Downs Sailing Club juinors win RYA London and South East Bursary
by Kevin Lord 9 Dec 2020 12:59 GMT
Rose Tyndall - winner of a performance award from RYA London and South-East Region © DSC
The RYA London and South-Eastern region, covering Kent / London / Sussex / Surrey / Berkshire and as far as Reading, has a youth training award which is awarded to sailors under 15 years old. The bursary is donated to assist promising young sailors develop their sailing expertise.
The award is given to cadets who have demonstrated potential by way of achievements at Open events such as the youth or NSSA Nationals, RYA Zone championships or representing GBR at international level.
The Youth Training Award is a charity and local sailing legends Martyn Styles from Downs and Dave Ellis from Broadstairs are Secretary and Chairman respectively, of this wing of the RYA organisation. They own five fleets of boats on trailers, 24 boats in total and the profit from hiring them out gives a fund to permit bursaries for helping young performers under 15 years old and also Racing Coach Training Courses for under 23 year olds.
Six awards, of £200 each, were given out this year: two at Broadstairs, one in Margate and in Medway Sailing Club and two to Rose Tyndall and Henry Moss from Downs Sailing Club.
The qualities of both sailors highlighted their infectious enthusiasm for sailing and positive approach dealing with the challenges of sailing and competing in race events.
Rose Tyndall - winner of a performance award from RYA London and South-East Region
Fourteen year old Rose has made tremendous progress in sailing since she started in 2017. She was introduced to the basic skills in a 'Learn To Sail' course run by Downs sailing Club, Deal Kent at Redoubt lake near Hythe. Racing skills were developed at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in Essex, sailing in topper and a pico, At the end of the Cadet Week 2018, Rose won the 'End of pier and back' race.
Throughout the summer of 2019 Rose sailed at Downs, and when there were opportunities to sail during 2020, Rose took advantage of the Race Training organised at Downs in September. and quickly progressed to the advanced group. She was selected to take part in the Race training event run by KSSA at Broadstairs in 2020.
The Team Manager, Brian Mumford, endorsed Rose's award by highlighting her great potential and a natural talent for sailing.
The RYA like candidates to give something back to their clubs and Rose hopes to help the coaches at Downs Friday evening sails by supporting new members to sailing.
Henry Moss - winner of a performance award from RYA London and South-East Region
Ten year old Henry started sailing at the age of eight, in 2017. He loved being on the water and completed his RYA level 1 and 2 in one week. He sailed every Sunday at The Pirates at Dover Seasport and then joined Downs sailing Club at Deal. Henry now sails regularly at the Club, often up to three times a week in the summer season.
There are times when he is the only young person racing but it doesn't put him off and he is always determined to succeed! He recently won the DSC 'Young Enthusiast of the Year' award.
Henry joined the KSSA at the age of 8 and has very much enjoyed training sessions at a range of venues, both inland and on open sea. He recently took part in race training course at Downs Sailing Club which has fired his enthusiasm to want to continue training single-handed in his Topper but also to learn new skills in a variety of double-handed boats.
Henry loves his club and is always cheerful and willing to give back something to his club, He has already introduced several other children to the club and would love to coach when he is older! He watches the older cadets helping out and is very keen to follow in their footsteps.
The Team Manager, Brian Mumford, endorsed Henry's award by highlighting his infectious enthusiasm for sailing and his positive mindset to participating in the sport.