Royal Harwich Yacht Club Junior Race Week

Royal Harwich Yacht Club Junior Race Week © Carly Jones

A team of 25 volunteers under the leadership of the Handicap Class Captain Stephen Olle and Race Officer Joe Hunt delivered a fantastic week of racing for 60 junior and youth sailors from 17th to 21st August.

This year more than ever we had significant numbers of club members and parents offering to help make the week a success. Entry numbers were restricted to allow the shore side activities to be more easily and safely managed and sadly the usual regatta fleet for the youngest sailors was furloughed for 2020.

Royal Harwich Yacht Club Junior Race Week - photo © Carly Jones

Racing started on Monday morning once the early morning mist had cleared leaving a shifty southerly wind for the first race. Shortly after the start of race 2 the sea breeze filled in, causing its abandonment for the main fleet and a re-start. Meanwhile on a separate course the Optimist gold fleet managed three races. Leaders after day one were Laura Elms (Handicap), James Deaton (Laser), Nathan Russell (Tera), Jemima Gotto (Topper) and Thomas Davey (Optimist). The afternoon saw two rules master classes run by International Judge Graham Louth.

Tuesday again bought an early 10:00 launch with the course area further down river close to Pin Mill to make the best use of the river's width. The main fleet were set an M shaped course to give two shorter beats. The first days leaders remained in control, although two wins each for Joseph Henderson in the Tera fleet and Robbie Hudson in the Optimists allowed them to close the gap on the overall leaders. The afternoon shore side programme included a race debrief for the Optimists from Chris Mayhew, the class national champion from 1989, and a Topper master class from James Deaton.

Royal Harwich Yacht Club Junior Race Week - photo © Carly Jones

Wednesday saw a little more wind from the South-East allowing for longer beats on a triangular course for the Toppers and Teras with a D course for the Lasers and Handicap. The Optimist course saw some drama in the first race with a broken down support boat causing one sailor to claim re-dress. Henry Means in the Optimists closed the gap on the series leader Thomas Davey with two first places. The leaders in the Teras, Toppers and Lasers also all dropped places with James Russell claiming two wins in the Lasers, Joseph Henderson a win in the Tera fleet and Katherine Burgess a win in the Topper fleet. After racing organiser Stephen Olle described his experience in crewing for Reg White in a Tornado catamaran at World Championships in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Royal Harwich Yacht Club Junior Race Week - photo © Carly Jones

Further increases in the wind strength came through on Thursday with Storm Ellen threatening Friday's racing. In the Handicap fleet Laura Elms maintained her 100% record. James Deaton increased his points lead in the lasers with one first and two second places, Joshua Means and James Russell were the other race winners. Joseph Henderson moved into first plave in the RS Tera fleet with two race wins, Nathan Russell claimed the other race. Jemima Gotto increased her lead in the Toppers winning all three races, whilst Thomas Davey claimed wins in three of the four Optimist races.

Friday was a bright sunny day, but with gusts of over 32 knots being recorded in the morning an early decision was made to abandon racing for the day and the prize-giving for each fleet was organised. The Cormorant award for seamanship was awarded to Gracie Joslin for dealing with a mainsheet issue and the Burgess Award for their positive approach was awarded to Imogen Palmer.

Off the water was also a success with the programme of talks and master-classes being supplemented with films on an outdoor screen and a very successful curry and quiz evening with 13 teams competing. The Club was grateful to the support for the event from Fox's Marina, Fox's Chandlery, The Royal Hospital School, Sail and Cover and the Orwell Yacht Club.

Overall Results: