Draycote Water Sailing Club celebrates 50 member entries to World Championships in 2022
by Jeremy Atkins 18 Nov 2022 01:09 AEDT
Freddie Sunderland & Stella Nygard win the RS Feva Inlands at Draycote Water © Steve Angell
In 2022 Draycote Water Sailing Club amassed an amazing 50 member entries to sailing world championships. We doubt anyone has counted before, but we suspect it must be the highest ever for the club.
18 different events were attended, held in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary and the USA. The best-attended was the Feva World Championship held in Weymouth in July with 370 sailors, 13 of them from Draycote. The Club had two top-five places at this event, with second place going to Freddie Sunderland & Stella Nygard (both aged 15) and fourth place to Millie Irish (18) & Bob Byne (14).
Freddie & Stella started the event by winning the first six races but lost their crown on the final downwind leg of the final race. Freddie's advice to anyone looking to emulate their success: "Work hard but don't forget to have fun along the way."
One better was Joe Rowe (aged 15) at the Topper World Championships at Lake Garda in Italy who won the World Championship crown in a very close finish with a sailor from Northern Ireland. Joe, who had been training hard for the event said, "My top tip would be to train and prepare for a championship early with a clear goal."
Showing what a gender-equal sport sailing is, half the club's entries were female and half male. Our competitors' ages ranged from 12- year-old Topper sailor Oscar Rowe to 63-year-old Club President, Jeremy Atkins, with many ages in between. Many were at their first world championships, but some were into double figures after this year.
The podium results and much of the attendance were driven by the Club's Youth & Junior sailors, spurred on by the Club's training arm - Draycote Academy - run by team GBR coach and club member Steve Irish. Steve was also one of the entries, sailing in the 505 World Championship in Ireland, but his performance was eclipsed by that of his trainees.
Club Commodore, William Whittaker said, "It's amazing to have so many members competing on the world stage. Our Draycote Academy is producing world champions in its third year, which is absolutely fantastic. But, perhaps more important, is the sheer number of our sailors involved in international competition.
"Sailing teaches them independence and maturity and it is great to see this on the water and on the shore."
The Club has marked this achievement by producing a special edition of Draycote Unshackled, the Club's magazine [free to read online].