NSSA National Youth Regatta 2024 at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club
by Bass Press 27 Jul 21:58 BST
22-26 July 2024
The 2024 National School Sailing Association annual regatta was held at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club on 22-26 July. After months of preparation, boat moving and grounds prep, 208 competitors sailing 180 boats arrived on Sunday, rigging boats and setting up team camps on Bass's extensive club grounds.
The opening ceremony welcomed visiting sailors aged 8-18, sailing for 14 regional teams, all supervised by team managers with no parents staying on site, although many stayed locally and cheered on their teams from the shore during racing. Kent (350 miles) come a close second to Plymouth (400 miles) for the furthest travelled.
On the water, the 180 boats were split into 3 courses, with ILCA 4, 6 and Toppers on the orange course and fast and slow handicap on the black course. This year's event seen an increase in the coached Rookie fleet, split into handicap and Toppers, expertly run by Hannah and Andy Wilcox.
Over the week the weather was fairly standard for this part of the country, with only one day's drizzle, one day of sunny glamour and the rest typical of this year's so called summer, cloudy and 16 degrees. The wind was generally light, building to medium on Friday for the final of the 14 race series.
Starting with the black course and the fast handicap, Patrick and Johnathon Hill sailing an RS200 for Derbyshire, lead from the outset, winning 7 of the 14 races. Never too far behind, and overall just 3 points adrift after 14 races, was Cumbrian team members Matthew Somerville and Henry Bullen, also sailing an RS200. Jacob Lutton sailing an ILCA 7 was 3rd overall, sailing for Northamptonshire.
In the slow handicap, it was a North East & Yorkshire top 3. Sailing an RS Feva, Henry Blades and James Catterall totally dominated the mixed fleet of 27, made up mostly of RS Feva's and Teras. Henry and James won 9/14 races to claim overall victory. Sailing an Optimist, Alex Welfare finished a convincing 2nd overall. A great performance given he was one of the youngest and the slowest boat in the mixed fleet. Lola Saunders and Elizabeth Shilling finished 3rd overall and 2nd RS Feva.
On the orange course, the competitive ILCA 6 fleet was won by Julien Rohart, sailing for Oxford. Julien finished with just 18 points, 14 points ahead of Sebastian Robb from Kent. Ed O'Callaghan from Oxford finished third, just 2 points behind Sebastian. Across the week, the U flag was used for all but the very first and last race, when the P flag resulted in general recalls!
The ILCA 4 fleet, Olivia Coady, sailing for North East & Yorkshire, won 9 of the 14 races to claim an easy win. A seriously impressive performance given the varied conditions. Olivia also won a spot prize because she was the only sailor to thanks the 'Grim Reapers' at the windward mark when being told she was OCS! The fight for second was close, just 1 point separating Amelia Gilboy from Plymouth and Noah Byrd from Northamptonshire.
In the final race Noah finished 6th and Amelia 7th, just enough to give Amelia 2nd overall. In the 30 strong Topper fleet, Robert Hole from Cambridgeshire was leading for the first half of the week. However, the final 5 races were won by Harry Mitchell from Kent, who claimed the overall victory. Bass regular, Oscar Manning was 3rd sailing for North East & Yorkshire.
Over to the coached Rookie Topper fleet, it was a Norfolk 1st and 2nd with Sam Howell claiming victory and Mai Ahn Purnell 2nd. Sailing for Northamptonshire, Theo Graves was 3rd overall. In the Rookie handicap fleet, Bass Tera sailor Rory Davenport made easy work of the mixed conditions, winning with just 12 points. Sailing an RS Feva, Bea Maletras and Gemma Hedley finished in 2nd overall. Sailing an Optimist, Dotty West was 3rd overall.
Wednesday sees a break from the usual schedule, with the Mount Haeys trophy, the single hander race, rookie all comers race and the all comers pursuit. The prestigious Mount Haes Trophy is raced in Firefly dinghies (thanks to UO Leeds for the loan and to Mike Saul for the ferrying). 6 boats in each of the 6 knock out heats with the top 2 going through to a semi-final were the top 3 from each semi race in the final, only one winner!
In the final was Oxford 1, North East & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association 1, Derbyshire Youth Sailing 1, Kent 5, Cumbria Youth Sailing Team 1, and Cumbria Youth Sailing Team 2. In the final, from the first gun, Patrick Hill and Amelia Gaye from Derbyshire looked fast, leading from start to finish. Cumbria 1, sailed by Matthew Somerville and Henry Bullen finished 2nd. A special mention must go to Cumbria 3, sailed by Bass legends James Reekie (13) and Oliver Smith (10). They cruised through the qualifying and raced with determination in the final. Is there a record for the Mount Haes youngest combined age team in the final? We think it may now be 23.
In the Rookie all comers race, sponsored by Melges UK, Theo Graves was 1st, sailing a Topper. Northamptonshire team mate Tom Moriarty was in 2nd, also sailing a Topper. Sailing an RS Feva, Bea Maletras and Gemma Hedley completed the podium in 3rd, sailing for Oxfordshire. At the mid-week prize-giving, several Rookie fleet sailors were awarded endeavour prizes. Charlie Robb from Kent was the first, for swimming Phelps style after falling out of his boat and having to give chase to a Tera. Marcus Arkle from North East and Yorkshire was awarded a prize for perseverance, completing all Rookie races. And finally Theo Grave, sailing a Topper for Northamptonshire, for finishing highest Rookie in the single handed race!
And finally, the all comers pursuit race. Hugh and his team on the massive yacht (relatively) set a course in Scarness, offering fine views of southern end of the lake, and the odd mountain wind shift. It was encouraging to see some teams mixing it up for the pursuit, with the odd parent spotted on the race course and 4 lads in an ISO, with the wings on! After many laps, it was Ian LCA top 3, with N Morton from Kent finishing first, sailing a ILCA 7. Kieran Vanhoutte from Cambridgeshire was first ILCA 6 in 2nd and 3rd was Sebastian Robb from Kent.
In addition, Kent Team won the overall cup for best county for the third year in a row!
Across the week, Bass SC organised generous day sponsors who each provided fab spot prizes (around 100 in total) which were picked out of a hat. Big thanks to Ovington Boats, Trident, Magic Marine UK, Sailing Chandlery, Melges UK, Rooster, 1st Mark, and Mike Saul at MDS Dinghy Services.
Over the week Bass regulars and super star safety volunteers, Red Seal Rescue kept everyone safe on the water. Red Seal have been supporting events at Bass and across the North for 3 decades.
Full results available at bassenthwaite-sc.org.uk
Daily reports and event photographs (thanks to Will and Terry) available at www.facebook.com/groups/193131860889503
So that's it, NSSA Regatta 2024 done and dusted. At the prize-giving, NSSA representatives thanked Bass volunteers (around 60ish!) for a fab week on and off the water. Too many names to mention, but Naomi and Phil Smith must be top of the list for organising and running. Next year's event will be held in Rutland.