Itchenor Sailing Club hosts a Vintage Junior Fortnight event
by Rhiannon Broadbent 1 Sep 2014 11:19 BST
28 July - 8 August 2014
Junior Fortnight has been an integral part of Itchenor Sailing Club's sailing calendar for over fifty years in Chichester Harbour, and this year was no exception. There were plenty of all the essential ingredients for racing including; competition, skill, talent and wind! Classes which take part in Junior Fortnight are Mirror, Topper and International 420s and
the events can been seen all over Chichester Harbour. This year, from Monday 28th July to Friday 8th August the event was opened up to other sailing clubs for the first time ever and the Club was delighted to welcome both Strutt & Parker and jbA Architecture as supporting sponsors to the event.
The event started with light airs and it was touch and go for Mirrors 4 and 3, the youngest groups, of which there were about 20 entrants in each class. Early on William and Edward Timberlake had established their form in Mirror's 4, with Tom and Jasper Ewart Smith snapping at their heels. By race 9 on the last day William and Edward were just ahead and so it proved, with them finishing on 10 points and the Ewart Smiths on 11 points.
In Mirrors 3, Bertie Fisher and Charles House counted only firsts to finish on 7 points after discards, which was quite an achievement. However, Maddie Hantrais and Madeleine Upton were not far behind on 12 points.
Archie Grant and William Timberlake dominated Mirrors 2, finishing on 10 points with Johnnie Law and William Grant on 25. There were 40 entries altogether. In Mirrors 1 for the older youth sailors, Eleanor Keers and Izzy Pugh had 7 firsts but still lost by one point to Henry Heath and James Dickinson. Natasha and Sarah Ewart Smith were an excellent third.
The morning Toppers with 35 entries fell to James Dickinson with Henry Heath close behind. The afternoon Toppers was won by Patrick Taylor, well ahead of the rest. The 21 International 420 entrants sailed a total of 15 races and also enjoyed an exhausting day of Supercup racing. Grace Yeoman and Izzy Barker took first with Celia Hansell and Natasha Coles second after many close battles. The event was notable for the appearance in week 2 of Izzy Davies and Millie Moss, and Katie Davies and Grace Summers, who between them won all the races of week 2.
The event hosted more competitors than ever before this year, with 100 boats on the water every day, Mike Weston, one of the organisers of Junior Fortnight, comments: "The fleet numbers were impressive this year with 232 competitors taking part in total. We couldn't be happier with the turn out and it is always a joy to see the youth sailing continue to flourish at Itchenor."
To find out more and keep up with the action, visit www.itchenorsc.co.uk or call 01243 512400.