The biggest ever RYA Youth National Championships came to a close Friday with the winners being crowned.
Almost 400 youngsters from all over the country took to the world-class waters off Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy over the course of the week to contest youth sailing’s premier regatta.
The Youth National Championships is the flagship event of British Youth Sailing, which aims to develop and retain the world’s best young dinghy racers, windsurfers and kitefoilers.
This year’s Youth Nationals saw more entries than ever before, as well as the inclusion of the Topper, Laser 4.7 and BIC Techno junior classes and kitefoiling for the first time.
There was also para sailing training in Hansa 303 and 2.4mR boats as part of the RYA’s commitment to the sport and its drive for reinstatement to the Paralympics.
RYA 2019 Youth Nationals – Winners in each class were:
420 girls – Vita Heathcote and Milly Boyle (Lymington, Hants)
420 boys – Haydn Sewell (Nantwich, Cheshire) and William Heathcote (Lymington, Hants)
29er girls – Freya Black (Cranbrook, Kent) and Millie Aldridge (Poole, Dorset)
29er boys – Ewan Wilson (Wormit, Fife) and Fin Armstrong (Totnes, Devon)
Nacra 15 – Theo Williams and Jasmine Williams (Truro, Cornwall)
Kite foiling girls – Francesca Maini (Herne Bay, Kent)
Kite foiling boys – Josh Carey (Portland, Dorset)
Topper boys – Ben Purrier (Poole, Dorset)
Topper girls – Ali Holborn (Poole, Dorset)
Laser Standard – Joseph Drake (Lowestoft, Suffolk)
Laser Radial girls – Matilda Nicholls (Durley, Hants)
Laser Radial boys – James Foster (Wimborne, Dorset)
Laser 4.7 girls – Elizabeth Beardsall (Warsash, Hants)
Laser 4.7 boys – Scott Forbes (Glasgow)
BIC Techno girls – Caitlin Boothroyd (Wirral, Merseyside)
BIC Techno boys – Boris Shaw (Poole, Dorset)