The conditions varied from strong wind and rain to light breezes and sunshine for the Manx Youth Sailing Squad’s second training session with RS Tera GBR Squad coach Jonathan Lewis. Six Manx sailors were invited to join the GBR RS Tera Squad following their performance at the UK RS Tera National Championship last September. They will all be representing Great Britain at the RS Tera World Championships in Carnac, Brittany this summer.
Jonathan spent three days on the Isle of Man, continuing the coaching programme he had begun on his last visit to the Island in November. He was impressed that the team had continued to train through the winter and that they had been practising the techniques which he introduced on his last visit. Boatspeed was the focus of this coaching session and the sailors worked hard to improve their upwind and downwind performance and boat handling.
Squad members Hannah Howitt, Izzy Sharpe and James Kelly have recently progressed to the RS Tera Pro class. All three have enjoyed some excellent sailing and the extra power provided by the Pro rig.
Younger squad members Amie Shute, Ffinlo Wright and Greg Kelly will compete this season in the RS Tera Sport. Amie has been with the Squad for two years and is a consistent sailor who puts a lot of thought into her racing. The youngest member Ffinlo was new to the Squad in 2009, his sailing has improved dramatically during the training sessions with Jonathan. Greg Kelly has an excellent track record finishing 3rd in the 2008 RS Tera Inland Championship, 3rd the under 12s at the RS Tera European Championship and 10th at the RS Tera National Championship in 2009, he is the quickest Tera Sport sailor in the MYSS and there are high hopes for a good result at the World Championships.
All six members of the Manx Youth Sailing Squad will attend a GBR Squad training weekend at Draycote Water next month to prepare for the World Championships. The Manx Youth Sailing Squad were the grateful recipients of a grant from Manx Telecom’s ‘It’s Our Community Awards’ to help meet their costs of attending this vital training weekend.