Hat trick for Izzy Hamilton

As the RYA Volvo Youth National Championships conclude

It was a hat-trick for Hamilton and a whole raft of well earned victories for the cream of Britain’s sailing talent today as the curtain came down on the 2010 RYA Volvo Youth National Championships.

After a long week which saw almost the full series of races completed, nine new National Champion crowns were handed out with RS:X Youth World Champion Izzy Hamilton making it a hat-trick in clinching her third girl's RYA Volvo Youth National Title at the event.

Hamilton commented: “It’s been a tough week, especially the last few days where we had to do a lot of pumping in the light winds, so I’m really pleased and relived that it’s over and that I’ve got my hat-trick”

Having led the girls fleet all week, Hamilton’s dominance was clear, winning two of the 12 races at the event. The National title kick starts what looks to be another great season for Holsworthy's Hamilton, following her ISAF Youth World’s Silver medal and Youth World title of last year.

The boys competition was a tight contest between Connor Bainbridge and Techno U17 World Champion Sam Sills, who was sailing his first UK event on an RS:X board. Sills won out picking up the RS:X National Crown to further furnish his trophy cabinet having racked up the most consistent results of the two.

29er National titles go to Lymington pair Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten. Starting the week in second place, the team focused on consistency posting results in the top three in nine of their fourteen races, proving themselves effective in all conditions. Taking over the top of the fleet on day three they racked up a convincing seventeen point lead to take this year’s title.

Derby’s Philippa Gray and Malvern’s Joanna Lucas took the girls 29er title holding their place as top female crew throughout the regatta. As the week progressed they upped their game in the lighter conditions posting a fifth and fourth over the last days of racing, giving them a sizable lead over the other girls crews placing them tenth overall and top of the girls standings.

For Leicester’s Mike Wood and his Coventry crew Hugh Brayshaw, Wood’s fourth and Brayshaw’s third visit to the event proved fruitful with the duo establishing their fleet lead on day one of the event. Keeping their focus and momentum all week they claimed their hard fought 420 National title ten points ahead of the pack staying true to form. The duo entered the event with an U19 title won at the End of Season Championships in November and a 420 National Winter Championships title won at the beginning of the year.

For the girls title, Joanna Freeman (Poole) and Hannah Mitchell (Manchester) tussled all week with Oxfords Amy Seabright and Romford's Hermione Stanley to secure their extremely hard fought 420 girls crown. In their favourable light winds conditions they gave the boys at the top of the fleet a run for their money winning three of the 420’s eleven races.

Wirral’s Cameron Douglass claimed another hard fought National title in the Radial fleet which saw competition become extremely tight once qualifying series determined the Gold fleet. Having posted bullets in all but one of his qualifying races, Douglas went into the final series on top of the pack and with some strong challenges from John Currie, Bleddyn Mon and Elliot Hanson, Douglas kept his focus to land the National title just two points clear of Currie.

Gloucester girl Sophie McKeeman was swapping first and second girl places with Ipswich’s Rheanna Pavey most of the week pushing through on the last days of racing to land her Radial victory and National crown. Apart from a few discards she posted consistent mid table results in all of her races, with ninth being her best result in the final series.

She said: “My aim was to come first in the girls I was going to try and come high up in the boys but didn’t quite managed it but it’s ok because I still won the Girls title.”

The Laser Standards saw Colchester’s Martin Evans land the U19 National Title finishing fourth overall in the U21 standings. Having tied points with Eifion Mon, the eventual U21 victor, earlier in the week, Evans was disappointed not to have retained his overall lead of the fleet but sailed a great regatta to claim his crown.

With the catamarans making a return to the event this year, Adam Butler (Christchurch) and Nikki Boniface (Polegate) held the stage in the Spitfire class all week posting an almost unbeaten record of bullets in their ten races, securing them an emphatic victory and the National title. Andrew Sinclair and Benedict Harrison being the only pair to beat them in race nine.

RYA Youth Racing Manager Duncan Truswell rounded up the week: “It’s been the best and most fiercely contested Youth Nationals event yet. It’s been a challenging week in terms of the conditions for the sailors; Monday and Tuesday was very windy but later in the week we’ve had a range of conditions to give a really good trial.

“The sailors have performed extremely well and I’m very impressed with the standard of the sailing that has been on display,” he concluded.

As a new introduction to this year’s event GPS tracking has been set up to enable live animation of some of the courses each day. To watch the action again click here, with 3D animation also available on some of the races.

Full results here