30th Anniversary West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Regatta at Shoreham Sailing Club

West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Regatta © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Regatta © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

Sponsored by Lagoon Watersports & Ocean Sports Board Riders

10 teams, comprising of circa 100 boats & 130 young competitors descended on SSC on Friday 20th September in preparation for the weekend ahead.

Saturday arrived with the first briefing (safety) at 8am followed swiftly by the team managers meeting at 8.15am... both in the clubhouse. The competitors briefing was scheduled for 8.30am, outside the clubhouse... just when the rain arrived!

So the competitors were briefed inside (mostly).

And then the fun began - getting 100 odd boats & more importantly 130 youngsters on to the water, with tallies on.

Amazingly the SSC team, with many parent helpers, got all the boats on the water where they were shepherded by the myriad of safety boats, out of the harbour to the 2 race courses.

One course was to the East (Slow & Rookie fleets) & the other to the West (Fast & Medium fleets).

The rain abated & the wind settled down. Our 2 race officers (Tyler Harmsworth & Gareth Caldwell) did a sterling job. 2 races were completed for the Slow & Rookies, 3 races for the Fast & Medium.

Once all the competitors were ashore & fed by our resident caterers, Fete 'n' Lime, the debriefing began with some excellent coaching feedback (video footage) from Jack Miller of FSC Sunday arrived with an earlier start along with an ominous forecast. After risk assessments & discussions with the Team Managers, it was agreed to keep the Rookie fleet ashore & set one race course for the Fast, Medium & Slow Fleets.

Naturally there were many sad faces from the Rookie fleet, but also some relieved faces too.

There were ship movements forecast for later in the day... but the race team got 2 races in for the 3 fleets and were back in the harbour before the ships arrived!

Apparently there were dolphins on the race course, which was impromptu, as the organising authority had no record of this in the schedule.

The numbers were crunched & the special WSSYSA excel spreadsheet spat out the Team Results (only teams with 5 entries count):

1st Worthing SC
2nd Adur SC
3rd Felpham SC
4th Crawley Mariners YC
5th Dell Quay SC
6th Sussex YC
7th Arun Youth Aqua Centre

West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Regatta - photo © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

The extended prize-giving ceremony was held on the SSC balcony, hosted by Matthew Wright of the WSSYSA, with all the prizes presented by Shoreham SCs own legend, Alan Warren, who fittingly was sporting his Olympic Silver Medal.

Somehow in the melee, 2 competitors were overlooked & didn't receive their class medals on the day. Tom O'Toole & George Parker in their RS200 from AYAC had valiantly fought the pesky ILCAS for 2 days. The good news is that SSC's local 420 sailors, Callum Harris & Fraser Ferguson gave them their medals... proof that great sportsmanship is thriving with the next generation.

And that's what it's all about.

Good luck to all the teams next year at Itchenor SC.

Shoreham Sailing Club would particularly like to thank:

• Shoreham Harbour, who provided a pontoon for committee and safety boat operations,
• National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) Shoreham watchtower where we had access to all of their powerful cameras, binoculars and staff who were on hand to assist us.
• The RNLI who launched their inshore lifeboat (ILB) on a training exercise which added reassurance to our many young competitors
• Sussex Yacht Club & Adur SC who both provided an abundance of safety boats & crews
• All the visiting teams that also provided safety boats & crews: Felpham SC, Worthing SC, Arun Youth Aqua Centre, Crawley Mariners
• And Warwick Pics, as always. Photos are available to order online here

Overall Results:

West Sussex Schools & Youth Sailing Association Regatta - photo © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com