For the third year running, young Kent sailors from the Kent Schools Sailing Association (KSSA) have won the overall county prize at the NSSA (National Schools Sailing Association) annual regatta, with a little help from the RYA.
The event at Gorleston, Norfolk was hosted by the Norfolk Schools Sailing Association. Some 298 sailors from across the UK competed in the week long regatta.
After an exciting week sailing in very varied conditions a strong and united KSSA team delivered a spread of great results for the overall win. In particular:
- Toby Freeland: third place in the fast handicap fleet despite injury.
- Hannah Mumford and Tara Head; the very impressive duo secured some brilliant results with second place in the Feva fleet and third overall in the slow handicap fleet.
- Stan Chick: second place in his first outing in the Laser fleet
- George Hyett: a brilliant first in a hotly contested Laser Radial fleet of 60 entries
- Lewis Humphries; third place in the Laser Radials
- Pierce Seward and Imogen Cage White: first and second respectively in the Laser 4.7 fleet after dominating the fleet throughout the week
- Craig and Lee Windridge: a fantastic first and third respectively in rookie Toppers, this from total newcomers after only a very few months sailing.
For full results visit https://nssa.org.uk/index.php
In addition Connie Hill received the NSSA prize for sportsmanship for her gracious conduct on the water.
Highest placed female helm went to Imogen Cage-White. The singlehanded trophy was won by Pierce Seward with Heather Denbigh and Alex Head second and third respectively.
The Kent Endeavour Cup was awarded to Zoe Breare who showed real courage and tenacity following a nasty on water incident and capsize.
Team Captain Toby Freeland showed great support and consideration for the team, from his morning briefs to attentive ‘one to one’ coaching and encouragement for younger sailors. Passing 18 now, he will be missed from regular KSSA sailing but most welcome as a future coach and contributor.
Team Administrator Mark Breare said: “We receive coaching funding from the RYA to help in building the teams sailing skills. The benefit of this funding can clearly be seen in the results we’ve achieved for the last thee years. We are delighted for the team and all the parents and volunteer helpers, and look forward to building on this success with continued help from the RYA long into the future.”
The KSSA has also been awarded funded opportunities via the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation; a training course at Weymouth for Tara Head, and a high performance catamaran experience with Olympic and Volvo Ocean Race champion Annie Lush for Imogen Cage White.
The KSSA team was administered and managed by Mark Breare, Sam Chick and Tim Seward.
For more information about the RYA’s summer of sailing and how you can get out on the water visit www.rya.org.uk/go/trysailing
Photo The KSSA team. Credit Sam Chick