Bosham Junior Week
by Nicky Chapple 17 Aug 2015 10:26 BST
9-14 August 2015
Olympic double gold medallist races against junior sailors
Cowes Week, often a showcase for the best and most competitive sailors from around Europe, had to do without Sarah Ayton, twice gold medallist for Team GB at the Beijing and Athens Olympics last Friday as she tested her racing skills against the junior optimist fleet at Bosham Junior Week regatta.
Sarah and her son Thomas, aged 6, coached and raced against the youngest competitors in the regatta, most aged 8-10, just starting out on their sailing careers, to spur them on to follow in the footsteps of role models such as Sarah.
150 youngsters aged between 8 to 18 years participated in the annual regatta which was held over 6 days with up to 9 starts every day. Sailing in 10 fleets, in 6 different classes, the young sailors pitched their wits against each other in some challenging weather varying from Force 5 to no wind, beautiful sunshine to torrential rain.
Among the Bosham cadets participating already making their mark is 13 year old Cossie Lewis, who started her sailing in optimist dinghies at Bosham, came 7th in the European Optimist Championships in July and was the highest placed GB girl.
Apart from the 'official racing', there was a full programme of fun races which were also hotly contested. Winners included:
- Fathers in an Optimist race: Nigel Russel
- Parent and child in a Feva race: Mark and Will Timberlake
- Blindfold mothers rowing race: Rufus and Jane MacKenzie
The new Cadet Committee was voted in with Charlie Knottenbelt chosen as the new Cadet Captain and Elise Kearsey as the new Vice Captain.
The packed social calendar included football, rounders, black tie dinner and disco, film night, U13 games, hog roast, and a parents disco.
Bosham Junior Week Winners:
420: Jack Holliday & George Hayes
Senior Mirror: Dominic Gogarty & Edward Hodgson
Junior Mirror: Maria Howeson & Tabitha Hill
Senior Optimist: William Timberlake
Junior Optimist: Isabel Medina
Junior Feva: Patrick Mayhew & Felix Kent
Senior Feva: Cossie Lewis & Julia Mellers
Laser Radial: Sophia Harper
Junior Topper: Archie Gibbon
Senior Topper: Flora Windebank