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April saw a wonderful start to the 96 season's race training programme with many new faces (James, Andrew, Simon, Alan, Mike and Abbi) as well as many of the regulars from last year. Quite untypically the weather was very warm (red faces) and with a southerly breeze (just enough to hook in). Three races were run.
Good to see Tim Hill at this first event who, apart from finishing first in most of the races
(well, it was a 7.5!), was presented with a complimentary Quad sweatshirt for winning last
season's series. Well done!
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Andrew Johnson and Robby Swift contested keenly for the top places in the 6.5, class but a start line collision in the final race (Who was that sailor on a port tack??) meant that Andrew finished on top with two firsts and a second and Nick Morwood third. Well done!
Eddie short, team captain last year and conspicuous by his absence, was away competing at Rutland (and injuring himself) but it's good to see both Tim and Eddie making a concerted campaign in the UKBSA national and local series.
With this in mind, it is worth mentioning again the importance of extending your experience by targeting local events. So far there will have been SEBS and LBSA fixtures in which squad members will have competed and there are some good ones to consider coming up soon, especially if you are new to racing.
On the 16th June there is the SEBS event at Whitstable which will be good for open sea experience as it can be relatively sheltered provided the wind is not directly on-shore. Also there is the National Schools event at Oxford on the 30th June which is a relatively quick drive (2 hours) and has a very cheap entry fee. See me for more details.
The Inter-regional event at Carsington (near Matlock, Derbyshire) 1st/2nd June has now been elevated to National status and I am keen to enter a team, This is on the last weekend of the half-term and is an "overnighter", but I believe camping etc is possible and a B&B list will be available.
Many thanks to Chris Kinsman at Ardingly for the use of the water, facilities and the regional kit.
Look forward to seeing the new faces again and some more of the old ones at AquaSports next Saturday
Next newsletter July.
Trevor Jones 01795 873003
RYA South-East Region
U17 Race Training Coordinator