St Joseph's Nudgee College

February 27, 2009

St Joseph's Nudgee College student Curtis Skinner has been selected in the Australian Youth Sailing Team and will represent Australia at the World Championships in Brazil in July.

The Year 12 student and College Vice Captain made the team after winning the Laser Radial Class race at the Australian Youth Championships held in Western Australia during the Christmas holidays.

Curtis has been sailing since he was 8 years old and has his own laser radial boat. He is also involved with yacht racing and spends most of his weekends on the water.

"I sail most weekends out of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS)", he said.

"There are races on Saturday then I train on Sunday with the state squad which I am also a part of."

Curtis participated in sailing when it was a GPS sport at Nudgee College but with the College no longer competing in GPS sailing, Curtis turned his attention to umpiring. He now holds a National Umpires ticket and is involved with numerous team racing regattas.

"I’m really into team racing but since Nudgee College no longer has a team I trained to become an umpire. I’ve been invited to umpire at the Queensland and Australian School Team Racing Championships which are both at RQYS this year which I am really looking forward too."

Curtis is also looking forward to Brazil and is glad that his hard work off the water, which includes activities such as cycling, paid off at the Youth Championships. 

"I finished second in the trials last year in the Laser which motivated me more to make it this time. All the hard work and hard hours of hiking paid off, everything fell into place at the right time and I won!"

A career in sailing is something Curtis would consider pursuing after leaving Nudgee College.

"There are several paths you can go down in sailing. The one I would like to follow is the America’s Cup path where you do the racing circuit in Europe."

The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships will be held in Buzios Brazil in July.