A week of extremes for HISC Youth Race Week

David 'Freddie' Carr with competitors at HISC Youth Week 2015 © Carol Letten

From flat calms to gusting 25 knots, it was a week of extreme weather conditions for the 200 young sailors who took part in Hayling Island Sailing Club's popular Youth Open Race Week.

150 boats, from Optimists through to 29ers took part in the event, with 197 young sailors undertaking the challenging wind and tidal conditions that Chichester Harbour produced this year. The HISC Youth Open Race Week, is the largest multi class youth sailing event on the South Coast, attracting a fleet of over 67 RS Teras, 50 Optimists and 30 RS Fevas, together with a number of other youth classes. The extremely popular and competitive annual event attracted a full range of sailing abilities from 8 year old beginner sailors, who sail under the 'red ribbon' scheme through to Youth World Champions.

This year's sailors were tested to the limit with conditions varying from 'millpond' flat calms through to thunder and lightning with gusts of 25 knots! The week was accompanied by a busy social programme including the popular Youth Ball, table tennis tournament, team games and beach games.

Fleet Winners:

• 29er: Henry Jameson and Harry Jones, HISC
• RS Feva: Maddie Wylie and Tom Storey, Rippon SC
• Handicap Fleet: Tamsin Dodsworth in a Topper, Papercourt SC
• RS Tera Pro: Josh Hobbs, HISC
• RS Tera Gold: Robbie McDonald, HISC
• RS Tera Silver: Finn Coleman, HISC
• RS Tera Red Ribbon: Xander Saban-Smith, HISC
• Optimist Gold: Joshua Thomas, HISC
• Optimist Silver: Charlotte Rankine, HISC
• Optimist Red Ribbon: Poopy Kilpatrick, HISC

Rear Commodore Youth, Rebecca Tuttle summed up the week; "Despite the extremely challenging weather and tidal conditions for both the competitors and race committee, everyone enjoyed an excellent week of racing with good numbers of visitors from other clubs adding to the competition for the local HISC sailors. It was fantastic to see the smiles on the faces across the board from the beginners who accomplished their first race week, through to some of the highly experienced youth we have at the club who enjoyed a week of challenging sailing amongst their piers."

Thanks go to the sponsors Pinnell & Bax as well as the Race Committee, Safety Committee, HISC staff and huge number of volunteers who made the week possible.

Dates for next year's HISC Open Youth Race Week are 25th – 29th July 2016.