Fantastic turnout for Mill Volvo Junior Trophy & Y&J Prizegiving at Ripon Sailing Club
by Fiona Spence 24 Sep 2018 15:59 BST
22 September 2018
Ripon SC Junior Trophy Race 2 © Gail Jackson
A day of lighter winds and overcast skies after Friday's storm was welcomed by Ripon SC's Youth & Junior sailors for their Mill Volvo North East sponsored Junior Trophy and end of season celebration on Saturday 22nd September.
24 sailors raced in the Junior Trophy, with the 8 least experienced being classed as a regatta fleet with coached support for the three race series. In parallel to the Junior Trophy, 16 less experienced sailors participated in a fun fleet session using the club boats for group sailing, paddling races and duck racing.
Ripon SC sailors have enjoyed close racing and developed friendships with Covenham SC's Youth & Juniors within the NE RYA Youth Series this season so 5 sailors from Covenham SC joined the party and participated in the Junior Trophy. Both clubs hope this collaboration, borne from a mutual interest in Y&J sailing will build in future years and the Y&J at both clubs will benefit from links to the other club.
The Trophy racing was hotly contested at the front of the fleet, in race 1 Topper sailor Gus Mckenzie (Ripon SC) was over the start line which put him out of the main plays in the race ending up 6th. Covenham's Henry Redmond in a Laser 4.7 showed early form taking the race by 2 seconds on handicap from Christopher Hampshire's (Ripon SC) Optimist, Harry Nicholls (Laser Radial) from Covenham pipped Chris's sister Emma, and her crew Rebecca Newcombe, in a Mirror to 3rd place. 5th – 9th places were also tightly fought for with the regular Ripon quartet of Tom Bates (Topper), Tom Moss (Topper), Jess Peeters (RS Tera Sport) & George Spence (RS Tera Sport) haggling for position.
The wind filled in slightly for race 2 and race officer Tim Hampshire elected to start from the bottom end of the lake, Mckenzie made sure he wasn't over the line but couldn't match the speed of the Lasers or Hampshire's Optimist which beat Redmond and Nicholls into 2nd & 3rd. Bates, Spence & Moss showed consistency with Daniel Smith's (RSC) RS Tera getting into the mix and pushing Peeters into 10th.
The final race left it all to play for with a win and 2nd a piece for Hampshire & Redmond. Nicholl's internal wind shift detector failed him in the dropping wind and he slipped back to 7th place allowing McKenzie to finish 3rd by 2 seconds over Hampshire/Newcombe's Mirror in 4th; Redmond led the way to take the overall win with C. Hampshire in 2nd overall and Nicholls 3rd overall.
In the Regatta fleet, William Longstaff (RSC) in a Laser Radial showed great promise given he only started sailing in May this year to finish 2nd in the Regatta fleet in 16th overall. 10 year old Rebecca Newcombe (RSC) sailing an RS Tera Sport also learnt to sail this summer and put in a pleasing performance to end up 18th overall and 3rd in the regatta fleet.
Peter Harrison, who has enthusiastically sailed anything he can get his hands on since joining RSC in May sailed his Topper into 13th overall to win the Regatta fleet. All competitors benefited from coaching during the day, with targeted support to move their sailing forward. Some of the main fleet sailors also asked for & received individual feedback after the racing.
Meanwhile the fun fleet had a great time with joy-rides in the club's double handers, exploring New Bay and collecting ducks from between the jetties in Optimists and completing problem solving team games. A quick relay race with some of the competitors after racing ended the water activities and marked the end of the official Y&J season.
The club also had the RYA/Marine Conservation Agency's CSI environmental activity session operating, this teaches children about the various environmental concerns boaters and commercial users of the water need to consider, such as oil or water pollution, rubbish and alien species invasion. This was a popular activity between races and after sailing.
After sailing, the annual Y&J prize giving was held, with Paul Davis, from the club's Youth & Junior season sponsors, Mill Volvo North East, presenting the prizes for the Junior Trophy, Y&J Kickstarter and Launchpad series which are season long series to encourage racing and promote racing skills. The club is extremely grateful for the ongoing support and financial assistance offered by Mill Volvo NE; this support allows the club to offer an expanded range of race series with high quality prizes to the Y&J racers as well as recognising and rewarding achievements by all Y&J, particularly those who may never achieve a mainstream training scheme award or progress into competitive sailing.
The 2018 Y&J season has been extremely successful at Ripon SC, with a broad range of sailing abilities and experiences – from learning to sail all the way to top 5 World Championship placings, 2019 promises to be equally exciting with plans already in place to strengthen and enhance the current opportunities for Y&J sailing. Following the prize giving, competitors, their families and lots of other members enjoyed a contribution buffet supper followed by a Northern Soul Vinyl night.
Overall Results:
Junior Trophy
1st Henry Redmond (Covenham SC)
2nd Christopher Hampshire (Ripon SC)
3rd Harry Nicholls (CSC)
4th Angus McKenzie (RSC)
5th Emma Hampshire & Rebecca Newcombe (RSC)
6th Tom Bates (RSC)
7th Tom Moss (RSC)
8th Jess Peeters (RSC)
9th & 1st Under 10 George Spence (RSC)
10th Daniel Smith (RSC)
Junior Trophy Regatta Fleet:
1st Peter Harrison (RSC)
2nd William Longstaff (RSC)
3rd Rebecca Newcombe (RSC)
2018 Kickstarter Series Gold Fleet
1st Tom Moss
2nd Jasper Paddick
3rd George Spence
4th Oscar Paddick
5th Grace Stockdale
Kickstarter Series Silver Fleet
1st Frankie Jackson
2nd Peter Harrison
3rd Iona Cheyne
4th Charlie Rowell
5th Poppy Moss
Launchpad Series
1st George Spence
2nd Grace Stockdale
3rd Ella Brophy
4th Charlie Brophy
5th Evie Brophy