Ely Cadets Win at Grafham leg of Cambs Youth League 23
Published 20:11 on 4 Jun 2023
4 Ely Sailing Club cadets (Edward, Fergus, Kieran and Jashan) attended the Grafham leg of this years Cambridgeshire Youth League. On arrival at Grafham there were some nervous sailors and parents looking at the quite challenging conditions and a much bigger area of water to what were used to at Roswell Pits. Just Kieran nonchalantly shrugged with confidence This is nothing (hes been sailing all over the country in Topper events). Getting the lads out onto the water took a few attempts for some, with the moderate north westerly causing a few capsizes and an extra reef or two here and there.
The four Toppers raced with 29 other competitors from Grafham, Hunts, Cam and Ely. There were two flights, with the faster fleet in Lasers and our lads in the Topper fleet, plus an Opi and RS Tera. With 3 races the objective for Edward, Fergus and Jash was to get round the course and have fun sailing somewhere other than Ely. After Race 1 they came in for lunch and were all smiles! Objective met and despit the conditions they did extremely well. Kieran in 5th, Edward 19th, Jash 21st and Fergus 25th (with a very well reefed sail).
After a bite to eat Race 2 and 3 were held back to back. The gusting north westerly didnt let up, but all the Ely cadets kept going. In each race we saw improvements in position for all them. At the end of the day we had some tired but grinning cadets and some proud mums and dads! Then to top off an excellent day the prize giving saw Ely claim 3 prizes:
- Jashan - 1st Under 12
- Kieran - 1st Under 15
- Fergus - Endeavour prize
Edward came 16th overall and 4th in the Under 15 age group; great start to his 2023 Youth League
Many thanks to Grafham Water Sailing Club for hosting a great event. Also thanks to the great help on the slip way to the Cam SC parents. Finally a big thanks to our very own Paul Human for trailer duties. The next leg of the Youth League is at Ely on Saturday 1st July.
Full results here: http://youthleague.csysa.org.uk/index.php/results/grafham-results
Photos from GWSC here: https://8573832.tifmember.com/p/26154rfd/cambridge-youth-league-2023-june
Last updated 20:56 on 30 January 2024