RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Championship 2024 at the WPNSA
by Patrick Croghan 3 Jul 2024 17:54 NZST
29-30 June 2024
A record number of 12 teams competed at the RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Championship 2024 at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy.
Greeted by blazing sunshine and an unexpected breeze on the first day of the weekend (29-30 June 2024), international race officer Tom Rusbridge got stuck into the packed schedule.
Despite a brief pause for a course change, by the end of the first day an impressive total of 16 flights had been completed, giving the young teams a full-on day on the water.
The team of Jamie Tylecote, Issy Leetch, Freya Pembury and Ben Tylecote from Rutland managed to win all of their races, putting them into provisional first place overnight.
Semi-finals
Day two brought darker clouds with showers and the six remaining flights of the round robin saw a scramble for the rest of the semi-final places.
Ryde School secured second overall in the round robin after losing just two of their 10 races. One of these losses came against the impressive team of Heather Quinn, Ben Paling, Ellie Thomas and Jamie Wilkinson, who showed consistent speed and finished with a score of 8-3 to claim the third spot.
Despite a slower start to the event than they would have liked, Oli Hale's team of Ben Simmons, Lucy Street and Natalie Annels eventually clinched the fourth semi-finals space, pipping his sister Amber Hale by one point.
Team Tylecote proved too strong for them, however, in the first of the semi-finals, taking the match 2-0 against Hale.
In the other semi-final, Heather Quinn put up a strong fight against the Ryde team of Fred Salter, Killian Boag, Ruby Sunderland and Noah Evans. Salter took the first race, but Quinn quickly levelled the score at 1-1 with a penalty in the dial-up.
An even start in the deciding race left the match hanging in the balance, but the first gust was kind to Ryde who took the first cross and used slick crew work to seal the match and book the remaining space in the final.
Final
Tylecote's team dominated the first pre-start from the starboard entry and never eased their grip on the race, taking the first point. In the second, Salter started behind but with options. He managed to open some leverage and was the first of the pair to an area of pressure on the left. Tylecote opted to try and follow but became stranded between the lay-line and the pressure, forced to watch Ryde extend a healthy lead and level the score.
The next two races followed a similar pattern; the team first to the gust prevailed and they exchanged another pair of points, setting up a 'winner-takes-all' final.
The less experienced Ryde team used all their tenacity to maintain the high level they had displayed all weekend. They proved too much for the Rutland team who also sailed brilliantly, but in the end came up slightly short in the deciding race.
Overall Results:
GBR Fred Salter, Killian Boag, Ruby Sunderland, Noah Evans
GBR Jamie Tylecote, Issy Leetch, Freya Pembery, Ben Tylecote
GBR Oli Hale, Ben Simmons, Lucy Street, Natalie Annels
GBR Heather Quinn, Ben Paling, Ellie Thomas, Jamie Wilkinson
Full results can be found here
The annual event is for competitors aged under 23 and attracts young sailors wanting to try keelboat and match racing for the first time as well as the top-ranked teams.
Racing this year took place in Elliott 6M keelboats, with top match racer Ted Blowers on hand to mentor the teams over the weekend, and Nick Devereux as Chief Umpire.
Event Coordinator Patrick Croghan said: "This year saw a record number of entries for the RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Championships with both experienced teams and new ones making the most of the tricky conditions for some exciting and close racing. Congratulations to all of the teams that took part, and thank you to all of the volunteers, sponsors, and officials who made the event happen."
Double victory
For Ryde School on the Isle of Wight, it was a double victory which saw them claiming not only the overall RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Championship title but also the Under-19s trophy.
It was a busy week for the school and winning skipper Fred Salter thanked the team's parents and supporters, and the teachers from Ryde School for taking the team to WPNSA hot on the heels of the BSDRA Team Racing Championships for schools in Oxford.
Summing up their match racing championship, Fred commented: "The first day was very light starting off and very shifty as well, then towards the end it filled in quite consistent and gave us a really good track to race. We ended up with only one loss to Jamie Tylecote on the first day which we were pretty pleased with."
Following the completion of the round robin, he said the semis provided "very close racing and we just about got the job done in the final race", adding: "Going into the final against Team Tylecote the wind dropped slightly from the start of the day and it was really shifting and patchy, so we focussed on that to get off the line clean and try to lead to the first patch, and that was a very exciting match going best of five and just about winning 3:2."
It was only the second big match racing event for the team, with Fred also skippering Ryde School to victory at the RYA Schools Match Racing Championship in September 2023.
Fred said the team was now looking forward to competing at the RYA National Match Racing Grand Finals in October 2024 at London's Queen Mary Sailing Club: "It was good to get out there and race against all the best people in the country this weekend and the national finals will be a great event to fully see what we can do and build on what we have so far."
Find out more about RYA Match Racing and all upcoming events in the 2024 series, including NOR and entry details, at www.ryamatchracing.co.uk.