastal development, and mismanagement of our ocean commons. Our tools and programs (Clean Regattas, Kids Environmental Lesson Plans, Ocean Watch Magazine, and the Green Boating Guide) empower boaters with tangible opportunities to create a legacy and make a difference for local waterways.

About the Youth Sailing World Championships
Open to sailors aged 19 and under, the 48th version of the Youth Sailing World Championships heads to Corpus Christi, Texas, USA from 14-21 July 2018 as the stars of the future are born once again.

The Youth Sailing World Championships was first held in Angelholm, Sweden in 1971 where 16 nations competed for the inaugural titles in the two-person dinghies, 420 and Flipper.

As the regatta evolved further classes were added to bring the best young sailing talent across the world together in one place and in 1984 the Mistral windsurfer was added to the list of events with Knut Budig (GER) taking the first gold medal in San Diego, California.

Past notable winners include American's Cup skippers, Chris Dickson (NZL), Russell Coutts (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL); Olympic medallists, Ben Ainslie (GBR), Robert Scheidt (BRA), Alessandra Sensini (ITA), Iain Percy (GBR) and Elise Rechichi (AUS); Volvo Ocean Race sailors like Stuart Bannatyne (NZL) and Richard Clarke (CAN). The most successful Youth World Champions are Great Britain's Sally Cuthbert and Poland's Zofia Klepacka having won four successive titles in the Laser II and Mistral respectively.