Rooster ILCA UK Youth Series at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
by Deborah Waggett 11 May 13:57 BST
9-10 May 2026
Rooster ILCA UK Youth Series at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club © Paul Hargreaves Photography
This weekend, the Rooster sponsored ILCA UK Youth Series had its second event held at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club. Although there was a lower turn out than last time it didn't stop the fierce competition amongst the ILCA 6 fleet.
With a fairly consistent breeze RO: Richard Clayton set a P course which provided 7 competitive races. Throughout the weekend there was only one point separating first and second with third and fourth close behind.
Saturday brought a strong breeze allowing for two back to back races, a quick yet delicious lunch thanks to Yorkshire Dale's galley and then back out for two more back to back races. At the end race on Saturday Fred Buckley from Yorkshire Dales took an early lead with a 1,2,1,1 tightly followed by Henry Blades from Scaling Dam with 2,1,2,2. Despite a broken tiller extension in race 3 Matthew McCandless quickly came back out to snatch the 3rd in race 4. Meanwhile in the ILCA 4 Oscar Manning showed excellent skills in keeping pace with ILCA 6's in race 4. Sunday brought varied conditions where the sailors got out for another 3 tight races. Henry came back with a vengeance narrowly taking all three wins from Fred who was right behind in all 3 races.
Meanwhile the battle for 3rd and 4th was roaring away between Lizzie Shilling and Matthew McCandless but in the end it was Matthew who emerged victorious with three 3rds on Sunday. Lizzie taking 4th overall and first girl.
All in all, the sailors had a great weekend thanks to the amazing hospitality of Yorkshire Dales with Henry and Lizzie emerging successful to take home the Rooster prizes. An additional to the club for providing generous prizes for the top 4 sailors. The series and Tynemouth look forward to seeing more keen youths on the water at the next event on the 27th of June.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 221315 | Henry Blades | Scaling Dam Sailing Club | ‑2 | 1 | ‑2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2nd | 220518 | Fred Buckley | Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 3rd | 170423 | Matthew McCandless | Otley Sailing Club | ‑4 | 3 | (RET) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| 4th | 217908 | Lizzie Shilling | DRSC | 3 | ‑4 | 3 | (RET) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 |