YOUTH SQUAD NEWS

YOUTH SQUAD NEWS

Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 6:49 PM
Subject: Zone Squad

Not only was it a great achievement to get so many sailors at the North
Zone Championships but I can report that all the Topper sailors who applied got in to the North Zone Squad. That's Jason, Natasha, Sarah and James.
That's fantastic, well done to you all.
Watch out the adults!
Russell

I have been very remiss at keeping you informed this year, so here is an update.

1. Anglian Water Series The fourth and final event took place at Cransley with Hollowell sailors coming away with most of the top prizes: Arran Holman, whose sailing has improved dramatically over recent months, won the Slow Fleet and came 4th overall; Hugh Brayshaw and Natasha de la Fuente were 1st and 2nd respectively in both the Topper fleet and overall. These results shook up the places for the whole series which Hugh clinched with Natasha runner-up.

2. Arran Holman has been getting his Dad to drive him and his Oppie down to the south coast a lot just recently. Arran entered the Regatta fleet at two big events at Hayling Island and at Poole. He beat his excellent result of third place at Hayling with a second at Poole.

3. Congratulations to Hugh Brayshaw who, following some great results in the Topper Nationwides, National Championships and World Championships, has been selected for the Topper RYA National Junior Squad. His new status begins with a few days coaching over half-term at Weymouth - getting his first taste of the 2012 Olympics sailing venue. (Rachel Heggs, who was there for the Optimist Nationals this year will be able to tell him what it's like.)

4. Hollowell will be well represented at the North Zone Championships at Notts County Sailing Club this year. We only had one sailor at the event last year when Rachel Heggs successfully qualified for the Optimist Zone Squad. We wish good luck to Arran and Rachel in the Oppies and to Jason, James, Natasha and Sarah in the Toppers. Hugh will also be there waving the Hollowell flag.

Russell

Topper Open Training, Saturday 4th November

Topper Class coaches giving a full day of top class race training for kids and adults .

Starts 9.30 a.m.

Finish 5.00 p.m.

Lunch, hot drinks and snacks will be available.

For application form and further details click here

Hollowell Sailors Selected for Squads

Congratulations to the following:

Ollie Brett who has been selected for the RYA Windsurfing National Youth Squad

Rachel Heggs who has been selected for the RYA North Zone Optimist Junior Squad

Hugh Brayshaw who has been selected for the RYA West Zone Topper Junior Squad

These talented young sailors have worked hard for their success; the support and development that they will receive in those squads will bring their skills up another level.

Well done!

Northamptonshire - Top Junior Team at NSSA Team Racing Championships

Hollowell's James Watkinson and Hugh Brayshaw were part of the 3-man Northamptonshire A team at the National Schools Sailing Association (NSSA) Team Racing Championships at Bartley Sailing Club. The team ended 5th overall out of 31 teams, but was the best junior (under 16) team. As a result, they go on to represent NSSA at the forthcoming Eric Twiname Team Racing Championships at Spinnaker Sailing Club.

The team, completed by James Briggs from Banbury SC, sailed together brilliantly, winning 7 of their 10 races over the two days and losing only to teams much older and more experienced than themselves.

Hugh delighted in his spoiling tactics and captain James was agressively competitive throughout. All the sailors in the three Northamptonshire teams developed enormously over a windy, thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

The value of team-racing to our young sailors was obvious and it is almost certain that a team-racing event will be added to the Northamptonshire Schools Sailing and Canoeing Association calendar next year, alongside the Anglian Water Series.

Hollowell Clear-up in Anglian Water Series

Our junior sailors came away with a raft of prizes as the last event of the Northamptonshire Schools Sailing and Canoeing Association was completed at Cransley SC last Sunday.

On the day, Hugh Brayshaw, Matt Knight and James Watkinson got 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Toppers, while Rachel Heggs won the Slow Handicap fleet and Arran Holman came third.

In the series overall, starting at Hollowell and also sailed at Pitsford and Banbury, Hollowell came in with 1st, 2nd, 3rd: Matt Knight has improved progressively through the season and with his 4th overall at Cransley managed to secure third just by one point. First and second was also separated by one point with James beating Hugh despite a bit of a slip-up in the light winds of Cransley.

Arran Holman also walked away with a prize having come 9th overall. If it hadn't been for Rachel's broken arm forcing her to miss Banbury, she would certainly have been in the prizes.

Along with the cup for James, shields were awarded to Hugh for best Under 16 and to Matt for best Under 19.

Banbury have a much larger set-up for juniors at their club than Hollowell, yet our juniors proved that it's quality and not quantity that counts, as we walked away with the overall team prize as well. The shield will be appearing in the club house soon.

However, most pleasing to coach, Russell Brayshaw, were the number of new Hollowell sailors who have entered one or more of the events in the series. All of the following have showed much potential for the future and we look forward to further development next year: Katie and Alex Brookes, Michael Wright, Chris Monk, Sarah and Jenny Small, and Natasha de le Fuente.

Our good wishes go to Jason Robbins, who surely would have done well but recently broke both his legs in a road accident, we look forward to seeing him back next season.

Pictures:

1. Rachel, Matt, Hugh and James lead off at the start of race three at Cransley.

2. The Hollowell juniors at Cransley proudly showing off their prizes, with Alex, Katie and Michael proud of themselves for completing their first ever races.

Coach, Russell Brayshaw, watches his charges as they perform on the water

· Four new-style training sessions have taken place so far. The first Saturday proved to be a bit windy and cold for some, but things have hotted up and we’ve got a good core of young sailors. We’d like to have more!

We’ve mixed fun and serious racing training, followed by record turnouts for the club junior race at the end of each Saturday.

I have finally acknowledged that there’s more to it than just starts so there’s more coaching on the rest of the race to follow.

· Our junior weekend at Whitsun went really well (see separate report) and, at the time of writing, we’re looking forward to the next one in July.

· Middle Nene S.C. dropped out of the Anglian Water Series so we volunteered to host an Anglian Water Series training day in May. It was great to welcome the youngsters from Banbury for a very worthwhile day led by serious RYA National Squad sailor, Nick Hollis.

· We also hosted the first of the Anglian Water Series Junior Meetings (report elsewhere). We introduced at least a dozen sailors to their first event of this magnitude. We have also set the standard for the rest of the series at Banbury, Northampton and Cransley.

· Our juniors have been active on their respective class circuits. Hugh, Arran and Rachel went to Staunton Harold where they faced very windy conditions. Arran entered the Optimist Regatta fleet and came away with a trophy, having come third.

A few weeks later, Hugh went to a Topper Open at Girton and faced heavy conditions again but came a creditable seventh place.

Rachel has been to Optimist training events and then joined a fleet of 220 boats at the Inland Championships at Grafham Water.

· The Banbury fixture of the Anglian Water Series was another successful event where we had five boats competing. Hugh came away with a load of prizes having won the Topper class and the overall event. James Watkinson was not far behind, runner-up in the Topper and third overall. Arran came away with first in the slow-handicap fleet.

· Our Youth Squad put together a team to go to Cransley at the same time as the adults were competing for the Tiller and Broken Spar. While the grown-ups failed miserably, the Hollowell juniors trounced the Cransley team.

· While the squad were doing their stuff at Cransley, the Junior Start Sailing course back at Hollowell was producing some promising young sailors. We look forward to welcoming them at the Youth Squad race training sessions.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

After a quiet summer holiday period, we carry on our activities:

Saturday 2^nd September	Youth Squad Training
Saturday 9 September	Anglian Water Series, Northampton S.C.
Saturday 16^th September	Youth Squad Training
Saturday 23 September	Topper Open, Tamworth – Russell hopes to take a trailer of Toppers over there
Sunday 24 September	Anglian Water Series, Cransley S.C.
Saturday 7 October	Youth Squad Training
Saturday 21 October	Youth Squad Training