Regional Junior Championships conclude in classic conditions
by British Sailing Team 29 Sep 2020 08:03 NZDT
19-20 September 2020
The second part of the Regional Junior Championships took place this weekend - with sailors, parents and volunteers enjoying safe and fun racing at four regattas around the country.
The young racers were rewarded with blue skies and a brisk wind as the second weekend of the Regional Junior Championships got under way.
After a successful opening weekend of junior windsurfing last weekend, it was the dinghies that took prominence with the action mostly taking place in Optimist, Topper, RS Feva and RS Tera Sport classes.
Draycote Water Sailing Club hosted the Midlands region regatta, Datchet Water Sailing Club was home to the London and South East event while the South and South West region regatta took place at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
The South region windsurfing championship also took place at the Andrew Simpson Sailing Centre in Portsmouth, as well as Home Countries regattas in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Unfortunately there was too much breeze for racing to take place at the East region regatta at Grafham Water Sailing Club.
Each host venue was Covid-secure, and racing was split to two classes per day to ensure safe levels of competitors, parents and staff required on site.
The fresh breeze presented a challenge for the young racers, one which they rose to demonstrating impressive boat handling skills and determination.
Clubs, volunteers, support staff and race officials also went above and beyond to ensure the events were an overriding success.
Following on from the successful running of the Regional Junior Championships, British Youth Sailing is confident that the upcoming Youth National Championships at WPNSA can be delivered safely and securely.
"It was great to see so many young sailors out there over the weekend, sailing so well in what were trying conditions," said Chris Atherton, the RYA's National Performance Manager.
"The sailors were eager and focused when it came to getting out on the water. The level of ability was high and I was really impressed with the sailors resilience given the wind strength and how much colder it was with the arrival of the northerly winds.
"Thank you to all the competitors, parents, volunteers, race officials, staff and of course the host clubs themselves who made these regattas possible.
"We are now looking forward to seeing our youth sailors compete at the Youth Nationals in a few weeks' time and are confident we can deliver another safe, secure and fun event in Weymouth."
Head to the British Youth Sailing Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages over the coming week for photos from the Regional Junior Championships.
Results from all of the regattas can be found here.