NEYYSA North Region Youth & Junior Championships 2026 at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club
by Fiona Spence 23 Jun 16:40 BST
20-21 June 2026
An amazing weekend of sailing competition and friendship
The 3rd North Region Youth & Junior Championships was held at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club (DRSC) over the weekend of 20 & 21 June 2026 organised by North East & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association (NEYYSA). The event was generously sponsored by Rooster Sailing and NEYYSA is very grateful for the significant support Rooster has provided for this event and also for their on-going support to the 2026 regional youth traveller series.
158 sailors and 6 youth helpers on the volunteer team plus all their supporters descended on DRSC to celebrate the vibrant Youth & Junior sailing scene in the north region. The club volunteers had put in a serious shift (or seven) to prepare the clubhouse and grounds for our arrival with a marked out camping field and motorhome section plus car parking marshals and boat wash set-up.
The galley had also been busy prepping a mountain of food to feed the 550+ event attendees all weekend. The weather was glorious throughout with hot sun and clear skies over the weekend.
Friday night saw a hive of pre-event activity as sailors unloaded and met friends and parents congregated in the clubhouse to enjoy the entertainment laid on by the DRSC social team.
On Saturday morning, after a prompt 9am briefing, permission to launch was given to the 110 sailor, 93 boat strong championship fleet who launched in high spirits into a steady but building breeze and headed towards the dam for a full day of racing.
Principal Race Officer Ali Wood and her team ran 5 races over the day on a complex course to accommodate the Optimist, RS Tera, Topper, RS Feva XL, ILCA 4 & ILCA 6 and Asymmetric Handicap fleets. Additional to the usual inner & outer loops for the Optimist, RS Tera and Topper, an extended loop was set to ensure the Feva XL, ILCA 4 & 6 and Asymmetric Handicap fleet comprising of 29ers, RS200 and 2000s had chance to stretch their legs.
As usual at NEYYSA events, sailors in need of support to enjoy the championship fleet racing were supported by an experienced team of coaches during and between races offering coaching input and pastoral support via the green fleet. This fleet is aimed at sailors moving from the coached regatta fleet into main fleet racing for the first time and allows them opportunity to check in with a coach between races to get input, a friendly face and a RIB to lean on while they refuel and hydrate - developing skills for the long term.
The green fleet was led by regional favourite coach David Shilling and the sailors benefited from his wise counsel prior to launching each day as well the green fleet coach team's support out on the water.
NEYYSA is really pleased to have also been able to run a welfare "Puffin" RIB for all sailors to make use of between races, this RIB provided toilet facilities, cheerful and supportive crew, sweets, water refills, hugs & pastoral support and general cheerleading as needed. This RIB was manned by an all-female crew to particularly support female sailors. NEYYSA is actively looking for ways to promote, increase, develop and support female participation by sailors and event team members. #thisgirlcan
After a full day on the water, sailors returned to shore jubilant and buzzing for a re-fuelling snack from the DRSC galley prior to post sailing fun sessions.
NEYYSA is very grateful to Ovington Boats and Sailingfast for providing demo boats for the 29er and Waszp classes. ILCA demo opportunities were also available with generous club members offering their boats for ILCA sailing. Club Commodore Dave Coady, one of DRSC's wing-foil instructors provided a wing-foil taster session and the club's paddleboards were available for a fun session too.
NEYYSA is particularly proud that all of the dinghy demo sessions were run by their older (qualified race coach) sailors providing coaching and aspirational input to the younger sailors having a go in the demo sessions, supervised by adult coaches as back up and safety cover.
After all the demo sessions were concluded, safety crews were stood down and sailors and supporters got into their glad rags (Ok - mainly NEYYSA & Class Association Hoodies & T-shirts!) for the evening ceilidh which allowed sailors and supporters to let their hair down and enjoy the DRSC hospitality. The party continued after the ceilidh finished with Budworth SC's Rob Murphy and Delph's Poppy Haslam leading a singalong of all the favourites.
Sunday sunrise was early thanks to the summer solstice, whilst some people got up to celebrate, most took the opportunity of a lie-in but were up and rigging in time for the planned 9.15am launch. Unfortunately, the wind didn't get out of bed on time so an extended postponement kept the fleet ashore till lunchtime. Rigging and tuning sessions were organised and the jurors offered rule 42 and general rule consults to help sailors make the most of the expertise available during the postponement.
After a lengthy wait, flag D was raised and the championship fleet headed off and managed two races in somewhat shifty conditions where the region's lake sailors used their experience to gain points on the score board.
After the close of racing scores on the doors had Ripon's Arche Tait at the top of the Optimist fleet, with DRSC's Sebastian Vials unable to touch him having missed the first two races due to an athletics commitment and a UFD in race 4 and Leigh & Lowton's Alex Welfare giving up his Saturday crown on day 2 due to school events. Emily and Abigail Vials showed the rest of the fleet their transoms ending up 3rd and 4th respectively. More than half of the fleet moved from the regatta fleet into the green fleet so this is a fleet to watch next year when they all have more hours under their belts.
The RS Tera Sport was a small fleet this year as lots of sailors moved into the Pro rig or Feva fleet. However, the racing was tight and competitive with Delph's Oliver Sharman leading Scaling Dam's Jeremy Brown throughout the weekend.
The Tera Pro fleet was also quite small with Ullswater's Reuben Dorey showing consistency to never be out of the top three all weekend to win from Bassenthwaite's Andrew Reekie with Scaling Dam's Joshua Wright in third.
The Topper results was a tale of two days, on Saturday evening the results were looking solidly in Freddie Smallwood's favour beating older brother Ben into 2nd place but Sunday's shifty conditions favoured Sheffield Viking and Ulley's fickle condition specialists Lucy-Laura Miller and Aleks Svietek who delivered good results to secure first & second overall respectively. The Topper 4.2 fleet was all new to racing green fleet sailors and William Webster from Delph triumphed over Covenham's Ellis Richardson and Ulley's Joe Kilner after some close racing all weekend.
The big RS Feva XL fleet was a repeat of the regional battle at the nationals with sibling pairings leading the results all weekend. Harry & Molly Wilson from Filey SC eventually triumphed over brothers Oscar & Rory Davenport from Bassenthwaite with the ever-smiling Ullswater duo of Laia & Aggie Priestley in third. First all U14 pairing was Windermere School's Immi Shorter and Rafi Gould with Jake Douglas & Daniel Barrett from Waterpark Coniston the leading green fleet boat.
ILCA racing was all about consistency with Yorkshire Dales SC's Fred Buckley taking the overall win without getting a bullet, leaving the pinball race win results to be shared between Jake Blakeaway (Trimpley SC), George Jacobs (Combs SC), George Spence (YDSC) and Craig Ferguson (Windermere School). First ILCA 6 female helm was Olivia Coady (DRSC). The small but beautifully formed ILCA4 fleet was won by Poppy Bedwell from West Lancs YC.
Asymmetric sailing in the region is spread between a number of fleets, with young sailors often opting to race non-pathway boats to have regular competition and challenge at their home clubs against competitive and experienced adult helms. The event hosted a joint asymmetric fleet for 29ers, 2000s and RS200 and 10 boats took part.
The Whitehead brothers from Filey SC dominated the weekend in their 29er, taking 5 bullets and 2 seconds to win overall, closely followed by ILCA6 regular Ava Harris-Scott from Delph SC crewed by Budworth's Connie Murphy in an RS200 with Ullswater YC duo Matthew Boatman and Archie Denley's 29er in 3rd.
Notable mention in this competitive fleet was 2000 sailor Oscar Shaw from Sunderland YC who took new sailor Finn Aiken-Burnikell out sailing for his 2nd time ever on the Sunday, introducing him to racing as they went along when Oscar's usual crew had competitive swimming team duties.
Meanwhile, the regatta fleet had a blast all weekend at the club end of the lake with their extremely experienced team led by Jamie Kerslake (RO), Alex Leonard (Lead Coach) and Liz Arkle (Safety lead). We had a bumper crop of 48 sailors in the regatta fleet, most were in their own Optimists, Teras, Toppers and Fevas. Historically the junior championships ran an onboard fleet in dinghies and paddleboards; after looking at the conversion rates of this cohort into regular sailing & racing from the last two events, NEYYSA amended the plan and included the 12 rookie sailors into the regatta fleet in club Omega double handers with an experienced youth sailor captaining each boat.
This allowed a more beneficial distribution of skilled resource and also allowed rookie sailors to participate in the competitive element of the weekend with support. This change was a resounding success, Rookie sailors were supported by Chris Hampshire (Ripon SC), George King (Scaling Dam SC) and Will Guy (Otley SC) who provided the perfect blend of safe sailing, instruction, coaching and big brother role-model aspirational support to their young charges who were aged 5-11.
Many of the rookie sailors got into the boats at the beginning of the weekend as nervous strangers but left as friends, equally important they benefited from a weekend of consistent and targeted coaching and learned that competitive racing is fun. On Saturday afternoon one of the Omega's capsized when the onboard coach missed the toe-straps and went out of the boat holding the mainsheet. After a textbook and reassuring capsize recovery, he climbed back into the boat to be greeted by his Rookies telling him off for "losing the race" - a win on so many levels!
The regatta fleet started at the beginning with their first race of the weekend an onshore walking race to go through the basic concepts of start, race, marks, finish. They then went out to practice, practice and practice. By the end of their weekend and 15 races in, the improvement in their boat handling and racing skills was evident from the shore and is testament to the skill and experience of the regatta coaching team. Calm, flexible and specific coaching to each sailor helped everyone develop and improve. The competitive element within the regatta fleet was tempered with a supportive and nurturing atmosphere celebrating all achievements.
The prize-giving recognised effort, endeavour and contribution across the weekend as well as the actual event winners. Rooster vouchers and goodies were presented to all the prize-winners. The event was also the Topper Northern Championships and the Topper sailors were awarded prizes by Sailboat Rigging Systems (SRS) who have just become the latest Topper dealer in the region and attended the event to assist with boat repairs and maintenance. SRS also provided endeavour prizes for the Topper fleet.
Championship fleet results and Regatta fleet results are now online. NEYYSA's next traveller event is at Pennine SC on 27 June and our next two-day event is the regional team racing championships in September. Details of all our events can be found on our website www.neyysa.org
NEYYSA is also committed to upskill new volunteers to help sustain regional skills and is very grateful to the experienced regional folk who freely gave up their time to deliver this event as well as help train new volunteers into key roles so that the region is future proofed for when volunteers inevitably move on. Lots of less experienced parents learned new skills with support this weekend and will be able to contribute fully to the next regional event.
Events like this are not possible without the long-term commitment of volunteers who provide hours of effort prior to, during and after our events. It is not practical to name everyone but NEYYSA is extremely grateful for the huge support they enjoy from regional sailors, clubs and individuals who help deliver quality events which the region's youth and juniors and their families want to attend. NEYYSA mugs were handed out to all volunteers as a token of NEYYSA's appreciation.
Thank you to everyone who made this weekend happen no matter how small or large your contribution was.