RYA OnBoard SW RS Traveller Series at St. Mawes Sailing Club

RYA OnBoard SW RS Traveller at St Mawes © James Dowrick

24 young St Mawes sailors took part in the first event of the 2016 RYA OnBoard SW RS Traveller series at St Mawes Sailing Club on 23 April.

In a variety of boats, the sailors received a morning's training from visiting coaches Bob Warren (Roseland Paddle & Sail) and Tim Cross (RYA), assisting local club coaches Bob Hindmarsh and James Dowrick. Those in RS Fevas worked on polishing their spinnaker skills, the Laser 4.7 sailors ventured out into open water to work on their sailing in waves technique and the Pico sailors focused on improving their upwind sailing skills.

They all enjoyed the sunny conditions with a moderate NE wind, providing some fun gusty and shifty conditions with the wind blowing off the land.

Having become familiar with the morning conditions, the sailors had to refocus for the afternoon conditions as the wind switched to a light sea breeze, which provided challenging light wind conditions for the racing. They became very aware of the importance of effective light wind boat trim and how to use the strong flood tide to their advantage.

Three races took place during the afternoon. Two of these were around traditional courses; the final one was a long-distance race to a finish line off the club quay.

St Mawes Team Feva youngsters said: "We had a great day at the OnBoard Cup held at our club. As always the standard was really high and the racing was super competitive. We really enjoyed having expert advice from Tim and James on light wind RS Feva sailing. A big thank you to all those who helped put on the event for us - it was a great success."

Coach Bob Warren said: "It was a challenging day for the young sailors, especially with the light winds in the afternoon, so all did very well to stay focused."

Tim Cross, RYA Sailing Development Officer, added: "We were spoilt with the weather for the first event of the season - sunshine all day. St.Mawes Sailing Club does a fantastic job every year with hosting this event. It is a great example of how a local community comes together to support local youth sailing. The sailors are all super-motivated and I expect we will see some of their names at class events in years to come."

Results:

RS Feva
1st Oliver Croft / Kit Gordon Brown
2nd Amy Boyle / Bella Cockcroft
3rd Henry Hallam / Ashley Hill

Laser 4.7
1st Lawrence Calverley
2nd Kieran Andrews
3rd Jo Pothecary

Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.

Over a ten year period OnBoard has introduced more than 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting over 10% of them into regular participants.

For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit www.rya.org.uk/go/onboard