Youth Open and Emma Nettleship Regatta at Bough Beech Sailing Club
by Alastair Moppett 25 Sep 23:20 PDT
19 September 2026
On Saturday 19th September, Bough Beech SC hosted its annual Youth Open, incorporating the Emma Nettleship Regatta. Club members were joined by representatives from our affiliate organisations, happily including our resident Sea Cadet unit for the first time, and visitors from near and surprisingly far.
Main fleet Race Officer Paul, stoically enduring a barren spell on the water that meant that he hadn't won a national title for nearly an entire week, set as big a trapezoid as the good people of Surrey's summer water usage allowed.
Twenty-six boats started race one, with Harry from Weir Wood in the ILCA 6, Conor from Downs SC in the ILCA 4, and Anders from the Kings School in the Topper setting the early pace. In the chasing pack, Bough Beech's George Burgess was getting to grips with a borrowed Europe in camera-friendly fashion: spectacular, but not always upright. George wasn't alone in exploring all the possible angles that a dinghy can be sailed at, to be fair: mark three had been laid in front of the clubhouse, and the shoreside spectators had a wide variety of capsizes to, err, spectate on.
More boats arrived for race two, with RS Fevas and Topper Argos from Tonbridge School leaping into the fray. The asymmetric boats enjoyed some spectacular reaches and runs as some big gusts rolled through, but never quite got going enough to finish ahead of the ILCAs and Toppers of the leaders.
Yet more sailors joined us for the final race of the day, with the Sevenoaks School cavalry arriving to bolster the fleet to thirty-nine. In estate agent terms, the extra boats meant that the start line went from 'deceptively spacious' to 'cosy', with the pin end fielding lots of enquiries from interested parties. Harrys Whelan and Burgess emerged from the melee and disappeared off into the distance, pushing each other hard but not quite finishing far enough ahead of Anders in the Topper, who took the race win. Harry Whelan won the main fleet overall, by one point from Anders from the Kings School in second, with Harry Burgess from Bough Beech rounding out the podium in third.
Elsewhere on the reservoir, away from the main fleet, our coach Scarlet was drilling the seven-strong regatta fleet. These sailors sailed really well in some very gusty conditions, with race coaching and six short races completed. The podium was dominated by visitors from Downs SC, with Jess's Topper taking the win from the Optimists of Rory and Olivia.
The club awarded the Emma Nettleship memorial trophies to Harry as first home under-19, George as first home under-16, Charlie as first home under-13, and Louisa as first home female singlehander. A huge thank you to all our sailors, both home and visiting, parents, coaches, and club volunteers for making our event happen.
If racing on a medium-sized reservoir in Kent tickles your fancy, we have a two more open meetings in 2026, with the Fireflys joining us for a one-dayer, and the traditional Wayfarer end of season finale in November. The Icicle Series and its Youth Icicle counterpart both return in January, when the reservoir will be both full and slightly colder. The tea will still be hot, though.