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Host of trophies for Derbyshire sailors at NSSA National Youth Regatta

29 July 2008

Winning the Derbyshire Bell for the leading Derbyshire Performance, the Whitstable Trophy being the leading boat from the host association, The Airwave Display Trophy for being the leading Optimist and also the White Cup for winning the Slow Handicap Fleet. Ben was also presented with the Felixstowe Salver for being the leading under 14 helm at the regatta.

Ben wasn’t the only one from the Derbyshire Team to taste success as Harry Briddon (15) of Ogston SC, sailing a Finn class dinghy, collected The Ellis trophy, which is a silver Spanish galleon in a presentation box, awarded for the winner of the fast handicap fleet.

Joshua Haynes (9) from Carsington and Trent Valley SC’s was awarded the Plymouth Salver as the leading under12 helm at the event thanks to his second place overall in the Slow Handicap fleet right behind Ben Brown. Duo Craig McCarthy and James Hadden sailing their RS200 brought home the aptly named Burning Ambition Trophy for the highest placed RS200 in the Fast Handicap fleet with their 5th place overall.

Other notable performances included Hannah Jones and Roseanna Yeowood being the winners of the 420 Class Bowl as the highest placed 420 in the Fast Handicap fleet with 10th overall. In their 29er, Edward Jones and Matt Cruz came 7th overall and were in second place in their class.

Derbyshire were narrowly beaten to the Best Team Overall prize, the International Paints Trophy, awarded to the team with the lowest overall combined points score. When the mathematics were calculated, it went down to four decimal places before Yorkshire & Humberside could be declared to have fewer points and therefore win the trophy. This incredibly narrow victory came despite the domination of the Slow Handicap fleet by the Derbyshire Optimists who took the top five places with Ben Brown and Joshua Haynes followed home by Benjamin Haynes (13), Joshua’s elder Brother, in third, Callum Lambourn (13) of Swarkestone SC in fourth and Ella Stoggall (11) of Carsington SC in fifth.

Further Derbyshire successes included Harry Levick (16) of Carsington SC who came 5th in the Laser fleet just ahead of Ben Crossdale (15) of Ogston SC who was 7th. Highest placed Laser Radial Derbyshire sailor was Carsington SC’s Chris Williams (10) who just made it into the top ten. In the Rookie fleet, the highest placed Derbyshire sailor was Jos Richardson (10) of Trent Valley SC who was 4th overall in his Optimist dinghy.

The largest fleet at the event was the Topper dinghy class with more than 80 entrants and the highest placed Derbyshire sailor was Alice Woodings (13) of Carsington SC who came 21st overall. The winner of the class showed a clean rudder to everyone as James Wilson from Norfolk won every one of his ten races.

Derbyshire were also disappointed not to have tasted a repeat of the success of winning the prestigious Mount Haes Trophy in the hotly contested team racing competition held on Super Wednesday. Coming fourth overall Derbyshire duo Craig McCarthy and James Hadden were beaten to the trophy by Lancashire duo Allison Grennan & Leah Beckford.

David Levick Derbyshire Youth Sailing Chairman said: “The event has been a stunning achievement for Derbyshire Youth Sailing. The success of our sailors across the event shows that we have some serious talent sailing in our clubs and they have had a brilliant week here at Carsington Water.”

Event Director Ian Bell added: “We have been incredibly well supported by Severn Trent Water and Derbyshire Sport, without whom the event could not have come about. The volunteers, sponsors and supporters of the 2008 National Youth Sailing Regatta can be proud of their achievements and those of the Derbyshire sailors.”

Principal Race Officer, Adrian Stoggall from Carsington SC, said: “The race management teams led by Chris Hadden, Charlotte Hadden and Mike Haynes did a wonderful job and provided some great racing for these young sailors. It is volunteer teams like this that are essential for the sport to continue to deliver successful events”.

Adrian is an International Race Officer and is soon to set off for China where he will be officiating at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the sailing events held at Qingdao.

Niki Birrell, Paralympic Skandia Team GBR member, who will sail in the Skud 18 class at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, attended the final day of the event and presented prizes to the winning sailors as well as spending a lot of time happily talking with the competitors who were fascinated by the accounts of his sailing exploits.

One very special trophy was awarded, not to a young sailor, but to one of the organising team. Carsington SC Manager Mick Athey was presented with the Nuclear Electric Trophy which is awarded for Contribution to Safety at the regatta. Each year, the regatta requires a fleet of more than 20 Ribs and other safety craft. Mick’s excellent organisation and management of the Safety fleet provided the necessary surety of safe sailing for everyone.

The NSSA National Youth Regatta will be held next year at Bridlington by volunteers in Yorkshire and Humberside. It is certain that Derbyshire will be fielding a very strong team to ensure a solid challenge again for the overall team trophy and will look to return to Derbyshire with another armful of trophies.

Meanwhile the outcome of the Derbyshire Youth Sailing 2008 series is still yet to be determined and the next event is after plenty of sailing in other events for the Derbyshire sailors. Saturday the 13th of September, after the school holidays, will see the competitors lining up at Staunton Harold SC for the eighth of the ten event series.

Above image used courtesy of Mike Shaw.