NW juniors travel to RYA Eric Twiname Junior Team Racing
by Julie Gibbon 22 Oct 2015 09:59 BST
17-18 October 2015
Kielder/Derwent sailors at the RYA Eric Twiname Junior Team Racing Championships © Julie Stewart
12 youngsters from Kielder Water and Derwent Sailing Clubs made the long journey down to Oxford at the weekend to compete in the Eric Twiname Junior Team Racing Championships.
This was the first time either club had entered a team racing competition but both had been training hard, with Kielder being coached by RYA trained coaches and Derwent by members of the Durham University Sailing Team.
It was a hectic weekend with races starting at 9am on both days and racing carrying on continuously. The first phase saw all 18 teams race against every other team before the fleet was split into Gold and Silver fleets with Derwent in the Gold and Kielder in the Silver.
After 3 more races each and with Kielder poised to lead the Silver fleet, racing was abandoned due to lack of wind. Overall Derwent finished 8th and Kielder 12th.
Julie Gibbon, Team Manager for the Kielder Ospreys said, "Considering it was their first team racing competition, they did extremely well, learning from their mistakes as they went along and picking themselves up after defeats."
"We are very proud of all of them and everyone has had a fantastic, albeit tiring, weekend. Team Racing is an exciting and challenging form of sailing and a great spectator sport and we intend to be doing a lot more of it with both youngsters and adults."