Isle of Wight Youth and Junior Championship Series at Gurnard Sailing Club
by Luke Bradley 13 Sep 2021 10:12 BST
11 September 2021
Gurnard Sailing Club hosted the second leg of the Isle of Wight Youth and Junior Championship Series on Saturday 11th. The event, which is designed to encourage inter-club racing for island sailors aged under 21, attracted 30 Tera and 8 ILCA Sailors.
A wide range of abilities participated, from young sailors competing in their first ever race in the coached regatta fleet, to sailors who race at national level in the Tera and ILCA race fleets.
Race 1 got under way in near perfect conditions with sunshine and 12-15knots of wind. Sailors short tacked up the shore against the last of the flood tide and enjoyed fast sailing on the downwind legs. As Race 2 got under way winds increased to 15-18knots and there were capsizes a plenty in the more challenging conditions. With only 6 finishers in the regatta fleet, Race Officer Steve Cole made the sensible decision to call it a day and abandon their third race. The more experienced sailors in the Tera Sport, Tera Pro and ILCA race fleets stayed on the water for a lively Race 3 with the ebb tide now building up the waves in the bay.
In the 17 strong regatta fleet, Cass Day (Gurnard SC) took first overall just ahead of Rafe Bradley (Gurnard SC) and Maia Uren (Brading Haven YC). Special mention to first time racer Emily Bunn (Gurnard SC) for finishing both races.
The Tera Sports were dominated by Will Bradley (Gurnard SC) ahead of Samuel Leather (Gurnard SC) and Alice Pope (Gurnard SC / Royal Victoria YC).
In the Tera Pros, two wins for Ruby Sunderland (Gurnard SC) gave her first overall with Thomas Leather (Gurnard SC) beating Ben Anderson (Gurnard SC) to second place on count back.
Sam Osbourne (Royal Victoria YC) had a clean sweep of firsts in the ILCA 4 and won overall ahead of David Robinson (Brading Haven YC). In the ILCA 6, Kristian Schafer also won all three races to take first overall ahead of Sam Palin (Brading Haven YC) and Patrick Tate (Yarmouth SC).
Arthur Farley was the only ILCA 7 but it was a real spectacle to watch a sailor of this standard push the boat hard in the testing conditions.
Many thanks to the series sponsors Zhik and Ocean Leisure for kindly donating the generous prizes.
Full results can be found here...