Derbyshire Youth Sailing event 9 at Carsington Sailing Club
by Joanne Hill 14 Sep 2021 18:48 BST
11 September 2021

Derbyshire Youth Sailing event 9 at Carsington © Tim Cresswell
Saturday 11th September saw our sailors back at Carsington Sailing Club for our ninth event of this years series, the biggest water we visit, so a new experience for some.
On arrival there appeared to be little wind, but during briefing we were assured there was more on the far-side of the water although the forecast was predicting fluctuating conditions during the day. It wasn't long before the fleet of 25 boats negotiated their way around the weed chopper and moored boats towards the start line, a little daunting for some of our sailors who were at Carsington for the first time, but they all made it.
Unable to see the start line from the club house we sat and waited in anticipation for the boats to appear around the island; it wasn't long before our more senior sailors appeared in their Lasers, with a 420 in the mix. We got the chance to see the developing battle around the top three marks before they disappeared out of sight again.
This continued for a further two laps, with the Toppers and Oppis sneaking around the island and having their own battles.
Joe, Carsington's race officer for the day, took the decision to run the first two races back-to-back as there was still wind on the course, so after a short delay the fleet began to pop out from the island again for another four laps.
Eventually they all made it back for lunch with many tales of capsizes and place-swapping, apparently the wind was steady, picking up slightly towards the second race, much to the delight of our more experienced sailors and those with spinnakers.
After a long lunch, thankfully the galley was open, it was time to set out for the final race of the day. The sky was very ominous and there was a hint of rain but the wind was still steady.
It was great to see all the boats rounding the top marks, with Toppers, Oppis, Comets, Lasers, a Hartley 12, RS Vision and 420 all mixing it up throughout the fleet it made for some close racing.
On their return we heard that the wind dropped during the race and then picked up again towards the end, good for some but there were a few moans from some of the fleet as we began the job of packing the boats away.
We had a lot of sailors who were not only new to DYS but also to racing, so a huge well done to them all, we hope to see you again at our next event which is an Inter-county at Rudyard Sailing Club on the 2nd October, registration and more details are on our website – www.dysailing.org
For more information about Derbyshire Youth Sailing and all the results, please visit that website or contact
Congratulations to everyone who took part, but especially to our winners, and thank you to Carsington SC for putting on some great races and making us all feel very welcome.
Results:
1st Overall and 1st Senior – Isobel Hedley-Fenn, Comet
2nd Overall and 1st Intermediate – George Jacob, Byte C1
3rd Overall & Second Senior - Kate Robertson, Laser Radial
3rd Senior – Henry Baylis, Laser Radial
2nd & 3rd Intermediate – Jacob Bennet & Sebastian Smith, both Optimist
1st, 2nd & 3rd Juniors – Lochlyn Grant, Optimist, Daniel Bird & James Cooper both Toppers