|
|
|
|
1996 has been an interesting season with the arrival of many new faces, especially from Bewl, and many more of our squad taking part in other events on the competition circuits beyond sessions. Long may this continue! Most notable amongst these have been Niki Moores : Junior Freestyle, Siblyback; Nick Morwood : 1st Aloha Junior, NSSA Finals, Oxford, and 1st Aloha, RYA/KSSA South East Regatta, Bewl; Robbie Swift, 5th Junior (14th overall!!) BWA; Eddie Short, 1st RYA Freestyle Champs, AquaSports; although his week at Brighton PWA World Cup on the F2 stand and sailing the F2 tandem at demos may remain indelibly etched on his memory.
Both Niki, Eddie and Robbie have received honourable mentions in BOARDS and Andrew, Eddie, Kerry and Nick have attended RYA Camps. Obviously any queries regarding camps or competitions can be put to either squad members or myself, but do study and 'preserve' the pre-season timetable issued after Christmas.
This year's winners of the race sessions were Junior One Design : Niki Moores; 103 : Sim Jones; and Aloha : Nick Morwood Prizes will be presented at the first session next season.
|
Next season we hope to continue, and possibly extend, the racing class system. By way of explanation, ALOHA means what it says, i.e. the Aloha board with 6.5m twin cam sail but may include any board of similar length/volume and similar sail size of 6.5m; JOD means the class board (Calypso) and sail, but may include boards/sails of approximately the same size, i.e. 320 board with up to 3.1m sail; 103 means the class specification. i.e. Calypso with 5.5 single cam sail, but may include equipment approximating this. Our aim is to be flexible yet fair. A Raceboard class may also apply for boards and sails significantly bigger, but remember, the class kit is available by prior arrangement with me or Chris at Ardingly. It is also worth remembering that the sail sizes indicated are the maximum and smaller ones can always be used in that particular class. However, for those with a serious campaign in mind, your own class-legal kit is a must.
The Twiname Junior Finals held at Plymouth 19-20th October (its always the first weekend of the half-term holidays) proved a testing and spectacular event with the huge waterside hangers in which all the kit, fully rigged, dinghies and all, was housed. The strong winds meant Sunday's racing was cancelled, although 3 races were run on the Saturday in increasingly rough conditions with winds gusting around 20 knots!
|
Sim's nightmare came true : caught on a lee shore, in choppy conditions - on the sea! Andrew was in with a chance until the rig detached itself from the board at the start line and Niki... she suffered the rigours of a protest from the South West team for a collision, but went on to finish a creditable 15th. Again the event proved to be learning experience that goes much deeper than just the sailing.
Many thanks once again to all the competitors involved and especially the parents. A sincere thank you is also extended to the centre principals: John Morgan at AquaSports, Chris Kinsman at Ardingly, and to Andy Coplestone, the boards fleet captain together with Jill White at Bewl.
Last newsletter July.
Trevor Jones 01795 873003
RYA South-East Region
U17 Race Training Coordinator