Over the Easter break the RYA British Youth National Championships were held in Weymouth at the Olympic venue. RLymYC had excellent representation across the board and great success.
Young sailors from all parts of the UK converged on Portland over half term to compete in the 7 classes of the Youth Championships. 20 were from the RLym, 10 in 29ers, 8 in 420s and 2 in ILCAs.
The plan was 5 days of racing, but as so often, the weather intervened. There were two days of moderate winds, a gale on Wednesday, and then 2 days of strong winds wnen the race committe did a fantastic job of managing a reduced programme, juggling the fleets around the harbour as best they could.
On the podium at the prizegiving were 5 Lymington sailors, 4 in the 29ers, and 1 in the 420s. Read on....
In the29ers:
With 51 entries, the 29er fleet was split into two flights for the first two days. After 8 races, points scorees were incredibly tight between the top 4 boats, each of which had an RLym sailor. In yellow flight, on equal points were Finn Morris (RLym)/Charlie Gran(HISC) and James Crossley(WPNSA)/Sam Webb (RLym) - who had traded 1st and 2nd place for 8 races! In blue flight, Annabelle Vines (RLym)/Amelie Hiscocks (WPNSA) led Santi Sesto Cosby(RLym)/Noah Fitzgerald(WPNSA) by a point.
Unfortunately racing on Wednesday and Thursday was blown off for the 29ers, so the final series was reduced to 3 strong wind races in the harbour on the Friday. Finn and Charlie sailed brilliantly to hold on to the lead and take the men's Youth National Champion title, with Santi/Noah and James/Sam close behind in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Annabelle and Amelie came in a close 4th overall and completed a very convincing win of the Ladies Youth National Champion title.
For helms Finn and Annabelle, this was their second Youth Nationals win in a row. Very impressive!
The Dirk Rogers/William McEwen duo were well placed after two days, but spent time swimming in the strong winds and ended 16th.
Other Rlym placings were Ella Lightbody in 17th, Freya Hutchinson/Joanna MacAlaster in 26th and Mark Jenkins in 43rd.
And the 420s:
In this 32 boat fleet, Emma Breese(RLym)/Charlotte Beardsall(Warsash) were best placed at 8th overall and 2nd girl's pairing. Next were Arthur Greaves/Angus McEwen in 11th. Noa Moskovitch, handicapped by two black flags and a retirement was 12th. Tabitha Davis/Sophia Sfaxi were 14th, Nia Mecklenburgh 18th and Madeleine Greaves 28th.
In the ILCA6 fleet:
Filip Wojcik and Robbie Hudson struggled in the breeze and were placed 35th and 41st in a 51 boat fleet. '