Please select your home edition
Edition

Champions emerge at the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships

by RYA Press Office 24 Apr 23:26 AEST 14-18 April 2025
2025 RYA Youth National Championships © RYA / PKC Media

Over 230 of the UK's top young sailors descended on Pwllheli for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships, where new champions were crowned after a week of varied and challenging race conditions.

Held over the Easter break (14-18 April) at Plas Heli - the Welsh National Sailing Academy - the event showcased the country's brightest up-and-coming talent across six youth classes: 420, Nacra 15, 29er, ILCA 6, ILCA 7 and the high-octane iQFOiL windfoilers.

Chris Marsh made it a Youth Nationals three-peat, adding a second consecutive ILCA 7 title to his ILCA 6 victory from 2023, while Alexander Meadway (iQFOiL), Amelie Hiscocks (29er) and the 420 pairing of Sabine Potter-Merle Nieuwland also earned their second national titles.

The final day of the event once again featured Olympic-style medal races, with the 420, 29er and ILCA 6 male and female fleets finishing with final-day top ten showdowns, while the iQFOiL fleet took on a dynamic knockout final series similar to that used at senior international events.

Competitors and event volunteers were also treated to a visit from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, RYA President, during the five-day event.

Oli Woodcock, RYA Youth Racing Manager, reflected on the week: "It's been a testing week with some very tough conditions, but we've witnessed some incredible determination, adaptability, camaraderie and sportsmanship across the fleets.

"Our congratulations go to all the medallists across the classes, and to our amazing event volunteers for their incredible help and support."

Across the fleets

420

The title chase in the 420 event went to the wire, with Joseph Jones-Hennie Burlton's (Burghfield SC/Royal Southern YC) medal race win seeing them tied on points with pre-regatta favourites William Fletcher-Matthew Rayner (Royal Southern YC/Yorkshire Dales SC) but claiming the title by virtue of their superior medal race position.

Just four points behind silver, Sabine Potter-Merle Nieuwland (Warsash SC/CBYC) picked up the overall bronze medal and were also the top-ranked female crew for the second year in a row. India Eastwood-Isla Fletcher (Itchenor SC/Royal Southern YC) and Tabitha Davies-Sophia Sfaxi (Royal Lymington YC/Trearddur Bay SC) completed the female podium spots.

Hennie: "It feels really, really good. Really good to end a week-long event on a high." Merle: "It was pretty good. We've definitely had breeze on for the last two days. The wind picked up for the last race today and we quite enjoyed ourselves!"

29er

Welsh pairing Jac Bailey-Ben Sinfield (Clwb Hwylio Y Felinheli Port Dinorwic SC) continued their run of strong form in the class with a convincing victory in Pwllheli. Placing first or second in nine out of the 12 opening series races, they finished off their week with a fourth place in the medal race which handed them the event victory with a 26-point margin.

Dirk Rogers-William McEwen (Royal Lymington Yacht Club) claimed silver with Joe Armstrong Rowland-Sam Armstrong Rowland (Royal Southern Yacht Club) just a point behind in third.

Lila Edwards-Amelie Hiscocks (Parkstone YC/WPNSA) missed out on the overall podium spots by just 0.5pts to finish in fourth overall but were crowned female national champions and with it a second straight title for Amelie who won the 2024 event alongside Annabelle Vines.

Ben: "In the medal race we just had to stay in the front bit of the [medal race] fleet to win, so it was about not doing anything stupid and keeping it calm, play it safe. We'll now try and get a good result at the Europeans and Worlds so we'll ramp up the training for the summer events."

Amelie: "We're feeling pretty good. We're a little bit disappointed after the medal race as we went in third with a chance of getting second but we dropped out of the [overall] podium to fourth. But we're still really happy with the week. We still came out as first girls and still fourth in the UK so we're pretty happy."

ILCA

Chris Marsh (Royal Hospital School) made it a hattrick of Youth Nationals wins with a second successive victory in the ILCA 7, having stepped up to the bigger rig after his ILCA 6 victory in 2023.

Poppy Luxton's (Restronguet SC) six race wins from the opening series in the ILCA 6 female fleet, plus victory in the medal race, saw her claim the event title ahead of Felicity Angell (Draycote Water SC) and Ellie Thwaites (Norwich School).

Toby Waggett (Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club) posted a similar scoreline in the ILCA 6 male event. Six race wins out of nine opening series races plus a medal race victory saw him claim the national title by 19 points ahead of Cameron McDaid (Largs Sailing Club) in second and Nathan Clark (Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club) in third.

Poppy said: "[It's] Amazing! Just amazing. I've never had a regatta that's gone well consistently, so it's really good. [The medal race] was just about sailing your own race, focusing on boat speed."

Toby said: "it feels really good. It's been a really tricky week so it feels nice to finally be finished and get the results on the scoreboard. I went into the medal race a little bit worried just to make sure I didn't get any jury flags or anything and tried to stay out of any mess."

iQFOiL

It was a podium clean sweep for Parkstone Yacht Club riders with Alexander Meadway justifying his pre-regatta favourite status to claim overall victory and a second Youth Nationals title to add to his 2023 win.

Milo Shaw claimed silver with Galahad Bye picking up bronze, while Sophie Clark (ASC Portsmouth) was crowned female national champion.

Alexander said: "[It was a] tricky event to stay consistent in with a range of wind and waves, but really pleased I pulled it all together to come away with the win."

Nacra 15

Visiting teams from Belgium, competing as part of the class's SuperSeries, proved the ones to beat on Cardigan Bay, claiming the top three podium positions. Hannelien Borghuis-Sander Borghuis (Royal Belgian Sailing Club) didn't finish outside of the top three in any of their 13 races to top the table at the end of the week.

Marcus King-Maddie Jinks (Warsash Sailing Club/Plym Yacht Club) were the top-ranked home pairing, finishing fifth overall, with Will Boalch-Eliza Pritchard (Plym Yacht Club/Exe Sailing Club) and Finn Caddy-Jess Patterson completing the British podium standings.

Full results are available on the RYA Youth Nationals website.

Related Articles

Entries surpass 100 for Airlie Beach Race Week
74 Islands Distillery has signed up as Naming Rights Sponsor As entries breach the century mark, Whitsunday Sailing Club (WSC) is pleased to announce that 74 Islands Distillery has signed up as Naming Rights Sponsor for 2025 Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW) Posted today at 8:35 am
Naples to host 2027 America's Cup
The fight for the Auld Mug will take place under the watchful shadow of Mt Vesuvius The Government of Italy, in conjunction with Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, are pleased to announce Italy as the Host Country and Naples as the Host City for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup to be held in 2027. Posted today at 8:17 am
Victorian 2K Team Racing Championship overall
48 sailors from 5 Victorian clubs converged on Royal Geelong YC 48 sailors from 5 Victorian clubs came together for the inaugural 2K Team Racing Victorian Championship over the weekend of May 10th and 11th. Posted today at 7:34 am
Coutts gives some advice to ageing pro teams
Coutts sounds a warning to the 12 teams to refresh their talent and upskill younger sailors Speaking with Stevie Morrison at the SailGP Technologies facility in Southampton, UK, Coutts sounds a warning to the 12 teams to refresh their talent, upskill younger sailors, and bring them into the SailGP teams. Posted today at 12:28 am
Dragon Worlds at Vilamoura day 3
Consistency and competition Day 3 of the Dragon World Championship by Tivoli Hotels & Resorts brought another day of top-level competition in Vilamoura, as the international fleet completed two races as scheduled. Posted on 14 May
Formula Kite Europeans in Urla day 1
Smaller kites shrink the riders and mix the fleet Brave riders grabbed their opportunities on day one of the 2025 Formula Kite European Championships, in Urla, Turkiye. Posted on 14 May
Banger Racing, Back Racing and No Racing
Racing on the cheap, a return to racing for young Aussies, and ILCA struggles We start with racing on the cheap at the Colander Cup, then focus on a return to racing for the Aussies at the Youth Worlds, moving on to a complete lack of racing at the ILCA Worlds, and then looking at how SailGP should be back out on the water. Posted on 14 May
44Cup Porto Cervo starts tomorrow
This event sees the high performance one design owner-driver fleet back up to 11 in number RC44 racing returns to Europe tomorrow with the start of the 44Cup Porto Cervo, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Posted on 14 May
New study in Vendée Globe could be a game changer
Research is being carried out by a bio-engineering specialist into human performance What effect does racing alone around the world on a high performance IMOCA yacht have on the human body and mind? Posted on 14 May
ILCA 6 Women's and ILCA 7 Men's Worlds day 3
The wind stays away and the day is cancelled once more For the third consecutive day, the ILCA World Championship race course remained stalled under a windless sky. A dense fog clung to the Olympic Sailing Center, muting the horizon and chilling the air to a damp 17 degrees C. Posted on 14 May