RS youths

Close racing was had by all at the RS200 youth regatta held by Oxford Sailing Club

An excellent turnout of 22 boats made the trip to Oxford Sailing club for the youth championships. We were greeted with sun but a lack of wind.

Race one started with a lot of the fleet being a bit eager to start with the first general recall of the weekend and the black flag coming out. With a very shifty force one to two wind, Frances Peters and Claire Lasko shot of the line to make it first to the windward mark followed by Tom and Jess Olden and Rachel Wigmore and Lucy Matthews. With a good mark rounding Peters and Lasko sped off not to be seen again. Wigmore and Matthews had a good down wind run to move up to second with the Olden's taking third and Nikki Russell and Ben Lister fourth.

The second race led to some early starters and their second race being over. The rest of the fleet got off to a good start with Peters and Lasko flying off the start line again to lead round the windward mark followed by Wigmore and Matthews and Josh Gebhard and Tom Jeffrey. Wigmore and Matthews managed to steal the lead, with Russell and Lister coming back to take second, Gebhard and Jeffrey taking third and Peters and Lasko slipping to fourth.

Race three saw a nice clean start for all the boats, Wigmore and Matthews got off to a great start and led from the windward mark with incredible pace with Andrew Conn and Jake Gebhard following in second. Wigmore and Matthews won the race with Conn and Gebhard having some tricky wind on the last down wind stretch to let Graham Rome and Sophie Hartley in to second and Russell and Lister to third.

After racing David Giles kindly did some video debriefing and shared some of his knowledge. With a disco on Saturday night the over 18 youths did the class proud and drank the bar dry by 9 o'clock forcing them to go out to buy more supplies.

Sunday started sunny but with little wing again. Race four kicked off with Jack Norton
and Sarah Sharp first to the windward mark followed by the Olden's and Gebhard and Jeffrey. With a good down wind leg Conn and Gebhard took the lead with the Olden's still fighting strong in second. Gebhard and Jeffrey managed to make back some places with some good manoeuvring up wind to lead to the windward mark and take the race, with Conn and Gebhard second and Wigmore and Matthews coming through to take third.

With the wind picking up to a nice force three for the second race things were going to get interesting, Sam Littlejohn and Emma Clarke powered off to be first to the windward mark followed by Conn and Gebhard and Peters and Lasko. With a comfortable lead Littlejohn and Clarke took the race with Wigmore and Matthews second, Peters and Lasko third.

The final race and some teams went to pack up early due to some premature starting. Wigmore and Matthews led to the windward mark for two laps only to find they were black flagged. So it was race on for the youth cup between Peter's and Gebhard. With some tactical covering by both teams Gebhard and Jeffery just managed to take the race from Peter's and Lasko and with it the youth cup.

A great weekend and thanks to Oxford sailing club and every one who helped
to make it a success.

Results:

1-Wigmore and Matthews (first female team)
2-Josh Gebhard and Tom Jeffrey (youth Cup winners)
3-Francis Peter's and Claire Lasko taking (first under 16)
4-Sam Littlejohn and Emma Clarke
5-Nikki Russell and Ben Lister