Youth Team Racing at Norfolk Broads Yacht Club
by Henry Harston 24 Apr 2017 18:12 BST
22 April 2017
Youth Team Racing at Norfolk Broads Yacht Club © Nicky Talbot
Team racing has always been in the shadow of its bigger sister, Fleet racing, and while a number of schools and universities run team racing events, many clubs still have not picked up on it yet. Fortunately, thanks to David Talbot and team, Norfolk Broads Yacht Club seem to be on top of this.
Three years ago NBYC hosted this event for the first time and there was a hint of scepticism regarding the effort verses the outcome. We just about cobbled together five teams and the smaller teams had to be merged, but all ran smoothly, people enjoyed it and it was proving a good basis to build on for the future years.
This year with NBYC hosting 8 full teams, 48 young sailors, and a dozen helpers we are proving that this is a recognised and worthy event and is one that we should all be proud of.
A typically unsteady 6/8 knots of breeze blew from the NW causing the course makers a bit of bother early on but soon settled as the first of the 28 round robin races got underway. The Royal Hospital School (RHS) were first out to compete against Norwich School in the first flight and Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club (WOBYC) raced the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the second. The high standard of team racing was noticeable within the first few races with close tailing, hard luffing matches and plenty of mark traps to provide a great spectacle for the on-looking crowds in the clubhouse, many of whom were being educated on the finer points of team racing by those waiting to sail in their next flight. There were thrills and spills throughout and credit to the umpiring teams of Charles Talbot and James Dugdale, Jon Gent and NBYCs commodore Andrew Musgrave for remaining vigilant and keeping a close eye on all the action to ensure that we had clean and fair racing throughout the day.
As the round robin drew to a close it could be seen that RHS's three teams where proving consistency is key as they, and NBYC's team, passed through into the semi-finals. The wind had now settled to 10/12 knots from the north-west and for the lighter crews, roll tacking was reduced and the teams were readjusting to a faster style of close quarter sailing. After some extremely tight races, which were often won and lost on the last mark of the course, it could be seen that the RHS first and second team were proving their experience over NBYC and the RHS third team, and progressed into the final. Encouraged by their sailing master, Jim Rosser, RHS first team took the first and second race of the best of three finals with a 1,3,6 and 1,2,3 winning this years Broadland Youth Team Racing Event 2017 and once again, congratulations to them!
If I had to judge the success of an event, it would be determined on how many people are smiling and laughing at the end of it. This being the case, it was a job well done as all those who came off the water were beaming with excitement and more importantly, enthusiasm. We owe a huge amount to the younger sailors of this sport and I can speak on behalf of all those who pulled together to make this work by saying a massive thank you by coming along and making this event what it now is today.
We hope to keep building on this for the years to come and encourage all those interested to get in touch, bring your friends and see what else NBYC have to offer.