RYA Eric Twiname Championships – Entries now open

by RYA on 23 Mar 2013 Entries have now been opened for the 2013 RYA Eric Twiname Championships, being staged at Rutland Sailing Club. The annual Junior event will take place from 11 – 12 May 2013.

One of the highlights of the RYA’s Racing calendar, the regatta is now in its 27th year and will see young competitors in over 285 boats and windsurfers pit their sailing skills against the best young talents from each of the six English Zones, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, in a bid to help their Zone or home country team clinch the coveted Eric Twiname Shield.

The event which is an integral part of the Junior class calendar will offer the RYA Zone/Home Country Squads competitive racing in a fun and friendly environment. The weekend will welcome boats from across seven of the RYA Junior classes - Optimist, Topper, and Feva dinghy classes with the windsurfers racing on Bic Techno boards with 4.5m, 5.8m, 6.8m and 7.8m rigs.

Last year’s event saw the RYA South Zone reign victorious at Rutland Water as the ‘Battle of the Zones’ came to a thrilling finish. The level of racing displayed by the Junior sailors was excellent and with a vigorous winters training as part of the RYA Zone and Home Country Squad programmes under their belts, event organisers are expecting to see a similar standard from the young competitors at this year’s regatta.

Sailors will be eager to impress and perform as many will use this regatta as a stepping stone to go on and contest RYA National Junior Squad selections and as preparation for their Summer regattas.

Chris Atherton, RYA Eric Twiname Championships Event Director, said: 'We are once again expecting a strong turnout at the event this year after such a fantastic weekend of racing last year. I know the sailors have been working extremely hard in some very challenging conditions over the past few months so will be eager to put their hard work to the test as they battle it out for the RYA Eric Twiname Shield. For some of the sailors this will be their first time competing in a multi class, multi course, national event, so this experience will prove to be an ideal platform for them to develop and progress in their future sailing careers.'

Thanks to the long-standing and on-going support of the Eric Twiname Memorial Trust, the event, for sailors aged between eight and 15, is very cheap to enter with almost all of the costs associated with the running of the regatta met by the RYA and the Trust.

For more information about the event and to enter online via the event website visit www.ryaracingevents.org.uk.