Ely SC Win Youth League for First Time!
Published 11:20 on 13 Oct 2024
For the first time since 1996 when the Cambridgeshire Sailing Youth League started, Ely Sailing Club have come away as the overall winners of the 5 event series taking place at 5 different clubs across the year and culminating with yesterday's last race at Hunts Sailing Club.
The Cambridgeshire Youth League is a friendly series run by the Cambridgeshire Schools Sailing Association who were also responsible for organising the cadet training and regatta up in the Lakes over the summer. The league is all about getting new and old sailors under 19 out on the water and getting to experience different clubs.
7 Ely Cadets have travelled around the county to pull off a close win overall with only 38 points between Ely in first place and Grafham in second - the competition has been of very high standard!
The first races of the year were right back in April at Cam Sailing Club on the river and our cadets gave it a strong start although came 4th in that initial event. But it was onwards and upwards for Team Ely and at the May event in Grafham, Ely took home a strong second place. By June, it was our very own turn to host and we took home a third place overall at the end of the day. With a brief hiatus over the school holidays to brush up on skills, the September event at Paxton saw Ely take their first first place of the league. It really has been a year of commitment and hard work... and of course... lots of fun!
And then, on October 12th, was the final event at Hunts Sailing Club. The day started early with definite autumnal crispness in the air whilst rigging the 5 Toppers and 1 ice blue Laser that had made the journey for the event. The day started with bacon butties and a race briefing from officer of the day John. Questions answered, teams psyched up, it was time for race 1 and after some challenging launching of 35 boats due to the very high-water levels, the sailors set off across the start line with the Laser fleet starting off followed in quick pursuit by the Topper and Optimist classes. After 45 minutes of hard work working their way through the fleet, it was time for some lunch and a warm up.
After a wind shift forced a delay to change course, the second race got underway around 2 o'clock and the weather had taken a turn for the worse with grey skies and rain. But, undeterred, our sailors set out for their second race and with some stronger winds matching many of their skill sets, Ely came away with a 1st for Edward and a 3rd for Fergus as well as some excellent results for the other 4 Ely sailors out on the day: Jashan, Michael, Lola and Kieran.
The weather brightened up for the third and final race of the day and last race of the 2024 Cambridgeshire Youth League in some crisp, autumnal sunshine and our cadets put in a remarkable last effort with Kieran coming away with a third place position. A special mention must also go to Jashan who continued sailing without a kicker or downhaul after a boat breakage but persevered to ensure Ely did as well as possible! Lola took a capsize in this race but made a beautiful recovery, and all these efforts paid off to ensure that Ely took home the overall team trophy at the end of the day.
With such close points at the end of the season, it really did come down to every race partaken in as to Ely taking the win. The consistency of our sailors showing up at all the events, their incredible sailing skills and incredibly supportive parent posse have paid off and Ely Sailing Club is very proud of them all.
In addition to the overall team trophy, Ely took home 3 individual prizes for the series:
-Edward Human, 1st Under 15 for the series
-Fergus Marshall, 2nd Under 15 for the series
-Michael Hatton, 1st Under 12 for the series
And that's in addition to the many prizes that have been taken home for individual events.
A huge well done to Edward, Kieran, Fergus, Michael, Lola, Jashan and Louise our superstar Ely cadets who are responsible for Ely's first ever win in 28 years.
And of course, thanks must go to Paxton, Cam, Hunts, Ely and Grafham sailing clubs for hosting these incredible events for our cadets and most of all to the parents and club members who have supported the cadets with towingcoaching, training, encouragement, boat repairs, launching and recovering of dinghies!
Well done Ely Sailing Club cadets - the club is very proud of you all!
Full results for all 5 races can be found at: https://youthleague.csysa.org.uk/index.php/results
Photos from lots of the events can be found in the website gallery. The photos from the last event at Hunts are located: https://www.elysailingclub.org/gallery/249305
Last updated 18:48 on 13 October 2024