Rudolph Regatta
The LRYSA held their annual Rudolph Regatta at Bosworth Water Trust on Saturday 4th December. The event is held at the end of the sailing season each year just for fun, although the youngsters taking part were still intent on winning. The weather was bright and sunny with a fierce wind, so it was a real challenge for them.
16 sailors took to the water wearing Santa hats, but most of these were lost in the wind.
The contestants were divided into a Junior Topper class and Senior Lazer class. Jacob Duce won the senior section followed by Tom Haywood, and Jamie Graham. In the Junior section first was Matt Haywood, followed by 2nd Adam Rowlatt, and 3rd Liam Poxon.
After the racing, parents, instructors, and students all enjoyed a party in the café to celebrate.
Although the racing season has ended for some, most of the racing team will continue to train all through the winter for the big Olympic year events coming up in 2012. They will represent Leicestershire at the 2012 National School Sailing Association Golden Jubilee Regatta marking 50 years of the NSSA inclusive sailing across the UK, which is being held at the Weymouth Olympic venue.
End of Season Final Regatta
It is not very often that you will find two Mayors from neighbouring boroughs, an ex Mayor and Lady Mayoress at the same sporting event. That is what happened on Sunday 18th September at the final of the Mayors Trophy Sailing Regattas. The Mayor of Hinckley and Bosworth Councillor Robert Maine, Mrs Maine, the Mayor of Nuneaton and Bedworth Councillor Neil Philips, along with Councillor Keith Lynch and Mrs Maureen Lynch attended the final sailing regatta at Bosworth Water Trust held each year by the Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association.
Twenty four sailors took to the water for the two sailing classes – the Mayors Trophy, and the Mathew Fullham Memorial Trophy, for older more advanced sailors. The overall series winner of the Mayors Trophy was Liam Poxon, second Joe Stocker, and third Todd Walker. In the Mathew Fullham series, the winner was Tom Haywood, with his younger brother Matt in second, and Jamie Graham from Melton sailing club in third. An additional trophy the Endeavour Award, presented to the sailor who has shown exceptional dedication and commitment over the year was presented to Liam Poxon. Recognition also went to
The Mayors, Sailors, and all their instructors all had an enjoyable, and fun day. These include Melton Sailing Club, and Hinckley Sea Cadets who joined the LRYSA Youth Racing Team for the event, giving healthy competition between the young sailors.
John Merricks Thank You
The LRYSA would like to thank the John Merricks Trust for their kind donation of £3000 to enable the LRYSA to install two new shower units at John Merricks Lake. Without the new shower units, John Merricks Lake would not have passed the annual RYA inspection, which enables us to continue to run our sailing activites there. We will continue in our aim to make sailing accessible and affordable to all, taking away the expense, and excusiveness of private clubs.
Although the lake is out of action at the moment, this is only temporary, and should be resolved soon. We can then continue to run sessions, and courses there as we have done for over 40 years. Last year nearly 1000 people learned to sail there including the scouts, youth groups, the disabled and disadvantaged, adults, and now we have courses for the blind from Vista.
So once again a big thankyou to the John Merricks Trust.
Hinckley Regatta
Thefourth regatta in the series was held at Hinckley Wharf on Sunday 17 July. Conditions on the small water were challenging due to the shifting gusts but all sailors performed admirably. They improved their racing skills and had the opportunity to practice full inversion recovery after the racing had finished.
Three races were completed with everyone in Toppers. The advanced class Matthew Fulham Trophy was a heated competition between brothers Tom and Matt Haywood, with Matt winning overall.
The Mayors Trophy category was won by Liam Poxon who's been working hard all series and finally achieved a first place.
Congratulations to all sailors who took part for some excellent sailing, and thank you to the Sea Cadets for the use of the venue.
Inter-Schools Racing
The first inter-schools racing championships where held at Bosworth Water Trust on Tuesday 5th July. This is a new event bringing together young sailors from local schools to battle it out over two races.
The event was well supported with all the youngsters doing their very best for their schools. There had to be an overall winner which was Bosworth High School, with first place going to Fraser Alcock. Second place went to Liam Poxon from Redmoor High, and third place to Fraser's brother Charlie Alcock, also from Bosworth High. All the children completed the two races. Also racing were children from Dorothy Goodman School, so congratulations to them all.
All the pupils from the schools train with volunteer instructors from Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association (LRYSA) under principal Colin Magee. Colin said that he and the teachers who brought the pupils along on the day are proud of all the children that turned out to represent their schools.
The event was so popular that the LRYSA will repeat the championships next year.
Melton Regatta
Melton Sailing Club Cadets and the Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association (LRYSA) young racing sailors from Hinckley and Bosworth, joined together last Saturday for the 3rd regatta in the Mayors Trophy series.
21 young sailors fought it out for the coveted trophies on a very blustery and windy day at Melton Sailing club. The conditions were hard ,and there were many capsizes, so all credit to the young sailors who endured to the end of 3 gruelling races.
At the end of the day the results were as follows-
Mayors Trophy 1st place Charlie Robertson aged 15
2nd place – Jacob Duce – 16
3rd place – Niall Rennie – 16
Mathew Fullham advanced class
1st place Tom Haywood – 15
2nd place – James Hewitt – 15
3rd place - Adam Rowlett – 12
Melton Sailing Club are now affiliated to the LRYSA and will be joining our youth racing team to compete in national events.
Regatta at Roundhills SC
The third regatta in the Mayors Trophy/Mathew Fullham series run by the LRYSA took place at Roundhills Sailing Club on the 14th of May. The LRYSA
were joined this time by Melton Sailing Club racing team. The two teams battled it out with Tom Haywood from the LRYSA and Jamie Graham from Melton running a very close race in the advanced class, Tom winning overall. Matt Haywood was in third place.
In the Mayors trophy races Tyler Symmonds from Melton came first and Liam Poxon in 2nd place from the LRYSA.
The next regatta is at John Merricks Lake on the 5th of June when Hinckley sea cadets and Melton sailing club will join the LRYSA to battle it out for the major trophies presented in September.
Instructor Awards
The LRYSA would like to congratulate 6 of its members who passed their dinghy instructor course, and are now fully qualified instructors. All the new instructors trained at Bosworth Water Trust with Colin Magee our principal, and will now be volunteering with the LRYSA helping to train new students and our advanced racing team.
The succesful passes went to - Anthony Gill, Diane Mattock, Ruth Townsend, Cheryl Kay-Roberts, Brian Graham, and Pete Pollard. Brian, and Pete are from Melton Sailing Club, and are now members of the LRYSA as instructors.
2010 Hinckley and Bosworth Local Sports Alliance Awards
The following LRYSA volunteer and sailors had their achievements recognised at the Hinckley and Bosworth Sports Alliance Awards in 2010. Congratulations to them all.
Anthony Gill - Winner of Adult Volunteer of the year
Anthony Gill is a teacher at Redmoor High School. Three years ago he began bringing groups of students from the school for sailing sessions with the LRYSA at Bosworth Water Trust in his own time after school. The project was a great success, and many of the children progressed onto advanced race training on Friday nights. Tony expanded the project to include pupils from Dorothy Goodman School for children with learning difficulties. The two schools have continued to join together for training each week in the summer.
Tony joined the LRYSA as an assistant instructor and has since given his time tirelessly for the association. Escorting children to and from events, instructing, fund raising, towing boats, and driving the rescue boat, you name it Tony does it.
Tony is now also the general secretary of the LRYSA, another demand on his time which he gives with his usual generosity and good humour.
Tom and Matt Haywood - Winners of the Making a Difference Award
Tom and Matt are brothers who train with the LRYSA , and are members of the Youth Racing Team. It is however for their support of the LRYSA, which is a charity run by volunteers, that they have won this award.
At the beginning of 2010 the charity where extremely short of funding. The costs of entering events, the buying and the upkeep of equipment, and the constant replacement of spares had made the situation urgent.
A 12 hour sponsored sail was organised. Tom and Matt who were only 14 and 12 at the time immediately began raising sponsors. They went around knocking on doors, getting sponsorship from their neighbours, their teachers and youth leaders. They went that extra mile to raise support for the sponsored sail.
On the day of the event along with other members of the LRYSA they turned up put their boats on the water and sailed the event, all without fuss, they just quietly got on with it.
In the end the event raised over £2000 for the charity. This enabled the LRYSA to enter the National Schools Championships last year with the costs of spares covered. It also allowed us to buy much needed equipment.
Jason Graveling - Junior Disabled Sportsman of the Year - Winner aged 12
Jason began sailing 2 years ago after joining the Hinckley Sea Cadets. He came with The Dorothy Goodman /Redmoor High School project to improve his sailing skills with the LRYSA and Jason has now completed his levels 1,2,and 3 - An achievement not always reached by more accomplished students. In addition to this Jason has now qualified at level 1 as a power boat driver.
Liam
Liam Poxon is 13 years old and loves sailing.
He is training with the Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association (LRYSA) in our youth racing team.
The LRYSA is a charity run by volunteers, so we are always in need of funding so that the organisation can continue to help the community.
When Liam found out that the LRYSA wanted to buy a portable unit at a cost of £300 to store equipment he wrote out, by hand 30 letters asking for sponsorship, he then cycled around the local industrial estates posting them through letter boxes. At the time Liam was still only 12. In a short time letters started to arrive with offers of help from generous local businesses. Up to now Liam has raised nearly £1000. This means that not only can the association buy the unit, they have enough thanks to Liam to start filling it with new bouyancy aids and wet suits. Liam has also found a sponsor who is going to buy badly needed new sails to replace the worn out ones being used at the moment.
It is incredible that someone so young should have achieved this on his own, especially when you find that Liam has not had an easy time, having had health problems from when he was a baby and he suffers from dyslexia which makes writing all those letters very arduous for him.
Liam has written thank you letters to all the sponsors who supported him, again delivered on his bike.
Liam and the LRYSA would like to thank all the sponsors for their generosity.
Winter Sailing
If you're sailing over the Winter season, please see this guide about kit and keeping warm, put together by Dave Cockerill, UK National Topper Coach.
NSSA Team Racing
On the weekend of 2nd/3rd October, the LRYSA took three teams (each of three sailors) down to Upton Warren Outdoor Education Centre. Congratulations to all who took part with some really fantastic sailing and a big thank you to the event organisers.
Our results were as follows:
Team A – Andrew, Sam & Jordan
Team B – Tom H, Luke & James
Team C – Amani, Charlie & Matt
End of play Saturday after 95 races
Team A – 24th – 33.33% of wins
Team B – 14th – 50% of Wins
Team C – 22nd – 33.33% of Wins
End of play on Sunday after 176 races with each team sailing a total of 11 races each – official results
Team A – 16th place – 54.55% of wins
Team B – 17th Place – 50% of wins
Team C – 23rd Place – 36.36% of wins
For full results click here to go to the NSSA website, where there are also some photos .
End of Series Regatta at Bosworth, 19th September 2010
A great day of racing was had by all with a fantastic 19 boats on the water. A warm welcome to those who came from Melton Mowbray Sailing club who are joining our series, and congratulations to Niall Rennie for winning the Mayors Trophy Regatta.
Please click for Results and Photos (or see links to left for all regattas).
The overall series winners were as follows:
Mayors Trophy
1st Luke Rayner
2nd Charlie Robertson
3rd Tom Jeffery
Matthew Fullham
1st Andew McEvoy
2nd Sam Brooke
3rd Tom Haywood
Congratulations also to winners of Endeavour Awards.
Many thanks to Mr and Mrs C Magee for sponsoring the trophies for this regatta.
Thank You
A BIG THANKYOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK PART IN THE SPONSORED SAIL ENABLING THE LRYSA TO PURCHASE A LAZER 2000.
The Chairman and the committee of the LRYSA wish to thank all the children, parents, instructors and volunteers who took part in the sponsored sail on the 16th of May. Their hard work and effort raised over £2,000.
The opportunity to buy such an asset for the organisation came when, sadly one of our most valued instructors Helen Farmer, moved away from the midlands and put her boat up for sale at £4500.00. With great generosity Helen reduced the price to £2.500 just for us. The Lazer 2000 will be a valuable teaching aid for the schools and youth groups, and will help us to train new instructors.
Helen is going to be greatly missed by all of us, not just as a volunteer instructor, assisting with the schools, youth groups, and adult sessions, but as treasurer for the LRYSA for many years. Helen also took on the unpopular task of computer scoring at our regattas. Helen is going to be greatly missed by us all.
Colin Magee
Chairman
NSSA National Regatta at Datchet - Review of the week
This year Leicestershire and Rutland took 14 young sailors to the National Schools Sailing Association's National Regatta, held at Datchet Water near Windsor. The event is based on 4 days racing for trophies at the end of the week, with special races on the Wednesday such as the Mount Hayes double handed trophy. We entered two teams in this, Andrew & Oli, Tom & Cheryl.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the week, mixed weather and low flying planes added to the excitement and there was some really good racing. It was the first NSSA regatta for three of the sailors who all got stuck in quickly. A particular mention of Oli keeping his family involved as his Dad and Uncle are both past winners of Leicestershire's Hayward Tankard. For many other sailors it was their first regatta in the main fleets and all coped well.
The standard of sailing this year was very high. Everyone improved their skills throughout the week. Trophy winners were:
- Hayward Tankard (for best placed LRYSA sailor): Andrew McEvoy
- LRYSA President's Award (sailor of the week): Tom Jeffery
- The Triumph Award (LRYSA award for sportsmanship): Charlie Robertson
Cheryl was nominated for and won the NSSA Presidents award, one of eight places on 'Sceptre' for a week. This is a 1958 America's cup yacht and recognises the work of young sailors in helping others within the sport.
Big thanks to Datchet Water for hosting a great event.
I'm sad to step down as a Team Manager but leave the team in the very capable hands of Rod Rayner with help and support from several others. I'll still be very much involved with the other LRYSA activities such as regattas and behind the scenes. The event this year has to be the most enjoyable of the 6 I've now helped with so all the young sailors really are a credit to the LRYSA.
Becky Sharpe
Becky's last year as race team manager
Becky has never been the sort of girl to blow her own trumpet so let me do it for her.
I first met Becky when she came to sail with Market Bosworth High School in 1997 when she was 11 years old. From the start she stood out as an excellent little sailor and mature beyond her years. It wasn’t long before she was assisting me on Wednesday evenings to instruct her fellow pupils from the High School. She also helped me train youngsters on Friday nights to form our first youth racing team, including Mike Wood now world champion in his class, and Nick Ward who also sailed for great Britain.
I could tell from the start that Becky had all the qualities needed to make a good instructor. Patience, empathy, and that rare gift of making a teaching session for the pupils fun, but informative.
Becky became an assistant instructor at 15 and a fully qualified instructor at just 18.
In 1999 she sailed in front of Princess Anne for the re-naming of John Merricks Lake, a great honour.
In 2005 I took over as Chairman and Principal of the LRYSA. The organisation was going nowhere. There had been no youth team representing Leicestershire for 10 years. I needed reliable and committed instructors to help me lift the organisation out of the doldrums. There were 5 of us, and Becky and her Father Tony were two of them. We began the Mayors Trophy and Mathew Fullham series, and began training with other counties and clubs.
One of our main ambitions was to send a team to the NSSA regatta. Becky was only 19 when she took on the arduous task of Race Team Manager. She has been performing this task for 5 years with commitment and hard work. A lot of what a race team manager has to do is not seen. It involves a lot of paper work, planning and meetings. Becky is a true unsung hero.
I am delighted that Becky is not leaving us altogether, but staying on as an instructor when she can, and taking on the task of running the web site. Thank you Becky for all your support and help over the years. - Colin
NSSA Regatta
Daily updates can be read here .
Race Training at Rutland Water 26-27 June 2010
The Cambridge team once again invited us to a race training weekend hosted by Rutland Water .
A great weekend was had by all, with some excellent coaching and sailing. This was a good opportunity for our sailors to experience larger waters and more boats on the start line. Glorious sunshine was also enjoyed by parents on the shore!
Many thanks to Cambrige and Rutland for making us so welcome, we look forward to going back.
Fundraising at Woodlands Garden Centre - 20 June 2010
LRYSA sailors, parents and helpers worked very hard packing bags, handing out leaflets and selling raffle tickets at Woodlands Garden Centre to raise money for equipment and spares. Thank you to all those that helped, customers who donated and to Woodlands for having us. For more information on the sailing courses we run for both adults and children please contact Colin Magee .
Sponsored Sail - 16th May 2010 - Press release
The Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association have been struggling to raise funds in the present recession.
So on Sunday the 16th of May the youth racing team sailed for 12 hours none stop to raise money for the organisation. Youngsters from aged 10 to 18 and their instructors and some of the parents all had aches and pains at the end of it, but it was great fun especially as the weather was sunny and windy.
The event was organised by Colin Magee who also sailed the full 12 hours. Many sailors came in fancy dress including three boys in grass skirts.
The LRYSA hope to raise £2000.00 for their organisation which is a charity and relies on funding to take the racing team to national events to represent Leicestershire.
The young racing team had a hard weekend. They also had to race in the Mayors trophy regatta at Roundhills sailing club on Saturday the 15th May. The winners of that were Adam Parry in the advanced class Mathew Fullham memorial trophy, and Luke Rayner in the Mayors Trophy.
The LRYSA would like to thank the management at Bosworth Water Trust for allowing them to use the lake and facilities for the sponsored sail.
Level 1 and 2 courses are now available at John Merricks Lake.
Any one who is interested can contact Richard Friday on 01162985983
First Regatta - 25th April at Bosworth
What a great start to the season! 14 sailors took part in the racing, showing a high standard for the start of the year. Some who were newer to regattas also did really well to complete the tricky course. The weather proved pretty mixed and ranged between light winds and strong gusts. With added obstacles of photo boats and a family of ducklings, great fun was had by all (despite the start line crew being seen off the island by an angry goose...)
Birthday wishes went to Jordan, congratulations to Sam Brook for winning in the Matthew Fullham Memorial Trophy and Luke Rayner for coming first in the Mayors' Trophy. Full results are available here. We would like to thank Ellis Page Associates (East Midlands) Limited for kindly sponsoring the trophies.
Many thanks to all the volunteers as always, particularly those who have taken on new roles.
Photos will be available soon.
Becka Sharpe - half of the Race Team management double act.
Training with DYS 12th December
We have been invited to train with Derbyshire Youth Sailing, the first date is the 12th December. This is a great opportunity to develop your ability and sail on a larger water. Please let Rod or Colin know if you're interested in attending. More details will be available from Rod or on the DYS website here.
NSSA Topper Team Racing 3&4 October
Congratulations to the two teams who represented the LRYSA at Hollowell this weekend. We were really impressed with their standard of sailing, which improved dramatically over the two days. Saturday's strong gusts gave tricky sailing conditions, but on Sunday there were more tactics used.
The team racing was carried out in teams of three, racing against one other team at a time in a round robin style event. Team racing tactics are very different to those of standard racing and some of the rules are different. The aim is to get a winning combination of places, often using tactics to slow down opponents and get your team mates across the line first. Our sailors really got the hang of this on the Sunday.
The highlight of the weekend was the final race for our teams where they were drawn against each other. Some great tactics were used for quite a close run race! In the end the A team beat the B team, so well done Andrew, Sam and Jordan. Great sailing also by the B team Amani, Luke and James.
Congratulations also to Derbyshire Youth Sailing B team for retaining the Lancashire plate, and Worcester A for the overall trophy.
Many thanks to Northampton and Hollowell SC for the great hospitality we received. We're looking forward to taking a team to the team racing in Worcester next year.
Results can be found here.
Becka and Rod
2009 Series Winners
The overall winners for the 2009 series are as follows. Well done to everyone:
Matthew Fulham Fleet
1st Jonathan Cooper
2nd Andrew McEvoy
3rd Jordan Moretta
Mayor's Trophy Fleet
1st Luke Rayner
2nd James Rutherford
3rd Tom Haywood
Slow Handicap Fleet
1st Tom Jeffery
2nd Charlie Robertson
3rd Charlotte Heggs
Press release
The long awaited final in the Mayors Trophy Youth Sailing Regattas took place on sunday the 20th of September at Bosworth Water Trust near Nuneaton. The event is organised and run by the Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association (LRYSA) 24 The best local sailors under 18 had entered the heats all through the summer to gain a place in the finals. The Mathew Fullham over 16 and the Mayors Trophy for the younger ones.
Sundays regatta was attended by the Mayor of Nuneaton and Bedworth Councilor Tom Wilson and the Mayoress Mrs Sonia Wilson, Also the the the mayor of Hinckley and Bosworth councilor Keith Nicholsand the Mayoress Mrs Lorna Nichols.
It was a lovely sunny dayas 15 youngsters took to the water in the Mayors Trophy final,also joining them in the racing was the Mayor of Hinckley crewing for Councilor Keith Lynch at the helm. The 2 Keiths didn't win the trophy, that was won by Luke Rayner aged 12 from Desford. In second place was James Rutherford and in third place Eleanor Craig. All the winners come from the localarea and race for the county and are under 14.
In the mathew Fullham memorial trophy (advanced over 16) There was a new winnerthis year. For the past 3 years it has ben won by Rob Cottrell. This year Jon Cooper is the winner of the top trophy..Close behind was in 2nd place Andrew McEvoy, and in third place Cheryl Kay Roberts.
The Mayor and Mayoress of Nuneaton and the mayoress of Hinckley also took to the water with the rescue crews in a power boat. Everybody had a great day.
Any enquiries about learning to sail no matter what your age. contact Colin Magee on 01455 619347 cmagee@talktalk.net
The Mayor's trophy and the LRYSA
The Mayor's Trophy sailing group has been set up to give open access to sail training in Leicestershire and the surrounding area.
As part of this programme, regattas are being held at various venues throughout the year. The aim is to enable children of all abilities to learn to sail and to encourage healthy competition against other young people in a similar ability range where they can have great fun and great achievement.
The Mayor's Trophy regattas are open to all novice sailors who have a basic sailing ability and know the basic rules of the road. The Mayor's Trophy regattas are particularly aimed at novice sailors, giving them racing experience against people of a similar ability and helping to develop them to move on to higher levels.
As ability improves, youngsters can move on through various routes to train and compete at County and National level. Trophies will be presented to the winners of the series at the final regatta in August.
Matthew Fulham Memorial Trophy
A separate series of races are being run for the youngsters who have outgrown, or out-raced, the Mayor's Trophy Series. The Matthew Fulham Memorial Trophy will be presented to the winner of the series at the final regatta in August. The entrants will race at the same time as the Mayor's Trophy Group but their results will be scored separately.
Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association
The Mayor's Trophy Group is a sub-group of the Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association (LRYSA).
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