Nine year old from Nairn wins RS Tera in national design a sail competition
by Emma Slater, RYA 5 Mar 2012 15:44 GMT
Mariah Weller wins a RS Tera in of a nationwide sail design competition at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show 2012 © Paul Wyeth / RYA
A young sailor from the Scottish Highlands inspired by the Moshi Monsters computer game is the proud owner of a new RS Tera dinghy after being named winner of a nationwide sail design competition at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show 2012.
Nine-year-old Mariah Weller, from Nairn, flew the 550 miles from Inverness to London with her family after finding out her design had been shortlisted as one of six finalists in the RS Design a Sail competition.
There were gasps of delight all round after her design, based on the Iggy character from Moshi Monsters and cleverly includes the ‘MonsTera’ play on the dinghy’s name, was named as the judges’ favourite from amongst some 80 entries.
A stunned Mariah, was joined by mum, dad and 11-year-old brother Fraser at the show for the unveiling of the winner.
Mariah will now be able to enjoy sailing her new RS Tera, a modern, tough and affordable dinghy perfect for learning, training and racing from the award-winning RS range, on the waters around the Moray Firth. She was presented with her dinghy by Skandia Team GBR and Team Volvo for Life sailors Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, who have been selected to represent Team GB at London 2012 in the 470 class this summer.
The competition to design a sail for an RS Tera dinghy was open to all youngsters under 16 and among the finalists was four-year-old Martha Oakley from Huntingdon. The other finalists were 11-year-old Emma Bennett (Lymington), 12-year-old Zoe Burden (Kilcreggan), Oliver Guess, 14 (Weston Super Mare) and 13-year-old Rebecca Lewis (Rugby).
Martin Wadhams, managing director RS, said: “It was genuinely tough to decide on the winner as all the entries were great and the finalists excellent. Mariah’s reaction to winning the RS Tera was a joy to see and we hope she enjoys the boat. We were delighted to be able to arrange this competition to promote junior sailing in Britain in this Olympic year.”
To complete an action-packed day in London, Mariah and her family went to see Shrek – The Musical in the West End.