Carsington Comets Close In On Championship Victory

Local youth windsurfing aces the Carsington Comets look to be on course for winning the RYA’s Team15 (T15) Midlands Region Windsurfing Championship this season. Having obliterated competition at the opening heat in April they continued their winning form this Saturday (5th July) claiming a further victory at heat number two. 

Held at Rutland Sailing club on the picturesque Rutland Water, Leicestershire, the weekend’s event saw teams from across the Midlands region pitch their skills against each other over six demanding races. The weather was a prominent feature making for difficult windsurfing conditions with the wind strengthening and changing direction regularly throughout the day demanding sailors to read the wind correctly in order to plot the quickest route round the course. 

This was a challenge for all competitors but the Comets took it in their stride fighting off tough competition to pull out some impressive performances across the 5 sail size classes contested.

14 year old Comet, Matthew Leahy who has been on the T15 circuit for 2 years, won all his races in the largest sail size class, 6.8m Techno, posting some very quick times as he blasted round the course.  With no sailors in the 4.5m class or the 6.8m class the Comets had to hand over both these class victories to the Pitsford Pirates, from Northampton.

However all was not lost as it was Munro power in the remaining two classes with brothers Tom, 11, and Henry, 15, Munro winning nearly all their races in the 3.5m and 5.5m classes respectively. This was an amazing result for Tom who was sailing in only his second ever T15 event, and a pretty impressive result for Henry too who won the 5.5m class in the opening event.

Saturday’s event was the second of four T15 regional events taking place across the Midlands region this summer. The Midlands teams will battle it out over a further two more events to earn the title of Regional Champion and a place at the coveted national final the Champions Cup held in October on Rutland Water, Rutland. The next event will take place on 26th July at Pitsford Reservoir, Northampton at which the teams are hoping for steadier weather.

T15 was set up to provide youngsters, up to the age of 15, with the opportunity to learn all about windsurfing and windsurf racing in a friendly club environment.

Weekly training sessions are run at RYA approved centres and clubs with RYA trained instructors and T15 coaches. All safety aspects are taken care of and equipment is provided so there’s no need to go and buy all your own kit.

Kids benefit from a great social scene as well as learning a new skill.

If you fancy giving windsurfing or T15 a go visit the T15 website www.team15.org.uk where you can find contact details for all T15 clubs. There is also a list of all RYA clubs and centres with contacts on the RYA website www.rya.org.uk who will be more than happy to advise you on how best to get started.