#mirror – Eighteen months ago brother and sister Ryan and Michaela Robinson, from Boskop Yacht Club in Carletonville, approximately an hour's drive outside Johannesburg, won the Mirror World Championships hosted by Lough Derg Yacht Club.
They won against competition from the Philippines, GBR and Irish crews among others. Fireball correspondent for Afloat, Cormac Bradley, raced against and worked for their father, Michael, during his time in South Africa and after the regatta in Lough Derg, Michael wrote a piece on the campaign to compete in the Irish hosted Worlds. The essence of Michael's article is that it isn't necessary to have the latest boat and sails in order to win a Worlds and he chronicled how the family had engaged with the Mirrors from a relatively modest investment of time and money to a full blown Worlds campaign.
The article obviously struck a chord because on revisiting the story on the Afloat website recently, it had received over 5,000 reads!
So, as a follow-up to that widely read article, Bradley reports that Michaela and Ryan successfully defended their Worlds title, but with their roles in the boat reversed, Michaela helmed and Ryan crewed.
This time the strongest threat to the defence came from a concerted British team which had a number of combinations finishing at the top end of individual races. However, Michaela and Ryan were able to defend their title with a race to spare! The 2015 Worlds were held in Theewaters Kloof Dam outside Cape Town. Regrettably, there was no Irish presence at the 2015 Worlds.
A full review of the double win by the Robinsons has been posted HERE.
