Southern success at the RYA Eric Twiname Championships

The rain poured in Rutland on day two of the 2007 RYA Eric Twiname Championships, but it did nothing to dampen the spirits of some 330 junior sailors who were fighting it out on this final day of the ‘Battle of the Zones’.

The young sailing talents, all aged between 8 and 15 years, are some of the best young prospects from each of six English Zones, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Competitors from the Southern Zone went home the coveted Eric Twiname Shield for the best overall team performance of the weekend.

The South’s sailors put in some strong performances to take the overall dinghy prize as well as the ET Shield, emerging as the top Zone in the Optimist, Cadet and Mirror classes, while the West Zone took the overall windsurfing trophy.

In the single-handed classes, Craig Dibb (Warsash SC) was the top Optimist sailor, while Andrew Dawson (Winsford Flash SC) was the overall winner of the Topper event.  South West sailors Alex Horlock-James Turl (Exe SC) topped the leaderboard in the double-handed Cadet class, while brother and sister pairing William and Hannah Parkinson (Royal Windermere SC) held on to their overnight lead in the Mirror event – they finished on equal points with their clubmates Brendan Sweeney and Max Ligema but won the event on countback.

West Zone windsurfer Oliver Bradley-Baker (West Kirby SC) claimed victory in the Bic Techno 4.5m class, with top prizes also going to Nat Warren (Roseland SC), Jack Plummer (Axbridge SC) and George Bowles (N. Lincs) in the Techno 5.5m, 6.8m and 7.8m event respectively.

“The sailors and coaches from the South Zone have been working really hard over the winter, so it’s great that they’ve come away with the Eric Twiname Shield for their efforts this weekend,” said Chris Atherton, the RYA’s High Performance Manager for the winning South Zone.

“The racing in each of the individual classes has been really close and the standard incredibly high over the past two days, so it’s a real reflection on the quality of junior sailors we have right across the UK.”

Taking place alongside the battle of the Zones was the penultimate indicator event for the RYA Laser 4.7 National Junior Squad, which was won by Northampton’s George Hand.

“This 2007 RYA Eric Twiname Championship has been the biggest ever, and in many ways the best,” enthused RYA Junior Racing Manager Duncan Truswell.  “We had a record number of boats with the inclusion of the Laser 4.7 for the RYA National Junior Squad Indicator and we certainly witnessed some great competition in some pretty demanding conditions.

“The sailors have had a good experience of all the processes and procedures associated with a regatta of this scale – multiple protest committees, rule 42 and so on, and this will stand them in great stead for the summer’s key regattas.”

Further event information and results can be found on the event website at http://www.ryaracingevents.org.uk/regattas/et2007/

2007 RYA Eric Twiname Championship Results:

Overall winners of the Eric Twiname Shield:  South Zone

Optimist class

1.     Craig Dibb (Warsash)

2.     Joshua Crisp (Burnham)

3.     Sophie Hamilton (Burghfield)

Winning Zone:  South

Topper class

1.     Andrew Dawson (Winsford Flash)

2.     Stephanie Wicken (Wilsonian)

3.     Michael Matthews (Sunderland)

Winning Zone:  North

Cadet class

1.     Alex Horlock-James Turl (Exe)

2.     Arthur Henderson-Mary Henderson (Tamesis Club)

3.     Charlie Davis-William Davis (Royal Lymington)

Winning Zone:  South

Mirror

1.     William Parkinson-Hannah Parkinson (Royal Windermere)

2.     Brendan Sweeney-Max Ligema (Royal Windermere)

3.     Charlotte Fitzgerald-Tara Bottomley (Itchenor)

Winning Zone:  South

Dinghy overall winning Zone:  South

Windsurfing

Bic Techno 4.5

1.     Oliver Bradley-Baker (West Kirby)

2.     Saskia Sills

3.     Joash Knight  (West Kirby)

Winning Zone:  West

Bic Techno 5.5

1.     Nat Warren (Roseland)

2.     Joe Bennett (Pugneys)

3.     Jade Rogers (Carsington)

Winning Zone:  North

Bic Techno 6.8

1.     Jack Plummer (Axbridge)

2.     Stuart Hands (Hythe and Saltwood)

3.     William Rowles (WPNSA)

Winning Zone:   South West

Bic Techno 7.8

1.     George Bowles (N. Lincs)

2.     Callum Stuart (Astbury)

3.     Ryan Tilbury (Queen Mary)

Winning Zone:  West

Windsurfing overall winning Zone:  West

Laser 4.7 indicator results

1.     George Hand (Northampton)

2.     Tom Rainey (Salcombe)

3.     Duncan Keates (Parkstone)