Royal Lymington Yacht Club Youth Week
by Kirsty Timmis 24 Aug 2011 16:33 BST
15-19 August 2011
Isabella Moyles, winner of the Joules Trophy 2011 © Royal Lymington Yacht Club
This year’s Royal Lymington Yacht Club (RLymYC) Youth Week took place on August 15 – 19th with over 120 young local sailors of all abilities racing together in the Solent. Many of those racing were part of the yacht club’s award winning Wednesday sailing programme where children learn to sail under the supervision of club volunteers. With ages ranging from 16 to eight years old the youngsters experienced challenging racing in four highly competitive classes: Optimist, Scow and the two single handers, RS Tera and Laser 4.
Winner of this year’s Joules Trophy for the best helm was awarded to Isabella (Issy) Moyles (aged 10) from East Boldre sailing her Optimist ‘ Opi Wan Kenobi’ . Her race results indicate she could well have a great sailing career ahead of her, Issy sailed 17 races with 13 to count and at the final score she was an amazing 20 points ahead of the next boat she was racing against. Max Moyles, Issy’s brother won the Scow Gold Fleet in ‘Thank Havens’ – crewed by Sebastian Coombes and Finley Bradford both sailing in their first Youth Week regatta.
Since it opened its shop in Lymington High Street in 2010 Joules Clothing, a quintessential British clothing retailer has supported the RLYC Youth Week.
Local Olympic Gold medallist Pippa Wilson presented the prizes to the winners and their crew. Pippa’s mother Jenny Wilson acted as the Principal Race Officer for the event and sister Fran Wilson was race officer for the Scow fleet. Over 100 local volunteers turned out to help and sister Fran Wilson were both race officers for the regatta. Over 100 local volunteers turned out to help with on and off the water activities.
Conditions were generally ideal although winds of up to 24 knots and torrential rain challenged some of the younger sailors mid week and kept the race teams entertained.
Overall winners in each class were:
Scow Gold Fleet – Thank Havens – Max Moyles (Helm) Sebastian Coombes & Finley Bradford
Scow Silver Fleet – Salty Dawg – Amelia Williams (Helm) Charlotte Slater & Catherine Stocker
RS Tera Fleet – Teradactyl – Liam Willis (Helm)
Laser 4.7 – Ross Mackley
Oppi A – Opi Wan Kenobi – Isabella Moyles
Oppi B – Thomas Rockett