Hosted at Rutland Water Sailing Club near Leicester this year, the Championships are the pinnacle of the racing calendar for the RYA Zone and Home Country squads as the nine squad teams go head-to-head over two days for the prestige of picking up the coveted Eric Twiname Shield and being named top RYA Zone.

Despite the rather unfavourable conditions, three not surprisingly quick races were completed in the six contested classes at the event; Optimist, Topper, Feva, Mirror, Cadet and Bic Techno windsurfer, before competitors came ashore for a well deserved evening of entertainment in the form of inflatable table football and an indoor BBQ.   

Sunday, after a narrow defeat for Wales against Scotland in final of the Human table football... dawned with Blue Skies, brisk northerly and far happier faces now the rain had stopped!

The Welsh Team faced a tough challenge as all the Optimist Squad, some of the Topper Squad and all of the new windsurfers were selected from the regional training and not yet in the actual Wales zone squad.... Up against some experienced opposition they all competed well with Emlyn from Port Dinorwic Sailing Club topping the Welsh performance with a 4^th place in the Optimist class!

The first time this millennium Welsh windsurfers represented the team, the first time for some on Bic techno equipment – 20 knots and rain maybe wasn’t the best way to start but by the end of the weekend those still going were getting better and better with Ben Marshall and Morgan Robinson finishing every race in tricky conditions with Morgan finishing in an excellent 5th place overall!!

Duncan Truswell, RYA Youth Racing Manager, said: “I was particularly impressed with the tenacity of the competitors on Saturday and the quality of boat/board handling demonstrated in what were really quite breezy, and cold conditions. The sailors and coaches have obviously worked hard over the winter and I suspect the cold spell in January was the ideal preparation for Saturday! It’s been a really worthy test for the winners with all the races being fiercely contested.

“I hope the experience will prove an ideal platform for the sailors to go on and contest National Junior Squad selections throughout this season. I look forward to seeing how the sailors progress throughout this and future years,” he concluded.

John Derbyshire, RYA Racing Manager / Performance Director added: “The RYA Eric Twiname Championships are a fundamental rung in the development ladder for the young sailors, some of whom will have started at the absolute grassroots through the RYA’s OnBoard and Team15 programmes and for those who we hope will eventually go on to represent Britain as seniors at the World’s biggest Olympic Classes regattas.”