Talented young British sailor found dead

by Miranda Prynne on 9 Aug 2014 A teenage girl hailed as one of Britain's best young sailors has been found dead in woodland, the day after her 17th birthday.

The body of Jess Eales was found about a fortnight after she came 11th at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Portugal, where she was representing Great Britain.

The talented sailor competed against more than 365 of the world's Olympic hopefuls from 63 nations, describing it as 'the biggest week of her career'.

In April she won a gold medal at the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Youth National Championships in Weymouth and Portland.

Her death is not being treated as suspicious but has rocked the sailing community in her hometown of Lymington, Hants.

Mark Nicholls, RYA youth racing manager who worked with Jess, said: 'She was a young sailor who showed promising talent which can now unfortunately never be fulfilled.'

John Derbyshire, RYA racing manager and performance director, said: 'Jess was a very happy smiling girl and a part of our sailing community but that is only one of the aspects of her life, she also had her school, her family and friends.

'This has been a complete shock to everyone who knew her, her family are just reeling and as a parent I don’t know how they are managing to deal with this.'

Phil Lawrence, commodore of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club (RLYC), where Jess was a member, said: 'This is a tragedy and we are giving her parents all the time, space and privacy they need at this time.'

Her achievements saw Jess included on the RLYC roll of honour earlier this year for the fourth time, following in the footsteps of Olympic champion sailor Sir Ben Ainslie.

She was also a member of Hayling Island Sailing Club.

Having learnt to sail in 2009, Jess went on to compete in the RS Feva XL class before moving into the high performance 29er skiff class.

The Brockenhurst College pupil spent a year competing in the double-handed 29er and then made the transition into the multi-hull catamaran Spitfire class.

She was then among 10 Brits to compete in the championships in Portugal, and took part in the mixed multihull SL16 class alongside helm Oli Greber, a bronze medallist in the same event the previous year.

Jess was found near a car park in Sway in the New Forest at around 9.30am on Thursday, July 31.

She had celebrated turning 17 the day before by heading out into the Solent a motor boat with some friends.

Her cousin, Misty Eales, 24, from Pennington, Hants, said: 'It looks like she had a lovely day out.

'She posted photos online and was laughing in every one. She looked really happy.

'Jess was just a lovely person and she did so well, representing Britain in the sailing in Portugal.

'She was good at art, at school - just really clever.'

Jess's aunt, 48 year old Donna Chase described her niece as a beautiful and intelligent girl.

The mother-of-two said: 'She was very clever and very talented.

'She was always getting A's in her results and she was very talented - representing Britain in sailing.

'The sailing world is a very tight community.

'She had a lovely personality and was a beautiful girl.'

Di Roberts, Brockenhurst College principal, said: 'Jess was one of our brightest students and a pleasure to know.

'Intelligent, articulate and with a maturity beyond her years, she had huge potential.

'Our thoughts are very much with her family at this sad time.'

Friends of the popular teenager wrote heartfelt tributes on her Facebook page, where Jess uploaded a smiling selfie the day she died.

Anna Prescott wrote: 'The four years I spent sailing with you were definitely the best four years of my life.

'We made so many great memories together and I would not have wanted to with anyone else.

'I definitely would not have changed them for Click here to read the full story.