Royal Lymington Yacht Club Junior Regatta
by Shireen Crowe 6 Sep 2018 19:32 AEST
13-17 August 2018
This year's Royal Lymington Yacht Club Junior Regatta had a record number of young competitors eager to experience their first racing regatta in the glorious and sometimes challenging sailing conditions of the Solent.
The prize giving, sponsored by Volvo Car UK, was a triumph of happy achieving sailors of all ages and ability having enjoyed a week of intensive but fun sailing. These young sailors Inspired by the Volvo Ocean Race campaign to 'Turn the Tide' on plastic in the ocean took up the cause banning all single use plastic from their event, the first junior regatta in the UK to take this action.
The Race Officers were delighted to see applaudable courage from many of the youngest sailors keen to get out on the water and deal with the strong opposition from fellow competitors.
On water coaches were busy increasing confidence that resulted in rewarding improvements in boat handling throughout the week. The warm sunshine and near perfect wind kicked-in with all fleets enjoying some challenging racing. Steve Green ran the Bronze Fleet delivering a mix of fun and careful instruction for the competitors who were new to racing.
There were multiple activities for the youngsters to boost the fun levels which included a water triathlon. The majority finished the week with a great deal more sailing knowledge and lots more confidence.
John Whyte rose to the challenge of Silver Fleet with its combined intermediate Optimist sailors and beginner RS Tera sailors, all competing in exciting and often challenging conditions of wind and tide. John ran an impressive number of quality races for this fleet that resulted in a steady growth of confidence off a busy start line.
Experienced Gold Fleet Race Officer Malcolm McKeag ran some excellent high standard racing for the advanced mixed fleet of RS Tera, RS Feva, RS Vision, and Laser sailors. Race Officer Fran Wilson ran the Scow Fleet with her usual flair for making sailing educational but fun keeping a smile on the faces of the very youngest competitors.