Jonathan Bentman

Kent youth sailors excelled at this year’s National Schools Sailing Association National Regatta, held at Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire) at the end of July. With three fleet wins plus strong placings by others, the KSSA is poised to also take the team trophy, only with an appeal outstanding over the Topper Fleet results we will have to wait to hear on that.

The KSSA entered 17 sailors into this year’s regatta, lower than usual on account of date clashes with several national/international youth regattas. The week saw a mix of conditions. Monday (day 1) saw strong westerlies blowing down the lake making for exciting runs and punishing beats. Tuesday saw little or no wind and very little sailing. Wednesday – for the stand-alone races and Mount Haes team event – saw shifting light winds, but thankfully just enough to get the races done. Thursday saw the return of brisk breezes, this time from the East. Friday was becalmed – no sailing. Through it all, mostly under sunny skies, the fleet racing saw between 11 and 16 races run.

Tom Hirst and Joe Sutton-Jones saw out their youth sailing days as champions in the Fast Handicap fleet. They had to fight against a competitive trio of RS200s and a well-sailed 29er – and had to come back from a disqualification in their first race – but strong race-winning performances throughout Thursday saw them worthy fleet winners.

After having put in some excellent performances at last year’s National Regatta in Plymouth, this year Bobby Deards was the absolute master of the 40+ strong Radial fleet. In his 30-year-old Laser Radial, Bobby took three wins, four more top-three placings and yet more top five and top-ten placings – to win the class by a significant margin. Enya Gibbs was again top female sailor in the class, with 7^th overall and a race win – as ever, it galls us that the NSSA does not recognise female helms in this class. In the mid-fleet, and in their first year in Radials, Archie Sweeney, Joe Baker, Izzy Denby and Ted Baber were learning big fleet tactics for the first time. Izzy and Archie both enjoyed a strong race each, placing 4^th and 7^th in two of the races.

Harry Mitchell led a strong KSSA Topper squad, taking three race wins to make fleet champion. But it was close racing all the way and Sebastian Robb was only a handful of points behind Harry to finish third, while Daniel Hebditch only lost out to a top-five overall in the last race of the week. Unfortunately, a protest against Harry is outstanding at this time so the fleet result is provisional, and no Topper awards were presented at the prize giving. Equally as this result also bears on the teams prize that award was also suspended pending the protest decision. Henry Moss and Oliver Willett enjoyed a good week, with some solid results in the 34-strong Topper fleet.

In the Laser 4.7 class Sophia Kyriacou placed an excellent fourth despite struggling in the stronger winds. Sophia loves windy sailing days but her diminutive size makes upwind sailing a challenge and her results from day one were blighted by capsizes. She fought back, though, placing third in the last race of day one as the winds eased, and she continued to improve as the week went by and was in fact leading the last race of the week (in light airs) when the race was abandoned. Alex Jeffrey finished only two points behind Sophia despite having to sit out three of the first four high-winds races. A win and two top-three finishes – matching the results of third-place finisher – helped pull her back up the fleet rankings. An excellent second half of the week for Alex.

In the slow handicap Jacob Webdale in his RS Tera Sport struggled to beat the handicap advantage that the Optimists (in the fleet) enjoyed, especially in the lighter conditions. He took two wins and three top-threes, but the damage was done in the light wind races. Tom Hebditch missed the first day’s sailing but sailed well for the rest of the week making a best placing of third.

Jessica Robb made her NSSA debut (alone) in the Rookie handicap fleet and was delighted to take a win midweek. After getting literally blown out of the early heavy-winds races she stuck to her guns, placing well to finish third to win a medal and win the KSSA trophy for endeavour.

KSSA’s good fortunes didn’t hold for the Mount Haes team event (where we placed 1-2 last year), where fluky conditions and time-consuming race management made for a long day and no luck for the three KSSA teams. Sailed in Fireflies, only Alex Jefferey and Izzy Denby made it through the first round but were knocked out in the semi-finals.

In the Single-handed race again the KSSA Toppers were leading the way and this time Seb Robb prevailed for the win, with Dan Hebditch third and Harry Mitchell 5^th.

In the Pursuit Race – with over 70 boats competing – Andy Gibbs (Enya’s dad) was surprised as anyone, after the 90 minutes was up, to finish second (and apparently first female – given the diamond on the sail!). Tom Hirst and Joe Sutton-Jones ran out of time, claiming 4^th, while Paddy Denby maybe needed his Phantom for this one, in 7^th. Tom Hebditch and Jessica Robb deserve special mention for enduring the 90 minutes – and a whole lot more to get back to the shore.

In all, an excellent week with excellent performances and a whole lot of learning. Paddy Denby excelled as team manager, finding himself working through a fair few protests, and ably keeping the team on point. Big thanks go to Jenny Johnson who so masterfully sorted all the entries and associated paperwork (and there’s a lot of it) for the team – before racing away to Lake Garda for the Topper Worlds. And equally many thanks to all the parents and supporters of the KSSA for helping make so much of this happen.

Next year, roughly the same time, roughly the same place(!), the NSSA National Regatta will be on Draycote Water in Warwickshire.

2022 NSSA National Regatta Results

Rookie Handicap Fleet

3^rd        Jessica Robb                Topper 4.2      (1 win)

Slow Handicap Fleet

4^th        Jacob Websdale          RS Tera Sport  (2 wins)

11^th      Tom Hebditch             Optimist

Topper Fleet

1^st        Harry Mitchell                                     (3 wins)

3^rd        Sebastian Robb                                   (2 wins)

6^th        Daniel Hebditch

10^th      Henry Moss

21^st      Oliver Willett

Laser 4.7 Fleet

4^th        Sophia Kyriacou

5^th        Alex Jefferey                                       (1 win)

Laser Radial Fleet

1^st        Bobby Deards                                     (3 wins)

7^th        Enya Gibbs                                          (1 win)

20^th      Archie Sweeney

23^rd      Joe Baker

25^th      Izzy Denby

36^th      Ted Baber

Fast Handicap Fleet

1^st        Tom Hirst/Joe Sutton-Jones   RS200  (5wins)

Single-handed Race

1^st        Sebastian Robb

3^rd        Daniel Hebditch

5^th        Harry Mitchell

18^th      Henry Moss

Pursuit Race

2^nd       Andy Gibbs

4^th        Tom Hirst/Joe Sutton-Jones

7^th        Paddy Denby

25^th      Tom Hebditch

52^nd     Jessica Robb

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NSSA 2022 captain’s report By Enya Gibbs

This year the NSSA national regatta was hosted at Grafham Water sailing centre, based on a large reservoir. The Kent team arrived on the Sunday and unloaded the boats in what would have been perfect, windy sailing conditions.

The first day, however, was windy and racing was fast in the Laser fleet, with lots of capsizes. Luckily, we completed four races that day as the following day the wind vanished and the races were postponed – until they decided to run a single race in the afternoon, which happened to run in my favour, gaining a first place. The wind then dies again, which meant lots of towing, and paddling.

The wind remained light for the rest of the week, which meant that the courses were short, and results became very dependent on whether you could get a good start. This meant, for the Laser fleet, a black flag was put up for most of the races. The racing was quite close at the front of the fleet, often in the light winds the leader shot off, and got clear air while behind everyone struggled with wind shadow, this played into winner Bobby Deards’ hands very nicely.

On the last day everyone was very tired in our fleet, as was the wind, which had died completely. After a postponement we were sent on the water to try get some racing in but after over an hour of drifting around, play-capsizing, watching some TV with new friends (they took their phones on the water…), some socialising with other teams, and around three failed start attempts for the 4.7s, us sailors decided we’d had enough. We all went to sit on the beach until the race committee decided to wrap up the racing for NSSA 2022. For the Lasers 11 races were taken into the results, letting me finish 7th.

Despite the lack of wind for sailing, the lovely weather allowed us to talk and mix with other teams making lots of new friends. It also allowed everyone to share tips, not only with their teammates but also their new friends, making our fleet a very friendly and chatty environment.

On the Wednesday three pairs from the Kent team entered the Mount Haes team event. Sadly, it didn’t go very well for Bobby and I, facing quite tough competition and lack of wind. Alex and Izzy did well to get into the semi-final. But sadly, we couldn’t take the trophy back home (but to Oxford… well done, but we will get it back, don’t worry).

I was very tired by the end of the week, with a lack of sleep (but I’m not going to point any fingers) and a few silly mistakes were being made, such as penalty turns for ramming someone at the mark…twice! On the last day I was awarded the Kent frog bucket hat (of shame) for trying to launch my boat for two minutes with it still tied to the trailer… Other recipients included Tom Hirst for busting his mast the week before the NSSA, and for catching an early NSC for not sailing through the start line, and Harry Mitchell for stealing my meal at the pub.

In the evenings the KSSA team came together for evening activities, including high ropes and rock climbing at the sailing centre (with the other teams), a meal at the local pub, campsite football, and playing kahoot in Paddy’s awning – all while I’m sure the team managers were allowed some semi restful socialising after some stressful days having to put up with us.

I speak on behalf of the team captains (Alex, Tom and myself) in saying we were very proud of the team this year as everyone remained in good spirits and put in great performances. A special mention goes out to Jessica Robb who came third in her fleet in her first NSSA, after beginning sailing only earlier this year – and even took part in the pursuit race, against quite a few of the Kent team’s scary adults (sorry Dad). A big thank you on behalf of the Kent team to our managers, parents and the NSSA for once again running a great event.

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