Royal Lymington Yacht Club Junior Regatta
by Shireen Crowe 30 Aug 2017 11:49 BST
21-25 August 2017
Lymington Yacht Haven Trophy for Family Team Spirit goes to Ella & Olivia Lightbody and Rosie & Daniel Jenkins in their scow ‘Jean' at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club Junior Regatta © Justin Parry
The first day of the RLymYC 2017 Junior Regatta (August 21-25) saw light and tricky sailing conditions for 153 junior competitors. Light winds from the SE gave competitors some challenging racing but had the advantage of a gentle start to the week.
Competitors enjoyed light cloud, a little rain and some sunshine for the week with some 'sailing friendly' breezes of 7-10 knots rising to 18 -20 knots on occasion.
Gary Barnett, the new Principal Race Officer and the race management team ran four separate fleets in the Solent and its lakes. The variable conditions in the Solent kept the large volunteer safety fleet busy each day between towing and rescuing as fleets enjoyed challenging racing.
The Bronze fleet boasted a record number of young and relatively inexperienced young sailors keen to learn and enjoy a week's competitive racing. Race Officer Steve Green said: "Relatively quickly they were tacking, gybing, shifting their weight and timing their movements well. Many showed real potential and lots of determination to keep sailing in a range of conditions. No matter how many times they capsized the safety boat teams reported record breaking 'righting' times by many of the youngsters. These 9 – 12 years olds grew in confidence."
Silver Fleet Race Officer John Whyte ran racing for intermediate Optimist sailors and RS Tera sailors. The RLymYC has a fleet of 14 Tera and 18 Optimists, which were lent to local young sailors getting them out on the water.
Whyte, a regular Cowes Week Race Officer, was impressed with the standard of racing amongst the youngsters who visibly grew in confidence off the start line. The sailors enjoyed good racing culminating in a sailing/swimming/running triathlon on their final day of fleet racing.
Gold Fleet Race Officer Malcolm McKeag ran some excellent high standard racing for the advanced mixed fleet of RS Tera, RS Feva, RS Vision, and Laser sailors. "The real kick out of this event for me" he said "is watching how new-comers to Solent tidal racing just get better every day."
This year's Scow fleet was smaller due to the lack of experienced helms to take the younger sailors out. Fran Wilson was Race Officer for the under 17 (years) Scow fleet with over fifty-five competitors divided into teams of mainly three per boat. "The improved confidence of many was great to see as the week went on", said on the water volunteer coach Ollie Tait.
The final 'Pirates' day saw all fleets combined for a fun race in very light airs. Much fun was had and water thrown about!
It takes over 150 volunteers to run what is the South Coast's most famous flagship local community junior sailing regatta.
Junior Regatta is supported by, Lymington Yacht Haven, Joules Clothing, Walhampton School and the Lymington Harbour Commission.
Overall Winners in each class:
- Joules Trophy: Joel de Grave best helm in own boat
- Dirk and Sally Kalis Trophy: Issac Butcher for the young competitor who has embraced the competitive opportunity of racing on the water
- Lymington Yacht Haven Salver: awarded for Family Team Spirit and goes to Ella & Olivia Lightbody and Rosie & Daniel Jenkins on their scow Jean.
- Walhampton School: for learning the importance of teamwork Jake Stokes & Sam Webb
- Twins Cup: 1st Overall in a WJS Scow is Seventh Haven – Lucy Pumphrey, Alexa Lister & Charlotte Lister.
- Schools Cup: 1st Overall in a private Scow is Crikey! – Digby Ling, Amos Sopher & Oscar Marshall.
- Witherby Cup: Private Scow Fleet Highest placed girl helm is Delphina Cosby on Copy Cat with her crew Holly Ward & Gregory Fisher.
- Wednesday Cup: Best WJS Helm is Jemima Cary in Flying Horse & her crew Anoushka & Savannah Farrelly.
- Optimist Bronze Fleet – highest placed sailor under ten years of age in RLymYC Club boat winning the Corrigan Cup is Natasha Hough
- Optimist Bronze Fleet – Winner in Private Boat: William McEwen
- Optimist Bronze Fleet – Winner in Club Boat: Joel de Grave
- Silver Fleet RS Tera Sport Class: Hugo Anderson wining the Tera Trophy.
- Silver Fleet Optimist Class: Matthew Mason - winning the Stuart Jardine Cup.
- Gold Fleet PY Fast Fleet: 1st Tom Mitchell - winning the Christian Cup
- Gold Fleet PY Medium Fleet: 1st Tim & Abby Hire - winning the New York Club Plate
- The Youngest competitor was Savannah Farrelly who turned 8 in May winning the Shrimp Cup
- The AJ Slipway Trophy for the most helpful sailor of the week was awarded to Tim Hire by The Beach Master, Sebastian Chamberlain
- The Oliver's Boat Trophy for the 'Spirit of the Regatta' was awarded to Harry Barnett in recognition of the huge effort he put in as part of the Mark-laying and Safety team.
