Weymouth and Portland welcomes the cream of Britain’s up-and-coming sailing talent this weekend as the 2010 RYA Volvo Youth National Championships kick off at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
Over 320 top young sailors racing in boats and on windsurfers across six youth classes have been confirmed for the five days of racing, which gets underway on Monday 5th April.
Four reigning champions will be bidding to retain their crowns during the week. Phil Reynolds (Laser Standard), Hannah Tilley (girls’ Radial), and George Bowles (men’s RS:X) landed their first Youth National titles at Largs last year. While Izzy Hamilton (girls’ RS:X) is going for a hat-trick this year having picked up her first title in 2008 at Pwllheli.
Bowles commented: “The RYA Volvo Youth Nationals are a big deal being one of the most important events in the year for RS:X youth sailors. We’ve had all winter to prepare for it and it’s a chance to see how we all fair against each other.”
Amongst the ones to watch in the girls 420 class will be new duo Annabel Vose and Joanna Freeman who only moved up from Optimists to the 420 this summer, and have been in hot form since.
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Previous Championship winners have included three-time Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, Beijing 2008 Yngling gold medal winners Sarah Ayton and Pippa Wilson, and Skandia Team GBR’s double World champion 470 helm Nic Asher.
The Championship also doubles up as a selection event for the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships, which this year take places in Istanbul, Turkey in July. It has been confirmed that HRH The Princess Royal will be attending the Championships on Wednesday 7th April.
To keep up-to-date with all the news as it happens in Weymouth and Portland visit http://www.ryaracingevents.org.uk/. You can also follow events on Twitter www.twitter.com/youthnationals
Chris Knight, Sportsister,
The Women’s Sports Magazine
