Stamford Sailors’ Success at Team Racing National Championship

On the weekend of the 8 and 9 October, four Stamford sailors competed in Rutland Sailing Club teams at the RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championships, held at Oxford Sailing Club. Issy Leetch, Year 13, was one of three helms in the 6-strong Rutland Raiders team who won the Youth competition, becoming national Youth Team Racing champions and achieving first place out of 28 teams.

Other Stamford students taking part in the Youth competition included Ethan Mitchell-Clarke (Year 11) and Harry Bristow (Year 9), who were part of a second Rutland team and came 7^th  overall, narrowly missing out on a place in the semi-finals. Oliver McKee (Year 9) was part of a Rutland team that took part in the Junior competition, winning 7/10 of their races on the first day.

The victorious Rutland Raiders team came out on top after winning nine out of ten of their races in the round robin on the first day. On the Sunday, they battled windy conditions to reach first the semi-finals, and then the final, where they won two closely matched races against a team from Royal Hospital School in Suffolk, a school which specialises in sailing.

Issy, who has been involved in school team racing since Year 7, and also competes in single-handed in a Laser, commented: “It was great to win the event after so many years of taking part and our team put in a great performance. Thanks to our Rutland Sailing Club coaches – all the Stamford sailors really enjoyed the weekend”.

The iconic Eric Twiname Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships, organised by the RYA in conjunction with the Eric Twiname Trust, sees youth & junior sailors come together for a weekend of high-octane team racing. Unlike conventional fleet racing regattas, the Eric Twiname Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships sees groups of young sailors sharing RS Feva and Firefly dinghies, carrying out on-water changeovers.

Often called “chess on the water”, one race typically lasts around ten minutes, but each team usually gets to do between six and 16 races during the regatta, with an approximate 250 races scheduled over a weekend. As well as being an exciting form of sailing in its own right, team racing helps to sharpen up many useful fleet racing skills, especially close boat on boat tactics.

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