This weekend almost 100 youth and junior sailors from across the country met at Rutland Water to compete in the RS Tera Inland Championships. The light wind conditions made for tricky sailing but after 2 days and 7 races, the event culminated in a prize giving ceremony in which Yorkshire Dales Sailing took first prize for best club. 3 of the 5 sailors on the winning team are from Harrogate Grammar School – William Bailey and Tilda Brayshay (Y7) and Esme Barraclough (Y8). The cup rarely makes its way north and the last time was in 2015 so this was a great achievement for our school and county. This is extra special as only 2 months ago we were part of the Northern Team who won the RYA Twiname Cup which is another national prize.
Esme, William and Tilda first learnt to sail aged 7 at Ripon Sailing Club (Farnham near Knaresborough). Since then, they have gone on to compete in events at a regional and national level and have participated in RYA Junior sailing squads. This summer they are off to Sweden to participate in an international event and are looking forward to meeting new sailors from across the world. The children and their sailing friends turn out most weekends throughout the year to train and race – in winter that means wearing special dry suits to stay warm and, occasionally, even having to de-ice their boats before they can get on the water! There are many different types of dingy but the boats they sail in are RS Tera (single-handed dingy) and also RS Feva (double-handed dingy).
William Bailey said “it’s a fantastic feeling when you do well and winning this team prize is really exciting for us but even when you don’t have such a good day, sailing teaches you lots of things and the most important thing is have fun”.
Written by William Bailey, Esme Barraclough and Tilda Brayshay
