Report from Ravensborne 29er Youth Trust England and Japan Tour

Mat Bancroft and Chelsea Whitburn with their trophies from the 29er Worlds Ross Whitburn

The New Zealand crew compete in the 2006 Worlds at Weymouth, UK © Ross Whitburn

Thirty six hours later we arrived at Heathrow airport to a UK summer, to find that our spare sail had been lost, it was returned to us a week later. After a couple of day’s sight seeing in London we travelled South to Hayling Island to collect our boat a 29er skiff, supplied by Fiona Balch from the Ravensbourne Youth Yachting Trust.

A 29er is a high performance two person trapeze and spinnaker racing skiff. Matt and I did a couple of days training. We had been training together since April, but training on the Otago Harbour in winter is very difficult, Matt would travel from Wanaka every weekend, and it was very cold and quite often no wind at all.

The 29er UK National Championships were held on the 17th – 20th July, all that training but Matt and I had never been in a race together before, we were nervous, and it was our first international experience.

There was a fleet of 85, 29ers, the winds were light, it was very tidal and the days were long. Matt and I sailed well and our final result was 3rd in the silver fleet and 28th overall, we were proud of that. We packed up our boat, in two days time we would sail in the 29er World Championships, and headed for Weymouth.

The New Zealand crew between races at Weymouth © Ross Whitburn

The 29er World Championships were held on the 22nd – 29th July. Great Britain was experiencing a heat wave, it was hot 36 degrees, and once again the winds were light. The fleet of 110 yachts were from all over the world, but Matt and I were going from strength to strength, and when the wind got over 10 knots we were flying.

Unfortunately we missed the silver fleet by only 2 points, but after 8 more races, and 4 firsts, our overall result was 1st bronze fleet. It felt great to win races at the Worlds. We were so proud. We couldn’t have done it without the support & help of our team, Dad, Helen & Natasha Bancroft. We packed up again.

I had been selected to be in a team of five sailors to represent NZ at The All Japan Junior Yacht Club Regatta, along with Ross Whitburn, Coach and Judy Langley, Manager.

So after another 13 hour flight Dad & I arrived at Osaka. The other team members had arrived 12 hours earlier. After a much needed nights rest we went sightseeing in Osaka with the NZ team.

It was uncomfortably hot 40 degrees. The next day we travelled by train to Nanao, no one spoke any English and we got off the train, a stop to early, and had to walk carrying all our luggage. We only had 3 hours to practice in our supplied boats before the regatta started on the 4th August.

Chelsea Whitburn with their 29er Worlds trophies © Ross Whitburn

The racing conditions were light winds again which was quite lucky as I was sailing a Sea Hopper class yacht, which is similar to a Laser Radial here. My final placing after the 2 day regatta was 3rd overall, all 5 sailors in the NZ team received trophies and the NZ team won the ABeam Cup.

We experienced such warm hospitality and saw the most beautiful scenery. Dad and I arrived back in Dunedin on the 8th August, very jet lagged, back into a Dunedin winter; we had been away 5 weeks.

It was the most awesome experience, one that I will never forget.

I would like to thank the Ravensborne 29er Youth Trust for supporting me.