West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Annual Regatta at Felpham Sailing Club
by Roger Belton 30 Sep 2019 13:32 PDT
7-8 September 2019
West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Annual Regatta © Bill Brooks
On a glorious sunny September weekend, the young sailors from Felpham Sailing Club lifted the prestigious Team Trophy for the tenth year running in the West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Annual Regatta. Taking part in the Regatta hosted by Felpham SC were 120 young people sailing 94 dinghies representing 10 schools & clubs from across West Sussex.
Paralympic Gold medallist Helena Lucas provided pre-race tips, coaching on the water, and post-race video debrief.
In the Rookie Fleet, Jamie Edwards from Chichester YC sailing a Topper 5.3 showed great racing ability and scored four wins in the five races sailed, closely followed by Eva Carmichael (also sailing a Topper 5.3) from Crawley Mariners YC scoring a first and two seconds. Eddie Ruffer and Luka Medina from Worthing SC were in third place in the RS Feva. Isabelle Tonks from Chichester YC did particularly well sailing her Optimist.
In the Slow Fleet, Toby Field (Emsworth SC) sailing a RS Tera Pro did just enough to hold off Joshua James (Felpham SC) sailing a Topper 5.3 and Samuel Tonks (Chichester YC) racing a RS Tera Sport. With just 2 points separating the top three it was a close fought series. Felpham SC took seven of the next nine places in the final results showing the strength of the sailing team from the home club.
There were 12 RS Fevas making up the Medium Fleet. Crawley Mariners YC showed dominating form and took the top three places well clear of the rest who were all showing variable results. Lauren and Emily Hetherington showed everyone else how to do it by scoring three wins and a second place. Worthing SC, newcomers to this Regatta, showed great potential by taking the next five places.
The Fast Fleet was a mix of Lasers (represented by all three rigs), an RS200 and two Aeros. It was the Aeros that dominated with Jack Miller (Felpham SC) taking four bullets and Fin Swanton (also Felpham) closely following with 7 points. Miles Vidler (Crawley Mariners) was well pleased to beat the Aeros in the first race on Sunday in the changeable winds that played to his strength. But that was his best result and he had to settle a close third with 9 points. In the battle of the Laser radials, Seaford College showed their best results with Ollie Randall-May and Tom Lawson lying just behind Alfie Lester in fourth place. Pagham Lagoon Sailing had their best result with Sam Atherton, lying in 7th, sailing a borrowed Laser Radial,.
At the start of Prizegiving we had a moments silence in honour of Andy Farrer, former Commodore, who had sadly passed away that weekend. Andy had set out a strategy for Youth Development in 2007 which has been continued since then. The number of Youth sailors at Felpham have grown from just a handful min 2007 to over 125 this year.
This event was sponsored by Tesco through their Bags of Help Scheme, Mays Estate Agents, Rooster, and the RYA London & South East Region Youth Training Fund. The Youth Training Fund support youth training and development across the Region through Training Bursaries and Awards. Grateful thanks to all of our sponsors.
Also many of the visitors supported the event, particularly by providing safety boat cover with ten visiting safety boats. The two officers, Guy Mayger and Ross Fisher did an excellent job reading the wind to lay the courses and provide some great racing in fickle light wind conditions. Huge thanks must go to everyone who helped to make the event memorable and a great success.
Overall Results: