Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championships
Having heard about the Eric Twiname Team Racing Championships and thought it sounded fun, six friends got together and entered a team. Toby Morsley aged (13, Portdinorwic), Connor McNamara (13, Llandudno), David Pain (12, Cardiff) Ollie Harrison (13, Penarth) , Matthew Whitfield (11, Penarth) and Nathan. Thorne (14 Holyhead) They arrived at the club at 7.00 Saturday morning to get registered and kitted out in bright pink bibs.
After a five minute practice sail in the RS Fevas - the junior boat for the championships - the team were under starter’s orders.
The first match was against a school team who knew how to team race but had no boat speed. They held them to the right of the committee boat until 30 seconds to go so that Matthew (crewed by Nathan) and David (crewed by Ollie) got the best starts. They held a 1-3 position whilst
Toby and Connor fought two of the opposition to come in 5th but were awarded a10% penalty for rule infringement in the process - their result was still enough to take the win which then put them in the frame of mind for a further four successive wins - the most satisfying being the win against Hayling Island - whose top helm and crew combination were the RS Feva World Champions!
With a clear overnight lead the team arrived ready for the early 9am start fired up and ready to go - unfortunately so was the wind and after starting the racing the race officers decided it was too windy to team race effectively - especially for the younger lighter teams who were clearly struggling.
Racing was finally abandoned and the North South Union declared the overall winners of the event. A title well deserved as they were the only team with a 100% win record.
Report by Toby Morsley
The Twiname National Team Racing event held over the weekend 8/9 Nov 2008 at Oxford SC with 28 Junior teams competing from all over the UK.
'It's a great result for these sailors - all members past and present of Welsh National Sailing Squads,' added Tim Hall, WYA Director of Sailing.