North Region Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships 2025 at Ripon Sailing Club
by Fiona Spence 1 Oct 19:45 BST
20-21 September 2025
Prize Winners - North Region Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships © Dave Wood
24 teams of regional sailors converged on Ripon SC on 20 & 21 September for the North Region Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships organised by North East & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association (NEYYSA). This is the fourth time this two-boat team event has been held and with more demand than spaces available it is clear that team racing is very much alive and kicking in the north.
It was just as well enthusiasm was high as the weather on Saturday was awful, it rained non-stop all day, easing slightly to a light drizzle for a short period mid-afternoon before becoming torrential in early evening but the smiles and good cheer from the sailors and supporters throughout the day should have made the sun come out. Event team members in double waterproofs, wellies and a lucky few with brollies, were soaked to the skin by lunchtime (but still smiling!).
Competitors, wearing their new turquoise North Team Racing hats, made short work of rigging the 16 RS Fevas, on loan from Derwent Reservoir SC, Elton SC, Sedbergh School, Windermere School, Ripon SC and Yorkshire Dales SC. Rutland SC loaned two sets of team racing mainsails and the other two flights were decked out in NEYYSA's Eric Twiname Trust funded team racing jibs. Racing was under way by 9.30am.
K-Sail had provided a 168 race HLS round robin for Saturday and the steady wind, consistent race management and slick changeovers by all teams meant that 117 races were delivered, a record number of races per day for the event to date.
The teams ranged from those trying team racing for the first time to event veterans. Some of the older sailors who had competed in the previous events, including the 3 times champion helms from Top-Hats and one of the helms from Pengwins had decided to step back from the racing and join the event team as umpire, start boat and coach support. This willingness from our older sailors to support and mentor younger sailors is fantastic and bodes well for the future of North region sailing.
As well as the older teenage sailors assisting at the event, we were also supported by York University Sailing and Windsurfing Club who did a stellar job in the galley feeding everyone all weekend. Proceeds from their efforts will go towards their new Firefly fleet. We also had a York Uni sailor assisting as an umpire at the event. NEYYSA is proud to collaborate with the regional university clubs, it is a positive and symbiotic relationship which benefits everyone involved.
After a massive fish and chip supper enjoyed by over 100 people, competitors and supporters had a quiet but social night in the clubhouse before retiring to bed to be up promptly on Sunday morning.
On Sunday the sun shone and the breeze blew and a few people even started talking about sun cream which was a pleasant change from Saturday's weather. A bronze/silver/gold league was scheduled for the day with teams split based on their performance on Saturday.
Prior to Sunday launching the coaches and umpires gave some feedback to the sailors about Saturday's racing and coaches encouraged the different leagues to focus on different aspects of the game to help develop all the sailors and teams. The league split allowed teams to race against teams of a similar skill and experience level and spectators were treated to some thrilling team racing across all three leagues as the teams made use of the constant wind to put into practice coaching advice provided across the two days.
The event commentator again proved his worth by providing concise and at times witty commentary about the on-water antics, the coaches continued to pick up the teams as they came ashore and give feedback and advice for their next match.
In the bronze fleet, there were 4 teams with 6 wins a piece at the end of the day but Windermere School's Starboard Strikers team, in their 3rd year at the competition triumphed with 8 wins to take the league win with Otley Neon Ninjas in 2nd and Ripon Rotters 2, the youngest team in the competition, with an average age of 11 in 3rd. Covenham Cyclones sailed well in their first event to finish 6th, just behind Windermere School Wavebreakers and Budworth Vikings. With Sedbergh School teams, Water Park Coniston 1 and Wigan St Helens (WiSH) putting all the coaching input into use to improve over the weekend.
A loud cheer echoed from the shore when WiSH, in their first foray into team racing delivered their first race win.
Silver fleet saw a day of intense racing interspersed with some gear breakages which led to a few races being re-run on redress. Budworth Bandits, who were disappointed to not make Gold in their first attempt at the event delivered a convincing performance and didn't drop a match with Boreas suffering at their hands to take 2nd overall. Elton Wizards delivered some great moves to take third while Otley Red Devils, Yorkshire Dales SC and Windermere's Portside Pioneers had to be split on total points. Water Park Coniston 1 showed practice makes improvement by moving into silver from their bronze league position last year.
In gold fleet, tensions were running high and much drama ensued, with Top-Hats & Pengwins not competing this year all teams could smell victory, just who was going to triumph? Scaling Siblings showed their team racing and sibling loyalty by delivering a great set of results to finish third overall with several tricky and very close matches not going their way on the finish line. Rutland Ospreys had a stressy start losing their first two matches but after a lengthy chat with the coach turned it round to deliver two back-to-back wins.
Last Minute sailors, who had got together... er... last minute showed promise but lack of in-boat time together meant they made mistakes which turned winning matches into losses, a team to look out for next year if they stay together. Ripon Rotters 1 had experienced helms but again hadn't team raced together before which meant they were at a disadvantage when they came up against the more drilled regular team racers, this team was one of several who took advantage of the U11 rule to enable extra young sailors to crew by swapping crews throughout the weekend.
Bottom Hats who had the youngest helm (11) in Gold & Silver fleet as well as the youngest 2 job-share crews (7 & 8) in the other boat had a brilliant weekend showing they knew the moves and weren't afraid to try them out. However, it was Rutland Racers who showed their team racing expertise and experience by not dropping a match all day on the Sunday to take the overall event win.
Additional to the sailing, two young umpires were signed off by chief Umpire Mike Butterfield at the end of the weekend, another positive for the region and with more NEYYSA sailors currently participating in an on-line umpire course we hope the pipeline of young regional umpires continues to flow.
At the prize-giving, the beautiful medals from Tide Design Studio were handed out to the top three teams in each league along with lots of recognition prizes. Training aid 3D-model dinghies were also presented to each sailor, provided by GP Marine Yorkshire to help with tactic discussions and shore based training at their home clubs.
North teams will be attending the forthcoming NSSA Topper Single Handed Team Racing and Eric Twiname Double Handed Team Racing events in the next few weeks. This regional event has helped improve and consolidate team racing skills prior to sailors attending these larger national events as well as offering a weekend of friendship, fun and sailing within the region. If you are at these national events in the next few weeks then do say hello to the Turquoise Hatted army!
A massive thank you to Ripon SC who again opened their doors to this event and made us all feel very welcome. An equally big thank you to all the volunteers who assisted with the event, both in the build-up and during the weekend it just wouldn't have happened without them.
A big thank you to K-Sail who continue to support the event and provided invaluable advice and support prior to and during the weekend. The event used their online platform for the first time this year and the ease of communication this provided was extremely helpful.
The behind-the-scenes effort to deliver an event of this scale involves lots of people putting hours in at a grassroots level and the depth of skills, commitment and resolve of North region folk to help support and nurture youth and junior sailing is fantastic.
Full results: events.ksail.co.uk/2025/neyysa
Gold League:
1. Rutland Racers
2. Budworth Buccaneers
3. Scaling Siblings
4. Rutland Ospreys
5. Last Minute Sailors
6. Ripon Rotters 1
7. Bottom Hats
Silver League:
1. Budworth Bandits
2. Team Boreas
3. Elton Wizards
4. Otley Red Devils
5. Yorkshire Dales SC
6. Windermere Portside Pioneers
7. Water Park Coniston 2
Bronze League:
1. Windermere Starboard Strikers
2. Otley Neon Ninjas
3. Ripon Rotters 2
4. Budworth Vikings
5. Windermere Wavebreakers
6. Covenham Cyclones
7. Sedbergh School B
8. Water Park Coniston 1
9. Sedbergh School A
10. Wigan St Helens (WiSH)