South West RS Tera Traveller Series 2024
by Stefan, Tera 3423 20 Oct 2024 22:55 NZDT
RS Tera South West Traveller Series 2024 Winners © Peter Solly
This year saw the first ever SW RS Tera traveller series made up from seven events held over the summer. With over 40 boats competing, the series allowed junior sailors to sail at different sailing clubs with very different sailing conditions ranging from a Cotswold Lake to the Fowey Estuary, Cornwall. Four of the seven planned events counted towards the final results.
The first regatta in May at Whitefriars SC was held on a lake with unpredictable and light winds. This fun filled event was followed by the SW Regional Championship at Weymouth in June, where more competitive sailing was on everybody's mind. In July we were back in sunny Devon at Royal Torbay YC who hosted their annual open dinghy regatta.
During the summer holidays the series included the Starcross Junior Regatta, which is always a highlight in the SW junior sailing calendar and held over four days. This event hosted by the Starcross YC is much more than competitive sailing. This year it featured overnight camping, outstanding BBQ and taster sailing sessions in the RS Feva.
The Rockfish Junior series at Dartmouth was held over the August Bank holiday and Fowey SC was next on the calendar in September where sailing conditions were perfect. With only one more race planned in October to decide the winner of the series, the top sailors tried to sail their best and took some risks to win at Fowey.
The last race in the series was the Topper and Tera Open event at Starcross YC held on 12 October. No wind in the morning meant that tug of war and capture the flag games were played until just before 1 o'clock when a nice breeze started to blow. Everyone got their boats rigged and launched to complete the last three races to crown the winner of the first SW RS Tera traveller series. The series was highly competitive, particularly in the Tera Sport, with both 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th tying on points. Final positions in the series were not decided until the last race of the last event.
All clubs that kindly agreed to host the series ensured that every sailor, no matter of experience, had lots of fun taking part. Sailing in the series was about meeting friends or making new friends and improving your sailing skills.
I would like to thank all the clubs and their volunteers to make this first series such a success and hopefully the SW RS Tera Traveller Series will continue over the years to come.