Aussie 15 year old at Optimist Worlds
Australian Optimist dinghy sailing champion Shelly White will claim another career milestone when she represents Australia at the World championship in Turkey next week. 
She will face the first qualifying heat of the prestigious Beacon Challenge Cup today (local time) and hopes to qualify for the final medal races on Thursday July 24.
The diminutive 45 kg 15 year old who developed her career from fun-filled learn to sail classes with the Mooloolaba Dinghy Club on the peaceful Mooloolah River confidently completed her final sail evaluation in Izmir (Turkey) yesterday.
Many of her 264 World championship rivals representing 53 nations are stronger and heavier male skippers however the small sun tanned blond Aussie skipper is physically and mentally prepared for her challenge.
Shelly expressed her personal determination to win the 2008 Optimist National Gold Medal against a male dominated fleet in Melbourne earlier this year and has followed this up by successfully defending her Queensland Sabot title on the Keppel Bay Sailing Club course in June.
Remarkably she has the required physical endurance and the mental discipline to achieve results well beyond her relatively light body weight.
She has always presented an impeccable sporting attitude and accepts the male rivalry as part of the sport and has never been known to back away from a dog-fight addressing any attempts of 'bullying' by racing harder and faster.
There is a strong chance she will again experience some tactical aggression when the World's best Optimist dinghy skippers head into battle and she has learnt to understand that a girl has no free ride to calling the shots with uncontested use of sailing space.
"I have never raced in big fleets before and this presents a huge challenge which I plan on managing by assessing every situation with a quick response". She said.
Sure it will be difficult but the experience gained will prove invaluable as the exceptionally skilled female skipper continues to build her promising career.
Her first tilt at a World championship will be very much a nautical educational experience as Shelly maintains her personal focus on representing Australia in a future Olympic regatta.
"There is still a long way to go but that is my ultimate goal". She said.
Racing for Australia in the Optimist World championship represents the important initial step to achieving her goal.
Shelly will face a very busy schedule when she returns from Turkey including catching up on her back log of high school assignments during the week followed by training and racing her Sabot Stay Tuned on weekends in preparation for the 2008 Australian championship regatta at Airlie Beach later this year.
This will be her final chance to become the second girl in the history of the class to win the Sabot National crown.
Remarkably her idol Lauren Jeffries also a graduate from learning to sail on the Sunshine Coast steered the same dinghy Stay Tuned to her history making win on Townsville's Cleveland Bay 10 years ago.
by Ian Grant 
Merimbula, NSW
