LAKE Macquarie sailor Joel Beashel, 11, will represent Australian at the 2020 Optimist World Championship, in Italy, in July.
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National selection is reward for Joel, of Balcolyn, winning the open division of the recent Australian Optimist Championship, in Williamstown, Victoria.
Last year, Joel won the intermediate national title at the Optimist championship.
Winning the open title this year was particularly impressive as the class included sailors up to age 16.
"I'm not sure anyone has ever done that," his mum, Lanee, said.
"And the Australian titles is open to international sailors, so the group included some top young sailors from New Zealand, Ireland, France and the USA," she said.
There were 130 competitors in the open division, with the top 65 progressing from the qualifying races to compete for the main prize.
Joel will now represent Australia at the world titles, on Lake Garda, in northern Italy, from July 1.
Joel also recently teamed up with Logan Radford, 14, of Gosford, to win the 2020 national Flying Ant title in McCrae, Victoria.
"This will be the first time that Joel has sailed at the world championship level," Lanee said.
"He'll be the youngest on the Australian team, and he'll be one of the youngest competing from any country."
He faces a busy schedule before he packs his bags for Italy.
Joel has two rounds of the NSW Flying Ant series to complete.
The first will be raced this weekend, on Pittwater. The final event will be sailed on Georges River.
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Each of the sailors selected to represent Australia in Italy will then take part in a three-day training camp in Adelaide, in March.
He'll then compete at the Combined High Schools (CHS) Australian Secondary Schools Sailing Championships, at Belmont, from April 14.
And he'll travel to Bermuda to compete in the Junior Gold Cup for Optimists, in May.
Joel will also travel to Europe ahead of the 2020 Optimist World Championship to compete in a pre-World Championship regatta.