Trident N.E. Youth Travellers at Scaling Dam Sailing Club
by Andy Young 13 Apr 2015 16:42 BST
11 April 2015
Trident Youth Travellers at Scaling Dam © Judith Corry
The 2015 North Eastern Youth Travellers Series, kindly sponsored by Trident, got off to a flying start on Saturday 11 April. The first meeting of the 2015 season was kindly hosted by Scaling Dam SC and despite the forecast being for high winds an enthusiastic band of young helms gathered at the club determined to make the most of the day.
Boats being sailed included Toppers, Topper 4.2, Laser Radials, RS Tera Sports and Optimists and the RO and series organisers were keen to make sure that the many changes to the RYA PY scheme were taken into account for the scoring. The series runs through to early July with meetings held at a mix of inland and sea venues.
The wind conditions for Race 1 didn't look too bad from the shore but it was soon evident that the wind on the water was far from kind as a number of helms tipped in on the dead run on their way out to the start. Eilish Graham (RS Tera Sport, DRSC/RSC) and Patrick Beukenholdt (Optimist, SDSC) were early victims, with Patrick deserving a Gold Medal for the speed he bailed out his Optimist and Eilish the same for keeping the ears of her bear hat dry! Adam Billany also deserves a medal for keeping going when his 2.4m completely filled up with water after a vicious broach.
With the fleet decimated in the squalls and at the gybe marks it was anyone's guess who would survive long enough to complete the course but 3 boats managed to keep going, at times with incredible speed, in the increasingly strong wind, with Alex McCormack (Laser Radial, SDSC), Ellie Clark (RS Tera Sport, DRSC/RSC) and Patrick Beukenholdt showing superb sailing skills to not only finish but to do so in style. The rescue fleet were kept on their toes as the rest of the fleet fell in, or ended up on the shore taking a break from the relentless gusts.
With the wind continuing to increase the RO and Safety Crews decided that enough was enough and abandoned racing for the remainder of the day. At the prizegiving the RO, Andy Young, paid tribute to the skill of the fleet for coping with such difficult conditions.
The next event on the circuit will be at Tynemouth SC on Saturday 16 May.
Top three results:
1st Alex McCormack, Laser Radial, Scaling Dam SC
2nd Ellie Clark, RS Tera Sport, Derwent Reservoir SC and Ripon SC
3rd Patrick Beukenholdt, Optimist, Scaling Dam SC