Only Two classes race at RYA Youth Nationals

by RYA on 11 Apr 2007 The opening day of competition at the RYA Youth National Championships and Trials saw a slow start for the young sailors who were all rigged, ready and eager to race at the Hayling Island Sailing Club on Tuesday.

The grey and misty start to the day soon developed into bright sunshine during the course of the morning, but the one vital ingredient needed to get the regatta going – the wind – refused to appear for most of the day, leading to a long wait on shore for the 330 competitors entered across six classes at this premier youth sailing event.

By 15:00hrs the breeze finally appeared, allowing the 29er and Laser Radial classes to finally see some action inside the harbour, but for the Laser Standard, RS:X, 420 and Hobie 16 classes the wait in the Hayling sunshine was in vain when racing was finally abandoned, so there will be plenty of sailors eager to get their Youth Nationals campaigns underway if the wind shows on Wednesday.

29er

Sailors in the double-handed 29er class managed to fit in two races, with James Ellis (Plymouth) and Rob Partridge (Weaverham) topping the leaderboard at the end of day one, thanks to a race win and a second, while local Hayling Islander Frances Peters and Hannah Diamond (Southampton) have put in an early challenge.

Lying in second overall and the top female boat in the fleet, Peters and Diamond are leading by two points over 29er Ladies and Under-19 World Champions Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth, indicating the fight for selection to the GBR Youth Worlds team will be a tough one.

Laser Radial

The fleet with the biggest entry – the Laser Radials – saw one just one race on Tuesday, with Tonbridge sailor Chloe Martin and James Spencer of Christchurch both enjoying the perfect start to their regatta series, each scoring race wins in the single-handed class.

Doncaster’s Tom Willis and Michael Clark of Southampton are in close pursuit, both posting second places across the two fleets.

'I think what racing we saw today initially demonstrated the depth of quality at the top of the 29er fleet,' enthused RYA Youth Racing Manager Simon Wergan, who, along with the team of RYA selectors, will this week be looking out for the young sailing stars who will compete for Great Britain at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship this July in Kingston, Canada.

'We had some difficult conditions and late starts across all the fleets today,' Wergan continued, 'but the event and race teams did well to get as much racing out of the conditions as could be got.'

Race organisers are likely to have another challenging day on Wednesday with yet more light winds forecast.

29er Overall after day 1, 2 races:

1 James Ellis Rob Partridge 1 2 3pts
2 Frances Peters Hannah Diamond 1 3 4
3 Sophie Weguelin Sophie Ainsworth 2 4 6
4 Sarah Martin Nicola Groves 3 4 7
5 Huw Humphreys Max Todd 7 1 8
6 Phil Walker Matt Gotrel 7 2 9
7 James Rusden Ben Saxton 4 5 9
8 Ed FitzGerald Liam Arrowsmith 2 9 11
9 Oscar McVeigh John Mather 5 6 11
10 David Brewer Oren Richards 9 3 12
11 Mike Wood Graham Wheaton 6 7 13
12 James Peters Olliver Splensley-Corfield 5 9 14
13 Henry Maxfield Dicken Maclean 3 13 16
14 Becky Diamond Fiona Hampshire 10 6 16
15 Tom Durham Alex Cooper 6 11 17
16 Anna Brooks Julia Bowden 4 14 18
17 Gavin MacAulay Stephanie MacAulay 11 7 18
18 Emma Barry Hannah Mitchell 10 8 18
19 Ed Impey Ben Cornish 8 10 18
19 Brett Hill Rupert Jones-Warner 8 10 18
21 Will Twemlow Peter Perera 18 1 19
22 James Hopson Sam Coombs 11 11 22
23 Bleddyn Mon Tom Humphreys 15 8 23
24 George Wilson Roger Stabbins 20 5 25
25 Nick Redding Adam Hilton 9 16 25
26 David Hopper Bruce Spratt 13 12 25
27 Max Richardson Alex Groves 12 13 25
28 Sam Collingwood Adam Parry 17 12 29
29 Rebecca Kilburn Simon Foskett 16 15 31
30 David Lloyd Peter Lord 12 20 32
31 Natalya Eyre Francesca Eyre 14 18 32
32 Adam Kitchen Simon Kitchen 16 16 32
33 Erik Else Josh Woods 19 14 33
34 Liam Stacpoole Sam Stacpoole 13 21 34
35 Chris O'Neill Jameel Adam 17 17 34
36 Sam Gray Heather Fox 15 20 35
37 Sam Goodchild Nicholas Wilkinson 14 22 36
38 Luke Dampier Matt Haslam 22 15 37
39 Kirsty Hill Sam Proctor 21 17 38
40 Lilly Carlisle Becky Walbank 19 19 38
41 Toby Holloway Tom Altmann 18 22 40
42 Lynn Billowes Catherine Lloyd 21 19 40
43 Jo Banyard Josh Banyard 20 21 41
44 George Cooke Max Darke 24 18 42
45 Henry Westropp Rob Searle 22 24 46
46 Alex Poyner Holly Tucker 23 23 46
47 Evee Allen Fiona Allen 24 23 47
48 Hannah Tattersall Sophie Porteous 23 24 47
49 Juliet Long Helena Newell 25 25 50

Radial, Leading scores after day 1, 1 race:

1 Chloe Martin 1 1pts
1 James Spencer 1 1
3 Michael Clark 2 2
3 Tom Willis 2 2
5 Janek Payne 3 3
5 David Jessop 3 3
7 Craig Williamson 4 4
7 David de Boltz 4 4
9 Robert Spencer 5 5
9 Ross Palmer 5 5
11 Robert Holmes 6 6
11 Tom Hayes 6 6
13 Josh Davies 7 7
13 Max Robinson 7 7
15 Stephen Beckett 8 8
15 Alex Mills-Barton 8 8
17 Philip Garner 9 9
17 Jack Kilburn 9 9
19 Joshua Irons 10 10
19 Gareth Henshall 10 10
21 Charlie Poyner 11 11
21 Andrew Brown 11 11
23 Martin Evans 12 12
23 Sophie McKeeman 12 12
25 Lawrence Sly 13 13
25 Michael Rivers 13 13
27 Kelsey Suggitt 14 14
27 Martin Hayes 14 14
29 Cameron Smith 15 15
29 Lawrence Walters-Helps 15 15
31 Andrew Rawson 16 16
31 Sophie Platts 16 16
33 Phil McCoy 17 17
33 Anna Dobson 17 17
35 Andy Joseph 18 18
35 Thomas Taylor 18 18
37 Shane Terry 19 19
37 Sarah Butterfield 19 19
39 Ben Hodges 20 20
39 Phillip Reynolds 20 20
41 Jak Cornthwaite 21 21
41 Stephanie Lawrence 21 21
43 Jess Derbyshire 22 22
43 Elliot Banks 22 22
45 David Highcock 23 23
45 Joanna Ireland 23 23
47 Andrew Normand 24 24
47 Tom Lonsdale 24 24
49 Ben Platten 25 25
49 Dylan Noble 25 25
51 Kyle Grant 26 26
51 Charlotte Greenhalgh 26 26

Racing is scheduled through until Saturday 14 April

For results http://www.ryaracingevents.org