P&B Northamptonshire Youth Series at Middle Nene Sailing Club
by Norman Byrd 5 Jul 2023 18:36 NZST
P&B Northamptonshire Youth Series Round 3 - Keali leads from Peter © Wilf Kunze
A day of firsts. A first for nearly everyone, visiting the lovely Middle Nene Sailing Club. A new winner. A first class, series leading tea.
After a brief break from the series, perhaps a decade or more, the sailors rocked up at Middle Nene Sailing Club. And what a club it is! Based at a gravel pit adjacent to the beautiful river Nene it really is a picturesque spot. The club was clearly set on delivering a fantastic day's sailing. Wind, plenty of it, sunshine, yes, a fabulous off the scale tea, oh yes! The morning was breezy. Many of the sailors decided to wash their sails in the lake.
Some boats needed a little TLC to keep them going, a few sailors needed encouragement and a little TLC! But, enthusiastic training took place, led by the inexhaustibly cheerful coaches from the home club. Middle Nene's junior sailors included some sailors who really were beginners. Did discretion prove the better part of valour? Of course not! With the addition of a few latecomers the fleets launched for the afternoon's racing. There were some weed issues, they were some capsizing issues, there were some "oh my goodness it's windy issues" but there were also lots of smiles and a lot of fun was had.
The fast fleet saw Picos and a Feva take to the racecourse. Solomon from MNSC pipped Olivia and Beatrice, Northampton to first place. It was just too windy for Harrison and Arianne, but there will be lighter events to come. Noah won the slow fleet in his Optimist, but gear failure prevented him from taking part in the last race. His brother, Henry came second, but might have won had he not inspected the bottom of his boat so often. Frank from MNSC took third, another tremendous MNSC podium position. The points were super close, just one point between each position.
The Toppers saw a battle royale between Peter, Draycote, and Keali, Northampton/Draycote. Peter won two of the races, Keali the other meaning Peter not only won his first open meeting race, but also his first fleet victory, could he have asked for anything more? In the windy conditions William, Hollowell, took two third places to take the bronze medal.
The sailors made their way ashore for a quite spectacular tea. The table groaned under home-made goodies. The highlight of the day, other than the tea, is always the awarding of the first-time medals. 5 were awarded. This marks the start of the series for our sailors. More have been awarded so far than in some entire years, good job I ordered two boxes! For some of our sailors the series will be the highlight of their racing, for others it will be a staging post on to larger, more challenging competitions. But all sailors are welcome, and everyone is rewarded for taking part in their first event. It has been a delight to welcome so many new sailors this year. We are particularly lucky that as well and Pinnell & Bax sponsoring us, the RYA are funding our head coach. This is clearly paying dividends! Some of our sailors will move upwards to regional training groups, some will stay training and racing with us. Participation is the name of the game!
Overall, Noah came third, Keali came second, and Peter won. First open meeting race win, first fleet victory, first event win. He gave the customary thank you speech. I think Peter's Mum must have been bothered by hay-fever as she was seen dabbing her cheeks. Next week Banbury!