Four young sailors, one new award, worldwide results behind it

Four finalists have been named for the inaugural Noakes Group Female Youth Sailor of the Year, a new award created after Noakes Group signed on as Australian Sailing's Official Youth Sailing Partner and the category was split by gender for the first time.

Mia Austin and Zara Marks of NSW/ACT, Tasmania's Olive Hooper, and Queenslander Caterina Meyer make up the finalists. All four backed up strong domestic form with results on the world stage this past season.

The awards night is set for Friday, October 30, at the Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour. Whoever wins will join a list that already includes Olympians, world champions and some of the sport's genuine legends.

Austin and Marks, who sail out of Woollahra Sailing Club, had their breakthrough moment at Kiel Week in June 2026. They finished third overall and second female crew in a 158-boat 29er fleet, picking up three race wins along the way against a mix of male, mixed and female opposition.

Aged 16 and 17, the pair have quietly become one of the most consistent youth teams in the country. They've won Top Female Boat at the Australian 29er National Championships in both 2025 and 2026, finished first female crew and fourth overall at Sail Auckland, and placed sixth youth female crew (61st overall of 276) at the 2026 29er World Championships. Both remain eligible as youth sailors in 2027 and are already training for another international campaign.

Olive Hooper's season has been built on volume as much as results. She won the Australian International Cadet Championship with crew Haran Thani in January 2026, added the Tasmanian International Cadet State Championship, and claimed the Tasmanian Youth Championship twice, in October 2025 and March 2026. At club level she won the Derwent Sailing Squadron Pennant and placed second in both the Sandy Bay Sailing Club Pennant and the Bellerive Crown Series.

Internationally, Hooper finished 11th at the 2025 International Cadet World Championship at Lake Lipno in the Czech Republic and was selected to captain the Australian team at the 2026 World Championship at Lake Garda, her fifth Cadet Worlds. She also captained the Tasmanian team at the Australian Championship.

She's heavily involved off the water too. As Sandy Bay Sailing Club's Junior Commodore for 2025-26 and an Assistant Instructor, Hooper supports programmes including Girls Discover Sailing, Tackers, Green Fleet and Cadet Learn to Sail, and is a senior helm for The Friends' School sailing team. She's now planning a move into the 29er class.

Caterina Meyer has made the Youth Worlds team in the ILCA 6 for two years running, finishing 20th in a 49-boat fleet at the World Sailing Youth World Championships in December 2025. A Queensland Academy of Sport supported athlete, she followed that with 15th at the 2026 U19 ILCA 6 European Championships.

At home, Meyer was the top U19 female at the 2025-26 Australian ILCA 6 Nationals, finishing 22nd in the 74-boat open fleet. She also placed second at the 2026 Queensland ILCA State Championships, and was first female and sixth overall at the 2025 NSW Youth Championships, the Youth Worlds qualifying event.

The honour roll stretches back to the 1980s and includes names such as Nathan Outteridge, Jessica Watson and Glenn Ashby among past winners, proof of how often Australian Sailing's youth awards have flagged future Olympic and America's Cup talent.