This year Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Sailing Association took a team of eleven young sailors to the NSSA's annual regatta in Plymouth. With a set of six Lottery funded toppers and road trailer we were able to dramatically increase numbers from last year's six sailors in four boats. This is only the third year the LRYSA has entered a team after a fifteen year gap and the association is going from strength to strength. For the first time our competitors were all camping as a team and with the experience for many as a first time on the sea, this really was a challenging and rewarding week.
Travelling down to Plymouth was an adventure in itself. Due to recent flooding some families and helpers spent 13 hours on the road and camped on the M5 overnight. Others braved flood waters and sat in tail backs for quite an arduous journey. All however got there in the end, and spirits were high for the first night in tents.
Sunday was a lovely sunny day with the morning spent carrying out boat preparation. This helped the sailors become mentally prepared for the racing as well as ensuring the boats were in top condition. As some had already worked on their boats they helped others, creating right from the beginning a good team atmosphere. During the afternoon there was the opportunity for a practice sail closely supervised out in Plymouth Sound. Particularly useful to the topper sailors this was held near Jennycliff where the Topper course would be situated.
Following the practice and team briefing on Sunday evening the sailors were very excited and raring to go with the weeks racing. Monday's breakfast offered the first and no means last lot of sausages (to become a common theme during the week) and all sailors were up and across to the Mount Batten Centre early for the first race. Leicestershire's boats were located right next to the Western slipway, a prime position in an enclosed area.
Monday's conditions were showery and gusty proving quite daunting for the first race. Well done to all sailors for getting out there and getting on with it, and especially so to Adam Parry. Having been advised to take it easy and get a couple of completed races under their belts without worrying about positions, Adam continued to complete two races even after having fed the fist his breakfast on the way out! Lasers had a particularly tough time as they had the furthest away course and so were given 3 races back to back.
Plymouth has the added excitement of being a commercial, Naval and ferry port so race officials had to juggle races between these movements. During the week there were several large container ships, Naval vessels, submarines and the twice daily ferry to contend with.
Weather on Tuesday was vastly improved, glorious sunshine but variable and shifting winds. Some expert coaching came from Nial Myantt a Topper squad coach who kindly gave up his time to look over our Toppers and talk to the sailors. Out on the courses the sea was pretty choppy, particularly for the Lasers who were out near the breakwater. Most fleets completed one race in the morning then two in the afternoon, except the Lasers who again did 3 back to back. The Topper fleet ended up with a couple of general recalls but starting sequences and quality of sailing improved over the afternoon and coming days.
In the evening most sailors were pretty tired, but managed more sausage for tea and a brief belated birthday celebration for Colin. Jeremy and I attended the Team Managers' reception hosted by the Mayor, having taken the scenic route round Plymouth. The evening was quite formal but the Mayor and his councillors we found to be very friendly and a buffet was laid on in a grand panelled room. Some of the youngsters were involved in a football tournament back at the campsite so everyone was pretty worn out and went to bed quietly for once! Team managers included...
The plan for Wednesday was to have additional races including the Mount Hayes Trophy, Single Handed and the All Comers handicap race. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas giving us rain, rain and more rain, accompanied by very strong winds. The Mount Hayes is a heat based race in Topper Xenons, three of which were stored across the estuary in a sailing club only accessible by sea. Due to the wind direction these were unable to be sailed out so involved a complicated retrieval by some of the safety crews. Eventually the Mount Hayes was able to go ahead during the afternoon in the Cattewater, with the other 2 races being postponed. Rob and Adam did a sterling job, coming second in their heat and so earning a place in the semi-finals. There was a great view from the Eastern slipway, I've never known sailing to provide such a great spectators sport! Unfortunately the semi didn't go so well with them coming in last, but they'd done brilliantly to get so far against the best suited sailors from all teams.
On Wednesday evening Plymouth hosted a special event called the Wave Armada. Creative Partnerships had been working with local school children to provide music and dance, our youngsters joined in with a flag dance and Topper procession. Due to a logistical error the trailer containing the sailors' clothes and critical boat parts was left at the campsite and had to be fetched. A fantastic team effort came about when 7 boats were rigged, sailors changed and then launched in under 10 minutes! The Welly Award goes to Helen Cooper who single-handedly landed all the toppers when they returned unexpectedly to her alone on the slipway, whilst wearing normal clothes!
Arriving at the Mount Batten Centre on Thursday we were met with a cancellation of all races, except the postponed Single Handed trophy from the day before. This was to be run in the Cattewater near the centre and closely supervised. Winds out by the breakwater were in excess of 30 knots with strong gusts and changes of direction through 180º. To further dampen the day rain fell so hard it soaked through in seconds! Congratulations to Hannah Thompson for not only sailing out to enter the Single Handed race in very daunting conditions but persevering to complete part of the course and hanging in as long as she did! Thanks to the Cooper and Washington parents for drying everyone out and helping in the afternoon when more sailing wasn't possible. A cinema trip in the evening kept all the sailors occupied for a while with Harry Potter or The Simpsons. Jeremy had a well earned break crewing in a 22ft yacht for racing on the Sound!
Friday's start was more promising though a bit wet with the Toppers setting out for 2 races in the morning. Unfortunately in the afternoon the visibility and wind dropped right off so the Toppers were towed in. Just like towing practice at Bosworth, this was an unexpected and different end to the final days racing. In some ways it was beneficial finishing early, after we'd packed up all the boats we were only just in time for tea! Paul Magee was a great help and made sure the boats weren't going to come off the trailer (ever!), thanks are also due to all the parents who mucked in.
The evening's presentations took place in the Sports Hall, the Haywood Tankard which is the cup for highest placed Leicestershire sailor went to Alex Batchelor, who came 10th overall in the slow handicap fleet. Hannah Thompson was nominated for the President's award, and gained one of eight places on a trip on an America's cup yacht for a week in August.
Plymouth Youth Sailing and the Mount Batten Centre were fantastic hosts with over a hundred volunteers making this week happen. Knowing how much effort has gone into just taking a team to the event it makes you realise how difficult it must be to organise and run the national regatta.
I would like to thank all our sailors for their enthusiasm during the week and a great attitude towards the racing. There was a good team spirit, really helped by the group all camping together. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and I look forward to taking the team again next year. Thanks to the parents for all their help and particularly to everyone on the LRYSA committee who has put so much effort in to making this happen. It has been an enormous learning curve, with a lot of new knowledge and experience being put forward to making next year at Carsington even bigger and better.
Rebecca Sharpe, LRYSA Team Manager
