Gul RS Youth Championships at Netley Sailing Club

Racing during the RS Youth Championships at Netley © John Greenway / www.marineaction.co.uk

Action from the first day of the RS Youth Championships at Netley © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

RS200s

18 RS200s turned up at Netley sailing Club on Friday morning for the 3 day Under 22 youth championships. 2 races were sailed in an increasing breeze, a fresh 18 knots saw some of the lighter crews struggling to stay upright.

Itchenor members George Yeoman and Georgie Akin-Smith gave us a taste of things to come, with 2 bullets, leaving the rest of the fleet in their wake. Overnight, Itchenor boats occupied the top 3 slots, with Ex 420 sailor Andy Shaw crewed by Archie Law in 2nd place, and Rob Struckett, who has returned from Yale College for a few weeks 200 sailing, crewed by Hattie Marsden in 3rd place. Behind them 29er youth world champions Frances Peters, sailing with Georgie Andrew and Ed Fitzgerald crewed by Katie jones were joint on points.

Saturday brought more wind and a lot of rain. More familiar faces today as Sam Littlejohn and Nicola Groves arrived to give the Itchenor sailors a run for their money. 3 races were sailed round a short course so the sailors’ boat handling was really put to the test in the 18 knot breeze. George Yeoman and Sam Littlejohn battled it out through the first race, it was a race of 2 boats, as they left the rest of the fleet behind them. George followed his trend by taking a third bullet, and Sam in 2nd. Sam sailed consistently and made 2nd his worst result. Andy Shaw took 3 3rds, which pulled him up to 2nd overnight behind George.

Sunday was the windiest yet, and with storms forecast for the afternoon, the race committee were keen to get racing underway. The 2nd and 3rd race was survival sailing for most of the fleet, with lots of capsizes on the gybes and at the leeward mark, the fleet was quickly spaced out. Josh Flack, Crewed by Tom Brophy from Parkstone won the first race, closely followed by George. Frances and Georgie from HISC took 3rd. Sam had his worst result, finishing 4th, before ending the day with 2 more bullets.

In the second race, Frances and Georgie chased Sam round the track, finishing 2nd, just managing to hold off George. In the final race, Sam did a horizon job, with Rob Struckett in 2nd and Josh flack finishing 3rd. It was a convincing win overall by George Yeoman, who won with a race to spare, with Sam Littlejohn taking 2nd place having not sailed on the first day. Andy Shaw discarded his final 2 results to finish 3rd overall.

Handicap Fleet

11 boats entered the Handicap fleet for the 2009 RS Youth Champs hosted by Netley Sailing Club. On the Friday, after a practice race, two races were sailed in an increasing breeze, a fresh 18 knots saw some of the lighter crews struggling to stay upright. It was James Goss & Emma Mackley in a RS500 taking line honours in both races with Jack Munnelly & Jack Holden 2nd in a 400 in race one with Tim & Matt Norris 2nd in race two.

Saturday brought more wind and a lot of rain so the weekend arrivals were in for a shock. Again the RS500s showed the way with Matt Johnson taking the win in race three. The 600s also had a battle on with Mike Ellis coming in 3rd but winning race 4 from Dan Hollands before gear failure took its toll for the rest of the event.

As the wind built on Sunday it was the 500s who stormed away with Goss & Mackley winning the title with the narrowest of margins from Johnson & Weatherhead.

A good event was had by all even though there were many breakages. Many thanks to Netley SC for making the sailors welcome.

RS200 Results:

Handicap Fleet Results: