RS Tera Northern Travellers series - Update
by Jennie Clark 18 Jun 2016 15:39 BST
18 June 2016
The RS Tera North Squad coaching at Ripon © Jennie Clark
The final event in the 2016 RS Tera Northern Travellers series will be hosted by South Windermere Sailing Club on Saturday 9 July and with just under a month to go it is clear that 2016 will be another record-breaking year for this fleet and series.
Since it's inception in 2012 the series has seen the number of boats competing rise steadily and this year is no exception. With 3 out of the 4 meetings completed a total of 54 helms have entered, already beating last year's series entry of 48, and we expect this number to increase further when local boats are encouraged out on the water for the final meeting.
The series operates across the north of England, with the first event in 2016 being the Northern Championships hosted by Bassenthwaite Sailing Club. The series has then taken in Ripon SC and Derwent Reservoir SC. With prizes guaranteed for all the qualifiers (3 out of 4 events are required to qualify for the series), and 30 helms currently in the running to make the grade, it's looking like it is going to be a monster prize-giving ceremony!
Generous sponsorship by RS and Outdoor Sewing Solutions, plus some bargain hunting by team members means the prize box is already brimming with goodies!
With racing for both Pro and Sport fleets at each event, racing throughout the fleets has been highly competitive and with the series results still undecided we are expecting some really exciting sailing at the final event. In the Sport fleet Theo Stewart (Windermere School) and Ellie Clark (Ripon SC) are at the front, and in the Pro fleet Cameron Straughan leads on the scoreboard at the moment but Oliver Kent and Tatiana Dickinson are chasing hard and with firsts in both their score lines they've no doubt got a glint in their eyes!
There's plenty of opportunity for last minute front end results to change the results right through the fleet so this final meeting should provide plenty of excitement.
South Windermere SC provides some spectacular sailing conditions and the fleet will once again provide coaching support for the less experienced helms with the RS Tera North Coach, Bernard Clark, out on the water to provide guidance and advice to encourage those at the back of the fleet. He will be assisted by Club Coach Julie Tomkinson, who also provided coaching support to the RS Tera North Winter squad.