The first weekend of September was the Under 25 Enterprise Youth National Championships held and Barnt Green Sailing Club.
Tom Kliskey and Becca Stephens from Penzance teamed up for the event.
In the first race, they pushed a little too hard to get the best start and were over the line.
After having to go back and sail through the line again they managed to fight their way back up to fourth, passing boats mostly on the upwind legs.
In the second race they got a clean start and rounded the windward mark in fifth. After passing another boat on one of the runs they finished fourth again, very closely behind third.
For the final race of the day the wind had built which was favourable to Tom and Becca, and was the weather they had hoped for. They finished second in that race, and were gaining on the winning boat throughout the final lap, who were untouchable throughout all of the races and therefore to be gaining on them was great.
That evening after pizza and drinks the fleet all camped on the side of the lake which was good fun although very cold!
Sunday dawned with much lighter conditions than the previous day and a very shifty breeze. Due to the direction of the wind and the small size of the lake the course was very elaborate with lots of small beats, and some reaches which did not make it easy to overtake. In race four of the weekend, after struggling with the shifty inland winds they managed another fourth, with the leading pack getting away and being difficult to overtake. The final race of the weekend the wind was shifting loads. After being in fourth for most of the race, the wind died to almost nothing on the final two legs and they managed to creep up to third, over taking a boat by no more than six inches which was lucky!
Overall it was a great weekend with good close racing.
(Report Credit: Becca Stephens & Photograph Credit: Sarah Crabtree)
Full a full report of the event: http://www.sailenterprise.co.uk/events/youth-championhips/
