Martin and Hewitt crowned 2014 Allen RS Feva World Champions
by Matt Carter, RYA 1 Aug 2014 18:53 BST
26 July - 1 August 2014
Rising sailing talents Harvey Martin and Bobby Hewitt have been crowned World Champions at the Allen RS Feva World Championships in Carnac, France, with further podium success for Piers Nicholls and Freddie Peters who sealed the second step on the podium for a double GBR celebration (1 August).
Martin and Hewitt, both 15, add the world title to the European and National titles they won earlier in the year to make it a 2014 golden hat-trick, with crew Hewitt retaining his World title that he won in 2013 with former sailing partner Hannah Bristow.
Competing against 188 other boats from 20 different countries, the pair posted a consistent set of scores across the 14 race series. Picking up four race wins and nine top ten finishes, Martin from Ogston Sailing Club, and Hewitt from Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club, claimed the World title by 13 points in front of their GBR counterparts Nicholls and Peters who sealed silver.
"It feels brilliant to win a World title! Our main aim coming into the regatta was to finish on the podium so we are really happy to finish the event as World champions," expressed Martin.
"It was a tough week both mentally and physically with 25 knots down to three knots at times so we had a big range of conditions to compete in."
On winning his second consecutive World title in the RS Feva XL class, Hewitt added: "It's great to win the title for a second year and relief that we have finally done it. We had quite a big fleet this year with some big sailors so it was tough competition on the windy days but we really enjoyed it and had such a good time. It's a great way to finish in the Feva and we are now really looking forward to a new challenge in the 29er class. It's the 29er Nationals in a week or so which will be our first event in the new boat so we can't wait for that."
Roy McCubbin, RYA Double Handed Pathway Manager, commented: "It is a fantastic achievement for Harvey [Martin] and Bobby [Hewitt] to win the world title. It's the perfect way to cap off not only what has been a successful year for the two but also a very successful time in the RS Feva XL dinghy.
"In such a highly competitive fleet, and after an OCS in the opening race of the regatta, the boys showed great professionalism to put that result to the back of their heads and go on and sail a consistent winning series. The duo have dominated the RS XL Feva class this year with some stand out performances across a number of regattas and will now make the transition into the high performance 29er skiff class.
"It is also a great result for Piers [Nicholls] and Freddie [Peters] who pushed their GBR teammates all the way to finish on the second step of the podium, while James Hammett and Ben Todd put in a strong showing to finish just outside the podium positions in fifth. Overall the entire GBR team have given a great account of themselves in what is always a very competitive World Championship event."
For all the latest news and full list of results from the Allen RS Feva World Championships visit www.rsfeva.org/championships
For more information on the RYA Youth Racing programme please visit www.rya.org.uk/racing.