All set for North Region Youth & Junior Championship 2025 at Ullswater Yacht Club
by Fiona Spence 20 Jun 22:04 NZST
21-22 June 2025
ILCA4 and ILCA6 racing in the NEYYSA series of events © Dave Wood
With less than 24 hours until the first warning signal at the North Region Youth & Junior Championships organised by North East & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association (NEYYSA) and hosted by Ullswater Yacht Club final preparations are in hand and competitors are starting to arrive.
This is the second year this event has been organised by NEYYSA and the offer has expanded to include youth fleets and is fully volunteer led by the association's committee and Ullswater's event team with a small army of weekend volunteers to help deliver the event.
Just under 200 competitors from 39 regional clubs will take to the water on Saturday 21 June for a mixed format competition across four different courses. The event is supported by Magic Marine who have kindly donated some prizes and we are also grateful to Balchin's News in Carlisle for supporting the soft drinks supply for the weekend, which given the forecast will be in much demand!
On Saturday afternoon the 120+ strong championship fleet will race in an 80-minute pursuit race to crown the event's Champion of Champion, classes will also race on sprint course and trapezoid courses during the weekend with results from all formats of racing counting towards the final scores.
The regatta fleet has a stellar line up of coaches and with the course team laying claim to multiple world and national championship titles between them the 33 novice racers are sure to move their skills forward during the weekend with the plan to focus on core skills and race craft.
The Rookie Club will again allow our younger and less experienced sailors to get out on the water for a mix of skill building, games and paddleboard fun.
As is customary in the final run up to a major event, a round-up of the Championship Fleet key runners and riders follows;
In the Optimist fleet we have three front runners, last year's winner Alex Welfare is still on form but may be challenged by Sebastian Vials, fresh from his Eric Twiname Junior Champs win but we mustn't forget the quiet skill of Rose Versey who always gives both a run for their money. It is pleasing to see several sailors moving into the Optimist Championship fleet from last year's regatta and rookie fleets and making use of the Green Fleet division within the champ fleet to obtain on water coaching and pastoral support from some of the region's top coaches.
The Tera Sport fleet is open but a key contender is Filey's Harry Wilson, again fresh from an ET Junior champs win. Aggie Priestley will no doubt either chase his or show her transom and Oliver Smith & Joshua Wright who have been doing well in the regional series could put in some good performances.
The Tera Pro fleet hot favourite is event t-shirt design winner Molly Wilson although James Reekie or home boat Reuben Dorey may well give her something to think about in the mixed format event.
The large Topper fleet has all the regional names in attendance and it is likely to be a tight competition throughout the fleet. Tristan Shaw & Reuben Lawrence have been trading places all season although other names starting to show in the results include Nayth Twiggs, Ben Smallwood & Aleks Svietek. The 4.2 fleet is also showing a healthy entry and Isla Armstrong, Freddie Smallwood and William Gardiner will move their Budworth rivalry to UYC for the weekend.
Feva XL is completely open with Laia Priestley & Oscar Davenport having the benefit of local knowledge Grace Stockdale & Charlie Rowell, Iona Cheyne & Poppy Moss lack race practice as books have taken precedence in recent weeks for exam study and Zach Williamson & Hayden Gridley have been building form while Matthew Boatman & Archie Denley may bring their recent good nationals experience into play too.
The ILCA 4 fleet has all the regional names present and if recent traveller series events are anything to go by it will be neck & neck between Henry Blades, Alanna Starkie and Matthew Mccandless with North West represented at the top by Ava Harris-Scott. It is also pleasing to see less experienced ILCA4 sailors joining the fleet having completed NEYYSA's winter coaching and making use of the green fleet coach this weekend.
The ILCA6 fleet contains all the regional regulars except Toby Waggett who is on international duty in Poland so promises to be a good tussle at the top. Fred Buckley is in form having won at Filey Regatta recently and with Delph's Will Taylor and Pennine's Sebastian Smith attending he won't have it all his own way. There should also be a good East vs West battle in the 6's between the two female entries with Lucy Cliffe racing for the east's honour and Lilly Brown for the west's!
NEYYSA is all about inclusive sailing and the event has a handicap class to enable youth sailors racing in the active RS200, 2000 and other popular regional boats the opportunity to participate. Whilst the entry is small, the fleet is well matched for an all-female handicap battle between the RS200 of Millie Hayfield & Jessica Marsh and Olivia & Isobel Arkle's 2000 with the Hobie 405 of Emily Anderson & Freya Latimer adding interest to the mix.
The 6 420 entries have been training together all winter so competition should be high, with lots of new pairings it is difficult to predict who will come out on top but the longer double handed experience of Jasper Bramwell and Ava Murphy (before she departs for the Fastnet), Eve Bromilow & Connie Murphy and Isobel Sandow & Edie Rogers is likely to come to the fore.
The 29er fleet also has 6 entries, they are using the event for the final round of their regional travellers. With several new pairings as well as two long term partnerships it is also difficult to predict the outcome but Thomas & Daniel Whitehead are on form at the moment and Lewis Gordon and James Catterall have done a lot of double-handed sailing together recently.
After Saturday's racing competitors will have the opportunity to try wing foiling, a 420 or a 29er or join in with a SUP fun session.
The club has worked very hard to accommodate the vast number of campers and in the run up to their annual Birkett weekend the bar and galley operations are having a bit of a practice run with a Hoedown BBQ & social planned for Saturday evening.
The event promises to be a fantastic celebration of the vibrant youth & junior sailing scene in the region and the organisers are immensely grateful to everyone who has contributed towards making the event happen.
North East and Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association: www.neyysa.org