This Australian 2024 summer season competing and training on the Olympic iQFoil windsurfer has been an incredible journey, made even better by the support of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Image by Spike Mikey Middleton

It all started in Perth at a national training camp with Paris Olympic medallist Grae Morris. Training was full-on, with strong winds and tough sessions that pushed all of us to our limits. Working so closely with Grae and the other sailors was an amazing experience—it really helped me sharpen my skills and build confidence. My first time in Fremantle, it was a great learning experience to improve on a lot of key areas as a squad.

Next stop was Melbourne for the Sail Melbourne which was our National Championships. With just a few days of prep, I jumped straight into some tight racing against a super competitive fleet. Sailors from Singapore, Germany, and New Zealand brought their A-game, which made every race exciting and challenging. Finishing 4th overall was a great result, and it’s left me hungry for even more next season. With some challenging conditions out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club, ranging from light-wind slalom to super shifty storm driven course racing, there was a lot of exciting moments. My favourite day of Sail Melbourne was the challenging course racing day, opening up both risk and reward, where I was happy to take away a solid 2nd place.

After that, I headed to Sydney for Sail Sydney for some more training and competition. Despite the long walks out through the sand, the training camp provided another opportunity to race with a good fleet of around 20. Racing there was another highlight, especially being close to Grae in some of my better races. Seeing how I stack up against such a high-level sailor really opened my eyes to where I can improve and how much more potential there is to tap into.

Finally, it was a relief to reach home ground and home waters for Sail Brisbane. Despite the training days prior to the regatta being everchanging, the racing provided fair winds and exciting racing. After Day 1, I was very happy to come away with 3 out of 4 race wins and be leading the regatta. After some more complex and tough racing, including the dangers of seaweed, I ended up on joint first at the end of the competition, resulting in a silver medal following countback.

Image by Spike Mikey Middleton

Through it all, it’s been a privilege to represent RQYS at every regatta. The club’s support has been a massive part of my journey, and I’m so proud to fly the RQYS flag at events like these. It’s been a season full of growth and lessons, and I can’t wait to take everything I’ve learned into the upcoming international season and to the global stage in 2025.

by Jarrod Jones

Cover image by Spike Mikey Middleton.