Report

The 25th WSSYSA Youth Regatta took place on 8-9 September at Cobnor Activities Centre Trust in Chichester Harbour.  Overall, 100 boats sailed within five fleets: Fast (9), Slow (42), Topper (15), Optimist (8) and Rookies (26).  The Rookie fleet offered competitive sailing in a controlled environment for sailors attending their first WSSYSA regatta or open regatta.

Saturday began with a wait for the wind to build, delaying the start of the first race. When the wind did come in from the west, it continued to increase and racing was curtailed after two races (one for Optimists, three for the rookies, who found some relief from the wind behind Cobnor Point) as more and more sailors began to capsize or feel the cold.

On the Sunday, launch time was advanced to allow more time on the water and the westerly wind came in earlier, making for perfect sailing conditions for all. We completed another three races for each fleet without incident – a minor miracle considering Bosham and Itchenor were also running club races at the same time in the same location!

WSSYSA is grateful to all club volunteers and helpers who made the event possible, on the water and off. CACT were the perfect hosts and worked tirelessly to keep everyone happy. WSSYSA is particularly grateful to Helena Lucas, MBE, who provided coaching to the sailors throughout the weekend, and to Ian Walker, RYA Director of Racing, who presented medals and trophies.

The fleet results are posted on  the accompanying pages. Congratulations to the following winners:

Fast fleet – Jack Miller (Aero 7, Felpham SC)
Slow fleet – Alex MacKenzie & Rufus MacKenzie (Feva, Seaford College)
Topper – Oliver Wattam (Felpham SC)
Optimist – Hazel Jones Sunday (Dell Quay SC)
Rookie – Ruby Richards (Tera Sport, Felpham)
Laser Radial – Miles Vidler (Crawley Mariners YC)
Laser 4.7 – Oliver Randall-May (Seaford College)
Topper 5.3 – Oliver Wattam (Felpham SC)
Topper 4.2 – Ethan Sparkes (Dell Quay SC)
Pico – Alex Attard (Dell Quay SC)
Feva – Alex MacKenzie & Rufus MacKenzie (Feva, Seaford College)

Several WSSYSA perpetual trophies were awarded:

  • Russell Moore Trophy – This trophy, for exceptional contribution to youth sailing, was awarded to Greg Kies of Dell Quay Sailing Club, for his commitment to sailing instruction and to helping introduce to sailing young children  and children with various disabilities
  • Jim Ellis Shield – This trophy is awarded to the club that will host the next WSSYSA Youth Regatta. The 2019 regatta will be hosted by Felpham SC on 7-8 September 2019
  • Elliman Trophy – This trophy, for best performance at the NSSA Annual Regatta, was awarded to Daniel Gibson (Crawley Mariners YC), who finished in second place in the fast-handicap fleet in his RS Aero 7, only one point behind the winner
  • NSSA Rookie Trophy – This was awarded to Edwin Cross (Crawley Mariners YC), who finished in third place in the NSSA Regatta rookies handicap fleet in his Topper 4.2 (He also won an NSSA award for the highest placed Under 12 sailor)

The WSSYSA Team Trophy was as hotly contested as ever, being decided by  the best five individual scores for each team across all fleets except the Rookie fleet and normalising for the different size of each fleet. The final results were:

1st – Felpham SC (215 points)
2nd – Seaford College (335 points)
3rd – Chichester YC (398 points)
4th – Dell Quay YC (463 points)
5th – Crawley Mariners YC (532 points)
6th – Arun YC (610 points)
7th – Pagham Lagoon Sailing (831 points)

Congratulations to Felpham, who keep the winning streak going for another year! Who’s ready to take it away from them in 2019?

Notice of Race: WSSYSA Regatta 2018 NoR v2.1

Sailing Instructions: WSSYSA Regatta 2018 SIs v2.1