We're excited to announce the 2023 Oceania Youth Wave Titles in Geraldton Western Australia for youth aged under 21. Importantly, this event will contribute significantly to gaining a unified PWA/IWT Youth Wave World Ranking and a regional ranking in your specific age / gender division.
As the PWA/IWT unification is new, some details are urgently being clarified, but this event will be the most significant youth wavesailing event in the Oceania region.
Who
The event is open to any youth aged under 21 from anywhere in the world, but especially those in the Oceania countries (eg, Australia, NZ, Fiji, etc).
We are aiming for separate divisions for girls and boys, PLUS separate divisions for age groups.
Everyone is welcome, even if you're just learning to jump or catch waves. Pretty well if you can waterstart, give it a go!! There'll be fun prizes for wipeouts and best attempts at new moves, as well as winner's prizes and important world ranking points for the more advanced youth sailors.
Dates
25-26 Feb 2023 With a reserve weekend of 4-5 March 2023 if there's insufficient wind in Feb.
Location
Coronation Beach Geraldton, for U17s, U15s and U13s.
The Spot (Oakajee River Mouth) will also be considered as an option for the more advanced sailors (eg, U21 Pro Junior and U19 Juniors) - depending on conditions of course.
Youth in any division can sail the smaller inside break at Coronations which suits those who are just learning to jump and are a little less consistent in their waterstarts. Those who are able to ride waves and consistently waterstart can venture to the outside break if they wish.
A safety jetski will be present during competition.
Divisions
We need a minimum of three youth to make a division. But we will be offering these divisions in the first instance to encourage as many entrants as possible.
Under 13 Girls
Under 13 Boys
Under 15 Girls
Under 15 Boys
Under 17 Girls
Under 17 Boys
Under 19 Girls
Under 19 Boys
Pro Junior Under 21 Girls
Pro Junior Under 21 Boys
If we have insufficient numbers in a division, the entrants will be rolled into the next oldest age group (eg, we may roll Under 13 Girls into one combined Under 15 Girls).
Entry
Entries will open late January via the Windsurfing WA website. We will share the link here and via our communication channels.
Entry fee is expected to be around $50 per entry.
Further Communication
We are currently setting up our social channels here to share information. They will contain more information over the coming days, but for now, all information known to date is in this forum.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/oceaniayouthtitles
Instagram: www.instagram.com/oceaniayouthtitles/
Email: oceaniayouthwavetitles@gmail.com
Competitors Whatsapp Group - please email us the competitors name and a contact number to join a whatsapp group for fast communication of information on entry, registration, briefing times and expected competition days when the date approaches,
Please encourage as many youth as possible to enter - even those just learning to jump. it will be amazing to get all our Oceania youth together so they can meet each other and have fun, as well as compete.
Entires will be open on the Windsurfing WA website shortly at this link:
www.windsurfingwa.org.au/events/172778/
We are aligning divisions with the new unified PWA/IWT wave tour. As the merger is new, things like age cut offs and divisions are not confirmed yet. We understand the latest discussion regarding divisions may mean the age/genders divisions are as follows:
Under 13 Girls
Under 13 Boys
Under 15 Girls
Under 15 Boys
Under 18 Girls
Under 18 Boys
Pro Junior Under 21 Girls
Pro Junior Under 21 Boys
We will set up our entry using the latest information we have, but until global age divisions are confirmed, we can not guarantee these are the exact divisions. However, in our latest conversations with tour heads, this appears to be the most likely scenario at this point in time! We will keep you updated.
Entries Open
Entries are now open to anyone aged under 21. We'd love to get some kids from NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, NZ or anywhere else.
www.windsurfingwa.org.au/events/172778/
We had 12 youth competing in the wavesailing event for the 2023 Patrick Lancelin Windsurfing Festival - it was our biggest single division. So come and meet other like-minded youth at this event.
Sponsors
We're pleased to also announce Jaffle Shack as our name sponsor. Jaffle Shack will also host our Saturday night dinner.
Plus Severne and Revolution Boardsports are also coming on as a key supporting sponsor.
Sadly a month is a bit short notice to organise a WA trip for us over on the East Coast. I'm hoping you can run it again next year though as my son his mate from NSW will be coming across.
Great to see something being run specifically for Juniors/Youth though.
Cheers,
Tim
Hi Tim,
Yes, we are planning to make this an annual event.
The idea for the event only originated in conversations with IWT during late 2022. Unfortunately, the WA calendar was quite full so we had to slot this first event into Feb/March weekends and didn't have time for much notice. But we felt it was wise to just start it and get it running this first year.
Next year, our aim is to have the event in January during school holidays and possibly combine it with junior camp and competition. We'd love to see youth from all over NZ, Australia and other Oceania countries. This is just the start and hopefully gets word out to families like you so that we can get all the Oceania youth together. Anyone who can make it from the east coast is very welcome if you're able. The more the merrier!
Cheers
Jane
Hi Jane, That's awesome news my son and his mate from Sydney are planning a WA Trip next season and we'll spread the word at the East Coast Titles next week. We have the NSW Wavesailing AGM as well so will make sure this is on the agenda to promote both during the season and through our website. Happy to spread the word in NZ too as I'm hoping to get across the ditch to the TWC again this year!
Cheers,
Tim
PRIZES (NOT JUST FOR COMPETITION WINNERS!)
We've got some great sponsors on board for cool prizes, including Severne Windsurfing and The Foil Shop / Stand Up Surf Shop. Just confirming some others very shortly.
Note that we want to create a great level of froth and attract kids at all levels. So we're planning to have prizes at the Oceania Youth Wave Titles for things like:
- Biggest Frother
- Best Wipeout
- Hardest Charger (kid who is pushing their own level the most - could be anything from a kid learning to jump to someone trying loops or hitting lips for the first time)
- Most Helpful
- Best Mentor (more experienced youth who helps the younger groms)
PLUS there'll be prizes given away in a raffle.
What an awesome weekend this was!
Thank you so much to Jane Seman, her team of helpers, GWC and WWA for putting on this fantastic event. Amazing to see so many windsurfing youth come together and to see everyone with big smiles on their faces. It was great to see 10 year olds doing some of their first ever bottom turns, urged on by the excitement of the competition and the cheers of the spectators.
It felt really professional but focussed on fun. It was so well organised. The heats ran like a Swiss clock. Then there was Jane's live commentary, her interviews with the competitors, kids interviewing Jaeger Stone, Matt Holder's (Reflex Films) camera work and Paul van Bellen's drone buzzing around to add to the excitement.
The older youth buddying up with the younger competitors and mentoring them was a great idea.
Lots of new friendships were made that will no doubt last many years of windsurfing together
On Friday the youth got to share the waves with Phillip Koster and Justyna Sniady amongst others for inspiration.
I would encourage anyone with windsurfing kids to pencil in the trip to Coronation Beach next season. We'll definitely be back for it.
Dates for the 2024 event are confirmed - it's 16-21 January 2024.
We've started a new thread for this event here
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Wave-sailing/Oceania-Youth-Wave-Titles-Junior-Windsurf-Camp-16-21-January-2024-Geraldton--WA?page=1
