The KSSA’s 2024 AGM is to be held on Saturday 30th November at Chipstead Sailing Club after completion of the training day. Approximate start time is 4PM. The Agenda for the meeting can be downloaded by clicking here. Minutes of last years AGM can be downloaded by clicking here.
Applications are invited for a KSSA Environmental Ambassador for 2024/25.
If you sail regularly, and have an interest in looking after the Environment, then please apply to be our new up-and-coming youth coordinator on a project that will link sustainability and sailing. This roll was previously held by Enya Gibbs who has now moved on from KSSA.
I will give you support and suggestions for a suitable project and will ensure that it complements your school/college work. Your role will be to encourage younger sailors to learn look after our sailing areas, whilst widening your own CV.
Chat to me if you are keen to be considered and I will tell you about the selection process.
I have recently been to 3 schools in Kent running workshops on Microplastic build-up in the oceans, so know the concern of the young people about chemical pollution of the environment.
Elena Setterfield
Contact us here if you’re interested and we’ll put you in touch with Elena.
In partnership with Martello Lake Watersports and Redout SC.
Clubs represented:
A total of 13 participants entered.
Tom & Alex led the coached activities throughout the day which took place both on and off the water.
AM
Rigging session on land followed by a briefing for the mornings on water sailing activity which consisted of a reaching course and progression to upwind sailing to build what would shape a triangular course for the afternoon racing
All sailors demonstrated a good basic knowledge and were coached accordingly to help improve their boat handling.
PM
Upon launching, the sea breeze made an abrupt and spectacular appearance which immediately challenged the less experienced sailors and for many this meant capsizes – for one or two this was their first ever ‘real’ capsize! For these less experienced sailors it was soon apparent the conditions were too strong, and the sailors limped back to shore telling tales of gale force wind, large waves, and nose diving – their imagination clearly running wild (we’ve all been there).
The more experienced sailors continued to push themselves in the windy conditions which brought with it challenging gusts and a shifty wind direction.
We had parent involvement on the tally board and recording race results working alongside Elena.
Three races were completed in time for the scheduled prize giving which saw the following participants receive KSSA trophies and spot prizes.
1st Topper James Martin Winner – Master Apprentice
1st Topper Topaz Christopher Myles Winner – Cheswlk trophy
1st place Topper 4.2 Annabel Bickley
Spot prizes for perseverance
Feedback was positive among both the sailors and the parents.
Fun day on Saturday at Westbere in the sun, warmth and with a nice breeze that held on all day and enabled us to complete all races.
Well done to the winning team from Sevenoaks School who get to compete in the NSSA Single Handed Team Racing event later this year.
The full race results can be download here
Pictures are available in the gallery.
Building on the success of their 2022 All Girls’ training event, the KSSA and Downs Sailing Club once again joined in partnership to organise an event for 2023.
Knowing that the Coronation weekend would provide an additional bank holiday and the tides perfect for launching in Deal, the 8th May 2023 was placed in the calendar for a repeat of last year’s highly successful event. Once opened for entries all places were taken within hours, showing the need for this event the capacity of 25 sailors was exceeded.
Attracting girls from as young as 8 to 17 years from across Kent and beyond, whatever their sailing ability, the day saw girls with limited sailing experience sail together with those who were seasoned sailors.
Many clubs find that young female sailors are a minority and their teenage girls members drift away from the sport as it does not provide the social fulfilment gained from being part of a team. Building on the success of female team sports, the focus of the day was to show just how many girls there are spread around local clubs who share their enjoyment of the sport and that there are some amazing social opportunities for girls with the skills they learn through sailing.
Many girls learn to sail in single- handed dinghies and so lack the social interaction on the water that double handed sailing can provide. With this in mind, the event was arranged using double handers only. Fevas, Hartleys, 2000s and 2 420, were made available by Downs Sailing Club, parents and additional Fevas were kindly donated by RYA L & SE Youth Training Fund. The day provided opportunities to explore new sailing opportunities, either helming d/h, crewing, flying spinnakers as well as developing power boat handing skills and building new friendships.
Leading up to the event the weather forecast did not look kind, however following a wet and windy Coronation day, the organisers were bless with champagne sailing conditions off Deal beach which meant that as much time as possible could be spent on the water. 27 Girls were welcomed to Downs Sailing Club with free T shirts and breakfast. Many of the girls had come not knowing any of the other girls but barriers were soon broken and friendships begun as they joined one of the three coaching groups.
The coaching team of ladies was led by KSSA’s Vice Commodore, Jenny Johnson, a highly accomplished sailor, supported by female instructors from Downs and Sevenoaks School. KSSA current Youth (Enya Gibbs) and ex Youth Captain (Abbey Mumford) provided instruction on the water and acted as excellent mentors and support for the younger girls on land.
On the water action saw some girls get their first opportunity to helm with the support of more experienced crew. Seasoned single-handed sailors crewed and many for the first time, experienced the fun of flying a spinnaker. Abbey Mumford focused on supporting the two 420 teams passing on her extensive knowledge and experience to improve their skills.
This year we were delighted that the event was supported by the Magenta Project. Louise Clayton, a Magenta Project Ambassador, kindly joined the girls for the day giving inspirational talks on building confidence and making the most of opportunities. Sharing her wide and varied sailing experience which has taken her around the world, Louise gave a spotlight on the amazing opportunities and experiences sailing could provide. Focusing on the friendships that could be made through the support her key message was that the girls should have the self believe to say ‘yes’ to any opportunities which come their way and to believe in themselves.
KSSA and Downs Sailing Club were delighted with the success of their second collaboration on this all-girls’ event and have agreed that, due to the interest and support this event was given, a third event even bigger event will definitely be in both club’s calendars for 2024.
It’s official! The Kent Team (aka KSSA) are the 2022 NSSA National Youth Regatta champions. Okay, not champions per se, but winners of the Teams Trophy – the most prestigious of all the awards at the Nationals.
Confirmation of this had been delayed while the outstanding protests from the regatta were processed. Following the conclusion of those, Harry Mitchell’s win in the Topper fleet has been upheld. And with wins and high placings in the other fleets (including Tom Hirst and Joe Sutton-Jones’ win in the Fast fleet and Bobby Deards’ win in the Radials), and a great performance from all 17 of the sailors, the Kent Team has been formally recognized as the winners of the Teams Trophy.
This follows a long history of Kent success in the National Youth Regatta, where Kent has won the Team Trophy 15 times since 1980 (see below).
The Team Trophy is now being forwarded to the KSSA and a presentation to the team captains – and special awards to all the team members – will be made at the KSSA AGM at Chipstead SC on November 26 (after Autumn Training 3).
Team Trophy wins by KSSA at the NSSA National Youth Regatta:
1980
1981
1982
1983
1992
2000
2001
2002
2009
2010
2014
2015
2016
2017
2022
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 7th 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 4th and 7th 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 5th.
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 4th, while Paddy Denby maybe needed his Phantom for this one, in 7th. 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
3rd Jessica Robb Topper 4.2 (1 win)
Slow Handicap Fleet
4th Jacob Websdale RS Tera Sport (2 wins)
11th Tom Hebditch Optimist
Topper Fleet
1st Harry Mitchell (3 wins)
3rd Sebastian Robb (2 wins)
6th Daniel Hebditch
10th Henry Moss
21st Oliver Willett
Laser 4.7 Fleet
4th Sophia Kyriacou
5th Alex Jefferey (1 win)
Laser Radial Fleet
1st Bobby Deards (3 wins)
7th Enya Gibbs (1 win)
20th Archie Sweeney
23rd Joe Baker
25th Izzy Denby
36th Ted Baber
Fast Handicap Fleet
1st Tom Hirst/Joe Sutton-Jones RS200 (5wins)
Single-handed Race
1st Sebastian Robb
3rd Daniel Hebditch
5th Harry Mitchell
18th Henry Moss
Pursuit Race
2nd Andy Gibbs
4th Tom Hirst/Joe Sutton-Jones
7th Paddy Denby
25th Tom Hebditch
52nd Jessica Robb
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.
Calling all past and present KSSA Sailors, Parents, Instructors, Helpers etc. 2021 was the 60th Anniversary of the formation of KSSA. Due to the unprecedented events of the past two years we weren’t able to celebrate properly.
KSSA has been an inspiration to many young sailors over its 60 years of promoting Youth Sailing. Come and help us celebrate on Saturday 2nd July 2022 at Medway Yacht Club during our Midsummer Regatta, by joining us at the evening barbecue for a reunion of friends. This will start at about 1930, cost £12 per person and be cooked by the MYC caterers on the Terrace overlooking the river.
Earlier in the day, for the keen, you are also invited to take part in the KSSA Allcomers Race which is held annually to raise money for the Air ambulance. This will be a handicap race sailed from the MYC Start line and starts at approx. 1630. Bring your boat and you wet kit. Young and old, all welcome. Entry fee is a donation to the Air ambulance.
Our 50th Anniversary was celebrated by a Dinner at RTYC and 70 guests attended. There’s a challenge! Spread the word.
To reserve your place, please contact Elena Setterfield via email at kssa60@kssa.co.uk
If you’re coming to NSSA at Grafham, or even if you’re not, you will want the latest design KSSA Hoodies and Polos.
This year they are available to order directly from Trews Embroidery We have arranged for orders to be delivered directly to the KSSA Summer Regatta and Camp event at Medway. In order to take advantage of this, you will need to order by 10th June. Please email these orders to sales@trewsworkwear.co.uk.
Venue: Redoubt SC / Martello Lake sailing centre.
Situated on the sheltered waters of Martello Lake (Hythe) the day started with a chilly northerly F3 wind that set the scene for a day which saw sailors experience gusty conditions and a wind direction that throughout the day veered round to the south east as the sea breeze filled.
New Racer participant Lee Windridge was lead coach with Harry Mitchell, also a previous New Racer participant, taking up the role of coach support.
To kick the day off a rigging activity and discussion was carried out which was followed by all sailors going on the water to take part in exercises including a reaching courses and ‘follow my leader’, both of which helped settle nerves and build the confidence of the sailors who were all recently new to sailing, with a small few who had never sailed at a venue other than their home club.
A lunchtime briefing by Race Officer Paul Reynolds saw the group split into two fleets and set out for a triangular course, with the faster fleet being two laps and one lap for the slow fleet.
The afternoon session saw the sea breeze fill and the wind veer from the north round to the south east making for fairly challenging conditions for the sailors.
Results
Slow fleet
Fast fleet
KSSA prize for Confidence was awarded to: