Stewarton sailor Rory McKinna is hoping to make more waves at the 2023 Para World Sailing Championships in the Netherlands this month.

He executed some of his best sailing on the Cadiz waters in 2019 when he represented Great Britain at the Allianz World Sailing Championships and finished in ninth place.

Now the Ayrshire Hansa 303 sailor is set to compete for another top 10 finish at the pinnacle of Para sailing on the Braassemermeer lake. 

The 21-year-old has been in the boat for eight years after discovering the sport while rowing on Castle Semple Loch, and will go for glory when all the action gets underway on August 11. 

He said: “The last Para Worlds in 2019 was probably the best sailing I’ve ever had. That was as much to do with the conditions as well - it was consistent and the same all week, nothing too tricky to it. 

“If Braassemermeer can pull that off like the Spanish did then that would be great. 

“I’d say I’d understand a lot more than I did in 2019. It was still a case of going out, sailing and seeing how I get on, and at that stage I finished ninth. 

“It was within the top 10, but I feel I understand a lot more now - whether it’s technical stuff, understanding why the boat does exactly what it does as opposed to just feeling it and understanding it as, ‘that’s good and that’s bad’. 

“It still hasn’t quite sunk in that I’m going. It’s always felt like something that’s happening next year. I'm feeling fairly confident though. 

“At the moment the Para Worlds would be the pinnacle of what you can achieve in disability sailing, so it will be great racing against so many nationalities.” 

The Allianz Sailing World Championships will be the first time Hansa 303 sailors have competed on a scale this large since 2021.

And if McKinna ever struggles to charter a boat, he can always rely on ‘The Glasgow Bonnet’.

“I’m still using the same boat that I learnt to sail in, ‘The Glasgow Bonnet’,” he said. 

“Whenever a boat is not available to charter at a competition, The Glasgow Bonnet gets put in the back of a trailer and off we go.

“It wasn’t until a few weeks after I started sailing in it that I noticed it was called that.

“My nearest town is Stewarton, which is known as the Bonnet Toun, it’s all sort of linked up and it was meant to be. 

“It’ll be great to get out there on Braassemermeer and see how I can do.”

Follow the British Sailing Team at the upcoming Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, on Instagram at @britishsailing.