Novice fleet at the Cadet Worlds, Pwllheli Sailing Club

Anna Davies and Sarah O’Brian from Fishers Green won the Novices Regatta in the Cadet Class 60th Anniversary World Championships held from the 4th to the 10th August at Pwllheli in North Wales. These Championships began two days after the National Championships.

Saturday 4th August and with winds gusting over 30kts and poor visibility racing was abandoned for the day, the weather soon improved and Sunday morning 5th August looked more promising but still with a cool, stiff breeze. The regatta fleet was somewhat changed from the National Championships held the previous week with the loss of Abigail Croft and Katie Hinde and Jessica Cooper and Josie Gummer who had moved on to the main fleet. New additions included Amy Burnell and Ellie Brown from Australia in a borrowed UK boat, Matthew Griffiths and Ben Shorrock from Frensham and Rory and Max Augstburger from Exe.

As in the national championships the previous week the event was dominated by light to moderate winds. Racing was challenging and place changes were many and frequent as the novices got to grips with large wind shifts and the ever present lumpy swell. There were ten entries in all including four boats from the Pwllheli Cadet Squadron.

As in the previous week the Novice Regatta series was a great success, all races were completed ahead of schedule in near perfect conditions. The atmosphere was very friendly and competition was close with many different boats appearing in the front of the fleet. The presence of the Amy Burnell and Elle Brown from Australia brought a welcome international flavour. The Australian’s were unlucky to have had two races where they did not compete mid-week due to a problem with the boat which did not help their overall points, however, they had good finish however with a fourth place in the last race.

Overall first place with 13 points went to Anna Davies and Sarah O’Brian from Fishers Green in Shadow, second with 28 points were Matthew Griffiths and Ben Shorrock from Frensham Ponds and third with 36 points were Siwan and Lolo Roberts from Pwllheli.

Overall Results: