On 18 July 2005, female sailors from 18 countries, in 34 boats, will gather on the waters of Lake Mondsee, Austria, to battle it out for the title of Yngling World Champion.

The start of the World Championship marks a new challenge for Sarah Ayton, Annie Lush and Lisa MacDonald as they take on the best Yngling sailors in the world. After a successful season at the European Olympic class regattas, Ayton and her crew are looking to place well at this event.

Winning a gold medal in the Yngling at the 2004 Athens Olympics with Shirley Robertson and Sarah Webb, Ayton has gone on to skipper a boat of her own and her record shows that she is still one to watch. Ayton and new her team started off the season with a sixth overall at the Princess Sophia Regatta in Palma. Following Palma, Ayton bounced back and took home a silver medal at Hyeres making her a top three contender on the race course. A gold medal quickly followed in Holland as Ayton, Lush and MacDonald sneaked passed Ruslana Taran and secured the win. Finishing off the European Olympic Class Regatta season with a fourth place overall at Kiel Week, Ayton continues to make her presence known in the Yngling fleet.

Annie Lush joined the Ayton/Webb team following the 2004 Olympic Games and Lisa MacDonald, a well known offshore sailor, has been doing bow while Sarah Webb is recovering from knee surgery.

Ayton commented: “In January, when I started sailing with Annie and Lisa, our goal was to finish in the top three at the world championship. We have been training a lot and our results from the Olympic Class Regattas show that we are capable of doing just that. However, Lake Mondsee has been a light wind venue and shifty so we will keep our fingers crossed, try and sail consistently, and hope that it all goes well. At this point I just can’t wait to get out there and start racing!”

The three girls will be sailing against some of the world’s best talent including skippers Ruslana Taran (UKR), Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) and Janneke Hin (NED). All three sailors have proven to be tough competition for Ayton and will continue to challenge her for a top three finish.

Also representing Great Britain are Dominica Lindsey, Diana Shanks and Fleur Oswald who placed in the top 15 at all of the European Olympic class regattas this season and Gemma Farrel, Rachel Howe and Caroline Bowen who placed 15th overall during Kiel Week 2005.