Royal visit

Sacha Oswald reports from day three of the RYA Youth Sailing Championships and Trials in Largs

HRH The Princess Royal, President of the Royal Yachting Association, took to the water off Largs Sailing Club when she attended the third day of the 2005 RYA Youth Sailing Championships and Trials.

Arriving before the competitors went afloat she spent time meeting some of the 300 young sailors in the dinghy park before boarding a 55ft motorboat, Clyde Sovereign, to observe the racing on the Firth of Clyde. She enjoyed watching the sailors compete in windy conditions of 18-20 knots on all three course areas and also viewed the excitement when gusts of up to 35 knots funnelled through the courses.

Those that managed to stay upright were the ones that were ahead after the third day of racing and with two days left to go many of the race leaders had not changed.

The one fleet that saw a change in the overall race leader was the Hobie 16 fleet. Two race wins for Youth World Champions Tom Phipps and Jon Cook from Restronguet Sailing Club, saw them overtake Ben Mansfield and Ben Hinks from Royal Southern Yacht Club to take the overall lead. There is no doubt that these two will continue to do battle over the next two days and with similar score lines to date, it will be a close call of who will take the championship.

Grafham Water Sailing Clubs Giles Scott continued to stamp his dominance over the Laser Standard fleet. The windy conditions unfazed him and he took line honours in all three of the day’s races to establish a six point lead over Luke Breen-Turner and a fourteen points margin from third placed James Royston from Bewl Valley.

Today was the first day that the Laser Radial fleet competed as a gold and silver fleet with the first 52 boats from the first six races of the championship making up the gold fleet. A third and a fifth place for Max Holloway from Mudeford Sailing Club continued to give him the lead in the class from second placed Alison Young from Trimpley. Evan Scott maintained his position of third overall with 32 points.

After a total of eight races Tom Malindine and James Clark from Corus Sailing Club have made a jump ahead in the 420 fleet. Two first places in today’s races gives them a total of five race wins out of eight races, and with it a twelve point lead over second placed Richard Mason and Dan Schieber from Royal Lymington Yacht Club. A good day for Loch Morlich Sailing Club members Fynn Sterritt and Matthew Day saw them move up into third place overall.

The battle continued in the 29er class between Ed Chapman and Tom Peel from Rutland Sailing Club and Justin Visser and Simon Wheeler from Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Both pairings achieved the same score line in different orders, which resulted in no change at the top. Chapman and Peel have managed to establish a five point lead going into the penultimate day of racing. Dylan Fletcher and Nick Hollis from Northampton Sailing Club are another five points behind in third place.

Two races were sailed in the Mistral windsurfing classes and in the Mistral 7.4 and again Richard Hamilton from North Lincs and Humberside had one of the best days which saw him close the gap on local Largs sailor Peter Bird. There was no change in the top three and Alex Griffiths maintained third place overall with a 21 point total.

In the MJOD 6.6 Chris Higham from Bosworth Water Trust continued to lead the fleet and has established a three point lead going into the final two days of the championship.

There are two days left of racing at the 2005 RYA Youth Championships and Trials and the pressure will be rising as competitors begin to look ahead to what is at stake; the national championship title; for some fleets a coveted place in the GB ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships team; and an RYA National Youth Squad place.

Results, day 3

Hobie 16
1, Tom Phipps/Jon Cook, Restronguet SC (2,(4),2,1,1,1,(3),1,1,1) 10 pts
2, Ben Mansfield/Ben Hinks, Royal Southern YC (1,1,1,(3),(2),2,1,2,2,2) 12 pts
3, Toby Orpin/Ricky Heasman, Sheppey YC ((6),3,(5),2,4,3,4,4,3,3) 26 pts

Mistral 7.4
1, Peter Bird, Largs Sailing Club (1,3,1,2,2,1,(8),1) 11 pts
2, Richard Hamilton, N Lincs & Humberside (2,(4),2,1,1,2,1,4) 13 pts
3, Alex Griffiths, NLSC ((5),1,4,3,3,5,2,3) 21 pts

MJOD 6.6
1, Chris Higham, Bosworth Water Trust (1,1,2,3,1,2,(6),5) 15 pts
2, Peter Fey, Bewl Valley SC (2,2,1,5,3,(7),3,2) 18 pts
3, Anthony Scales, Bewl Valley SC (4,4,4,2,2,6,1,(7)) 23 pts

Laser Standard
1, Giles Scott, Grafham Water Sailing Club ((2),1,1,1,1,1,1,1) 7 pts
2, Luke Breen-Turner, RAYC (1,2,(3),2,2,2,2,2) 13 pts
3, James Royston, Bewl Valley (3,3,2,3,4,(DSQ),3,3) 21 pts

Laser Radial Gold
1, Max Holloway, Mudeford SC (1,1,2,1,3,(5),3,5) 16 pts
2, Alison Young, Trimpley (4,1,1,(16),1,4,5,4) 20 pts
3, Evan Scott, GWSC (8,8,2,(10),1,1,10,2) 32 pts

Laser Radial Silver
1, Ryan Seaton, Ballyholme YC (14,(53),53,18,18,6,1,11) 121 pts
2, Melissa Addy, Pennine SC (26,18,(53),13,28,34,2,2) 123 pts
3, Michael Gorzkowski, Loch Venechar SC (9,33,15,35,(37),22,5,6) 125 pts

420
1, Tom Malindine/James Clark, Corus SC (2,(4),1,1,3,1,1,1) 10 pts
2, Richard Mason/Dan Schieber, Royal Lymington YC ((BFD),1,2,4,4,5,2,4) 22 pts
3, Fynn Sterritt/Matthew Day, Loch Morlich SC (3,5,4,7,(14),11,5,3) 38 pts

29er
1, Ed Chapman/Tom Peel, Rutland SC (2,1,1,1,1,2,2,(3),2,1) 13 pts
2, Justin Visser/Simon Wheeler, Royal Lymington YC (1,2,2,(5),2,1,4,2,1,3) 18 pts
3, Dylan Fletcher/Nick Hollis, Northampton SC (3,(8),5,2,3,3,1,3,2) 23 pts

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