Cadet class Peter Scott Trophy at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

After almost a year and a half of Covid-related absence, the Cadet Class was finally able to return to one of its favourite venues at Grafham Water Sailing Club for the Peter Scott Trophy Championship, in July.

Despite losing several families to self-isolation in the week preceding the competition, 26 cadet teams arrived on Saturday morning full of enthusiasm for the weekend ahead. The UK Cadet Class has been working hard to increase numbers as we emerge from Covid and it was great to see several new families included in the entries. A major strength of the Cadet is opportunity for young crews joining the fleet to learn to sail in a boat under the guidance of an older more experienced helm.

Unfortunately, the wind forecasts in the days leading up to the event proved to be accurate and despite an optimistic wait for the conditions to change, our race officer Arky had no choice but to call off the racing on Saturday. Undeterred, the Cadet sailors, still in their sailing gear but evidently really happy to be together again, put all their energy and competitive spirit into a football match which proved to be much better entertainment than what was follow at Wembley on Sunday evening.

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham - photo © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

No sailing on Saturday left most with fingers and toes crossed for enough breeze to get a series together on Sunday. Despite a light start to the morning, the breeze eventually filled in, building to a sufficient, albeit rather patchy 5 to 7 knots, promising to provide the sailors with some challenging light wind racing.

Race 1 certainly gave them that and following an excellent start, and intelligent first beat, the race was led by Monty Hampton & Wilf Kingsnorth in their first race out of regatta fleet, closely followed at the windward mark by Sarah McEwan & Holly Jones, with Will Shephard & Joe Mycroft pursuing from third. On the first reach of the triangle, Will & Joe were able to take both Sarah and eventually Monty, taking the lead of the race into the first leeward mark. However, this proved to be rather short-lived, as having recovered from a less than successful start, rounding the windward in tenth, Hamish Collingridge & Rhona Enkel were able to sail above and around the leading pack of boats, rounding the first leeward mark in first place, followed by Will & Joe, with Sarah & Holly remaining in third.

There proved to be not much more change for the front runners throughout the rest of race, with Hamish & Rhona successfully protecting their lead, with Will & Joe in second and Sarah & Holly finishing an excellent third. In the regatta fleet, coached by ex-Cadet Rebecca Videlo, there was some close racing, with Josh Davidson & Harriet Davies taking first, and Ava Roberts & Ines Figueiredo in second.

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham - photo © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

Race two gave the sailors a much-needed puff of breeze, with Will & Joe taking an early lead after a super pin-end start, with Hamish & Rhona looking to track him down and Monty & Wilf once again working their way to the top-end of the fleet in the early stages of the race. Will & Joe gradually stretched away from the rest of the fleet, leading every stage of the race to take his first win of the weekend, with Hamish & Rhona taking second, followed by Bridgette Nee & Monty Slump taking third having made progress through the fleet throughout the race. In the regatta fleet it was time for revenge for Ava & Ines, as they took their first win of the weekend, followed by Josh & Harriet in second.

Race three saw a new leader at the first mark of the race, with Hannah Carruthers & George Cox Olliff successfully working the shifts on the right-hand side of the course to take the lead away from Will & Joe, who were steaming up the course having crossed the majority of the fleet on port from another excellent pin-end start (is there a pattern here?). Throughout the rest of the race Will & Joe continued to put pressure on Hannah & George, frequently trading the lead of the race, although Will eventually triumphed by taking a big right-hand lift inside of them.

Ben Goult & Alex McEwan also took this opportunity to get past, with the race finishing with Will & Joe first, Ben & Alex second, and Hannah & George rounding out the top three in third. Two firsts on the trot gave Will & Joe a commanding lead in the points, with a discard to spare. In the regatta fleet, Ava & Ines were able to take a one point lead over Josh & Harriet, following another first and second respectively.

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham - photo © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

And so the final race went ahead, and right off the start Will & Joe left themselves with work to do after a last-minute right hand shift scuttled their ambitions of a port-hand flyer to cap off their pin-end success this weekend. Hamish & Rhona and Hannah & George both had excellent starts off the more biased committee boat end of the start line, and looked set to battle it out for the lead of the race, until Hamish tacked into a wind hole giving control of the race to Hannah & George.

The pair sealed their first win of the weekend taking advantage of a massive left-hand shift up the first beat to grow an impressive lead, with Ed Fletcher & Alex Enkel, as well as Charlie Bailey & James Bailey riding the same shift all the way to the upper end of the fleet. At the first windward mark, Hannah & George rounded in first, followed by Bridgette & Monty in second, and Hamish & Rhona in third. Will and Joe steamed past on the first reach into third, determined not give his closest challenger a shot at taking the Peter Scott Trophy.

The positions did not change from here, with Hannah & George finishing in first, and Bridgette & Monty, and Will & Joe capping their weekends off with an impressive second and third place finish respectively. In the final regatta fleet race, Josh & Harriet were able to mount a comeback, preventing Ava & Ines from sealing first overall by taking their second win of the weekend, to ultimately tie the points between the both of them.

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham - photo © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

With impressive consistency, Will & Joe were able to discard their third place in the final race to finish on 4 points overall to take home the Peter Scott Trophy, having dominated the weekend. Hamish & Rhona took second overall, finishing just one point in front of Hannah & George in third, following a run of success in the final two races of the day.

Outside of the top three, Bridgette & Monty finished in fourth, followed by Ben & Alex in fifth. Brandon Barker & Kali Karaskas took an impressive sixth place overall and were first in the silver fleet. Elsewhere in silver fleet, Sophia Sfaxi & Immy Sherwood finished in second (and tenth overall), followed by Sarah McEwan & Holly Jones in third in silver fleet and 11th overall.

In the regatta fleet, the match racing between Josh & Harriet and Ava & Ines resulted in a tight finish as promised, with Josh ultimately triumphing via countback, due to both pairings taking two firsts each.

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham - photo © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

Overall, the wind on Sunday provided challenging, but exciting racing, great practice for the South Cerney Open to follow on 2nd to 4th August, as well as the Cadet National Championship on 22nd to 27th August in Brixham.

A special thank you goes to our juror Steve Watson, as well as our excellent race officer Arky, who managed to get four good races despite the tricky wind conditions, as well as giving the sailors time to pack up and go home to watch football not come home.

A big thank you to Grafham Water Sailing Club; despite Sunday night Euros tragedy, the Peter Scott Trophy was a great success for a class which has been far too disrupted in the past 18 months, and we all look forward to watching these young sailors compete and have fun in future competitions.

Peter Scott Trophy for Cadets at Grafham - photo © Tim Hampton / www.timhampton.uk

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