Entries now open for the 2012 RYA Eric Twiname Championships
by Matt Carter, RYA 8 Mar 2012 11:54 GMT
12-13 May 2012
Racing in the 2011 RYA Eric Twiname Championships © Paul Wyeth / RYA
The RYA is pleased to announce that entries are now being accepted online for the 2012 RYA Eric Twiname Championships, which are set to descend on Rutland Sailing Club across the weekend of 12 – 13 May 2012.
This annual Junior event, one of the highlights of the RYA's Racing calendar, is now in its 26th year and will see young competitors in over 285 boats and windsurfers pit their sailing skills against the best young talents from each of the six English Zones, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, in a bid to help their Zone or home country team clinch the coveted Eric Twiname Shield at the end of the weekend.
The highly charged weekend will offer the RYA Zone/Home Country Squads competitive racing in a fun and friendly environment. The weekend will welcome boats from across nine of the RYA Junior classes - Optimist, Topper, Feva, Mirror and Cadet dinghy classes with the windsurfers racing on Bic Techno boards with 4.5m, 5.8m, 6.8m and 7.8m rigs.
Last year's event witnessed a very high standard of racing across all classes, however it was the RYA West Zone who reigned triumphant as they were crowned 2011 RYA Eric Twiname Champions. This year is set to be another tight affair with all Squad sailors training hard over the winter months giving each Zone the potential to proudly walk away with 2012 Championship honours.
Chris Blackburn, RYA Eric Twiname Championships Event Director, commented: "As the culmination of the RYA Winter Zone Squad training, the sailors really look forward to the RYA Eric Twiname Championships, as one of the first opportunities of the year to put into practice all they have learnt over the winter, and reap the rewards of their time spent training within their squad and at their home clubs. For some of the sailors this will be their first time competing in a multi class, multi course, national event, and this experience will put them in good stead for their Summer regatta programme.
Thanks to the long-standing and on-going support of the Eric Twiname Memorial Trust, the event, for sailors aged between eight and 15, is very cheap to enter with almost all of the costs associated with the running of the regatta met by the RYA and the Trust.
For more information about the event and to enter online via the event website visit www.ryaracingevents.org.uk