Youth Regatta at Rock:Great sailing, team spirit and home-made cakes
OnBoard Cornwall RS Travellers' Series
Twenty-eight young sailors aged between 9 and 15, from four Cornish sailing clubs, took part in two exciting days of racing in RS Fevas at Rock Sailing and Windsurfing Club (RSWC) last weekend (8-9 September).
The regatta was the fourth and final event of the OnBoard Cornwall RS Feva Travellers’ Series, which involved a total of 80 children, all of whom learned to sail through the OnBoard scheme at their local clubs – RSWC, St Mawes Sailing Club, Penzance Sailing Club and Helford River Sailing Club.
Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.
After a training and familiarisation session on Saturday morning, there were three races in the afternoon. The conditions were sunny, but the F2/3 breeze dropped as the day progressed, making tide a big consideration in race strategy. Sunday was a fresher day, with a F3/4 wind and some lively gusts, which allowed competitors some exciting planing spinnaker reaches and, in some cases, a bit of swimming practice!
The final race of the regatta was a real nail biter, with less than two boat lengths separating Ellie Nuttall and Esme Hovil from their local rivals Matt Chaplin and Laura Vinton (all from RSWC) for most of the race, and places changed several times. Ellie was leading into the final mark, but Matt just squeezed through as they rounded the buoy, to sneak a narrow win.
However, Ellie and Esme, who learnt to sail through Camel Estuary Youth Sailing, a charity raising money to allow local schoolchildren to learn to sail, were delighted overall winners of the event, in spite of having been beaten by Matt and Laura into second place over the whole series by just two points.
At the prize giving, organiser and OnBoard Development Officer Mark Belshaw presented a special prize to his choice of OB Travellers’ Series Sailor of the Year. The criteria for his choice were not just sailing skills and success, but also determination and commitment over the season, good sportsmanship, and passion for the sport. The award was won by Ellie Nuttall, who received an OnBoard buoyancy aid signed by Ben Ainslie and other British Olympic Finn Squad sailors Giles Scott & Andrew Mills.
Mark said: “This was a fantastic final event of the 2012 Traveller’s Series, the first to be held at Rock, and the first event of this kind to be organised by the newly formed junior/youth section of RSWC. A great team effort, from volunteer admin support, race officials and safety boat staff, and a great selection of home made cakes!
“We saw some really close and exciting racing, with many of the sailors showing some really good sailing skills – a real credit to them, and to all who have helped them come so far in such a short space of time.”
Over a ten year period OnBoard aims to introduce a minimum of 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting over 10% of them into regular participants. So far it’s nicely on track.
For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit the RYA’s website www.rya.org.uk or the OnBoard website www.ruob.co.uk