The idea of a Junior Championship was born at the 1966 IFA AGM. The Council was discussing the problem that eastern European countries were willing to pay IFA Fees, able to collect funds in local currencies, but unable or hampered to transfer these funds to the IFA account in a capitalist bank. Hungary proposed to use up the credit already accumulated for the organisation of IFA regattas and added that substantial financial support can be expected from the corresponding state organisations, if such regattas are earmarked as 'Junior Events' limited to competitors up to the age of 21 years. So the 1966 AGM decided to create the 'Junior European Championship' and delegated the organisation of the first event to Hungary as an experiment. As far as the main intention was concerned - to transfer funds from one economic system to another circumventing the official difficulties - the idea did not work out. However as a sporting and social event these Junior European Championships turned out to be very successful and therefore the tradition was kept up.

Unfortunately there was hardly any wind for the whole week of the regatta. The competitors spent more time waiting for wind on the water and swimming than actual sailing. Nevertheless 7 races were completed.

The defender Serge Maury was now too old to compete again. So he, with the help of his father and brother organised the second Junior European Championship on a lake near Bordeaux. The Maurys have been producing barrels for the famous Bordeaux wine for centuries. Medium winds favoured the light helmsmen.

There was a standard pattern. A morning race in medium north winds faded away in a dying breeze, and an afternoon race in a fresh southerly turned into a procession along the cliff. At the end the Swede Liljegren tied with the Pole Skarbinski in points but took the title by his two firsts.

In 1970 the event was organised in the CSSR and well attended. However it suffered from poor wind conditions and only 4 races were scored.

The win of the Greek Boudouris was clouded by a protest from the French, that he was sailing without the lead he had in his boat during measurement. The jury did not hasten to check the boat up until the next evening when his downwind speed had decreased considerably and the lead was found in place.

In the practice race with hardly any wind at all a storm warning caused the race committee to abandon sailing. The dashing young heros grumbled at the funky race committee. But after six races with never less than 5 Beaufort they changed their attitude towards sailing on Lake Neusiedl. The 36 competitors together had about 150 capsizes and broke 50 masts. In 1972 none of the Juniors had an aluminium spar.

In 1973 the Polish organised the European Juniors right after the Seniors. 13 boats with 7 identical helmsmen participated in both events. Winds in the Juniors were not so strong. Twenty year old Moscow sailor Vitali Zaroslav scored 1/2/3/4/5 in that order in the light weather races and took the championship. However his victory seemed shaky when, after the 5th race, the DDR sailors and the race committee protested him for pumping. However after consultation with their coach the sailors withdrew their protest.

This time the Juniors were scheduled right after the Veteran Gold Cup in the same club. Jochen Schumann scored four wins in reliable wind conditions.