Trophy treasure hunt launched by North East & Yorkshire youth series

NE and Yorkshire Youth Traveller Series at Ripon © Ripon SC

The North East & Yorkshire Youth Traveller Series is appealing for help to track down missing trophies ahead of its 40th anniversary prize-giving.

A number of generous people in the region have donated trophies to the series over the years to recognise the achievements of young sailors but two have been lost in the mists of time.

The series organisers are now keen to find the mislaid trophies and get them back into use again.

Fiona Spence, Chair of the North East & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association, said: "We're appealing for families who participated in the series between 2010 and 2018 to have a look on their sideboards and in their cupboards to help us track down these missing trophies in time for our 40th anniversary prize-giving at the end of September.

"We don't know exactly what these two trophies look like but we do have a few clues about what to look for, so we are hoping everyone will help us with our treasure hunt!"

Leapfrog Trophy

The Leapfrog Trophy was presented to the series in the 1990s by the late John Dowd. It is for the sailor who shows the most improvement from the previous year and celebrates perseverance and commitment to improve. This trophy embodies the spirit of the series and also reflects John Dowd's personal ethos and his contribution to the series in the 1990s.

Fiona says: "The series started to award his prize again despite not having the trophy as it's a great award. It would be really good to get it back and get the recent winners' names added to it. We are pretty sure this is in the Yorkshire region as at the time it went missing, only sailors from Yorkshire were eligible to receive it."

Traveller Trophy

The other missing award is the Traveller Trophy, which is also thought to be in Yorkshire. It is believed to possibly be a square dark wood plaque, standing upright with a picture of a boat in the middle. It is awarded to the first helm of the opposite sex to the overall winner of the series.

This trophy will have lots of names on it, as it was first awarded in the early 1980s, just as the series started to become well established. Again, the series has continued to award this prize over the last few years but would like to find the actual trophy so it can be presented again.

Get in touch

Fiona added: "Please help us track down these trophies and get them back into circulation to celebrate the successes of our young sailors in the region. If you have any information on their whereabouts, even just a 'maybe so and so might know', please get in touch."

Contact Fiona by emailing , or message via the website www.yhysa.org or Facebook at www.facebook.com/NEY.YouthSailing.

Alternatively, pop along to one of the events in the series to say hello and share any information or memories about the trophies. The series will next be visiting Pennine SC on Saturday 8 July and then Ulley SC on Saturday 15 July.