Junior Week at Mengeham Rythe Sailing Club
by Carol Carter 12 Aug 2010 15:03 BST
26-30 July 2010
Joshua Boniface during Junior Week at Mengeham Rythe © Carol Carter
Mengeham Rythe Sailing Club, Hayling Island, welcomed over 100 young sailors to its 2010 Junior Week, 26-30 July, who all enjoyed some excellent racing and favourable, but occasionally challenging, sailing conditions in Chichester Harbour.
An entry of 82 boats was split into 3 classes according to their racing experience. The Gold Fleet in Optimists stayed in the more sheltered waters near the sailing club. Blue Fleet, with the more able young sailors, raced over West Mud and the most experienced sailors in Red Fleet enjoyed the challenges of sailing in the more open waters in Chichester Harbour over Pilsey Sands.
Red Fleet was at record level with 39 boats. The Teras, Toppers and Laser Radial classes were hard fought with winds ranging from light early in the week, to strong force 4-5 at the end of the week, every aspect of the competitors technique was tested. Niall Houston (MRSC) was first in the Toppers, Joshua Boniface (MRSC) was first Tera and Oliver George-Taylor (Locks SC) was first Laser Radial. There were also fast and slow handicap classes. In the fast handicap fleet, David Bruce (BLYM) with his crew, Natalie Messingham, continued his winning streak from last year but this time in an RS200. In the slow handicap fleet, Christiana Lewis in a Laser 4.7, picked up from 2nd place last year, to win the title.
Blue Fleet enjoyed excellent racing on West Mud with three classes racing and some challenging wind conditions on the middle day. The mixed handicap was won by Fern Roberts in a Topper. The Tera class was won by Marcus Rogers (MRSC), and the Optimist title went to Sophia Lewis.
Gold Fleet received record entries with 28 of our younger sailors keen to learn new skills and starting to learn to race. The fleet was split into two groups with Gold Classic sailing close to the club house and Gold Plus venturing to the tip of West Mud. The highlight for the Gold Fleet week was an exciting sail in a variety of dinghies up Chichester Harbour.
A welcome addition to the event this year was the opportunity for all the fleets and adults to compete in a fun remote controlled yachting tournament held on the salt pond at the club - a perfect setting for the young and old to demonstrate their sailing skills in miniature! The overall event was won by Red Fleet who demonstrated to the adults that time spent using joysticks and a “Wii” can be of benefit!
For more information about MRSC and details of all the results go to www.mengeham.org.uk