25th Broadland Youth Regatta at the Norfolk Punt Club
by Alan Davis 3 Sep 2018 14:48 BST
1 September 2018
25th Broadland Youth Regatta © Alan Davis
65 youth and junior sailors in 58 boats from six Broadland Clubs took part in the 25th Broadland Youth Regatta on Barton Broad, hosted on behalf of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association by the Norfolk Punt Club.
All four races were sailed in a moderate southerly breeze. Top honours in the fleet racing went to Toby Pearce in the fast handicap start, sailing a Laser Radial for Horning, George Madin in the slow handicap start sailing his RS Tera Pro for Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club, Felix Cripps in the Topper Class sailing for WOBYC and Joshua Means in the Optimist Class sailing for Horning.
The inter-club competition for the Centenary Salver was contested by six Clubs, and by the narrowest of margins Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club, were triumphant, with Norfolk Broads Yacht Club second and Horning Sailing Club third, Beccles Amateur Sailing Club fourth, Hickling Broad Sailing Club fifth and Norfolk Punt Club sixth.
Largest fleet was the Topper fleet, with 23 competitors. The slow handicap fleet included 5 Splashes, two laser 4.7s, one RS Feva XL and one Rs Tera Pro. The fast handicap provided additional excitement with ten Lasers of which four were the radial variety, two Norfolk Punts (one symmetrical rigged, hard Chine, and one asymmetric rigged Morrison type, a 470, a Laser 2, an Enterprise and a Fireball. Ten Optimists took part.
The Whelpton Cup for the most successful double-handed boat was won by Alex Knights crewed by Alice Palutitoif in their RS Feva XL.
The Lady Meyhew Trophy for endeavour, applying the greatest effort in a spirit of sport determination and fun without necessarily achieving a winning position was awarded to Zoe Barnes from the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club in her Optimist dinghy on only her sixth day of sailing and first experience of racing.
NPC gave a big "thank you" to Jeckells The Sailmakers, Cox's Boatyard, Jarrolds, Barton Turf Activity Centre and Norfolk Marine for sponsoring the event plus the radios kindly supplied by A&L Audio.
Brian Wilkins, on behalf of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association, thanked the Norfolk Punt Club, Commodore Andrew Wilton and his dedicated team of volunteers, led by Liz Chettleburgh, who co-ordinated the event.
Georgina Povell, International sailor who started competed at previous Broadland Youth Regattas, sent a message of encouragement to this year's competitors from her training base in Weymouth, which was read out at the prize giving.