At the end of yesterday’s racing it looked like Greg Kelly could not be beaten on points going into the final race. Now we have confirmation, the final race at the RS Tera World Championship is complete and Manx Youth Sailing Squad member Greg Kelly will be awarded the RS Tera World Championship Trophy later today.
Greg’s older brother James won the event in 2010, also with one race to spare. This year for Greg it has been a tough battle, he has worked his way from 3rd after day 2 to 2nd on day 3 and outright first after day 4. Greg has won four races in this 10 race series as is the clear winner by 19 points! Speaking to me from Italy Greg said “It’s absolutely amazing and great to win”, I know how much this means to him after last season where he finished fourth at every major championship he attended.
The whole of the Manx Youth Sailing Squad have put in an outstanding performance with each sailor finishing in the top 10 overall. Ffinlo Wright will be disappointed to have missed out on the podium by one place, but at age 12 this youngster shows bright promise for the future. Amie Shute competing at her final Tera Worlds has finished 9th overall and 4th girl.
Competing at his first ever World Championship, 11 year old, Ben Batchelor’s goal was to finish in the top 20, I am delighted to say that Ben actually finished in 10th place overall in 40 strong RS Tera Sport fleet. Again the future looks bright for Manx sailing.
The Manx Youth Sailing Squad was formed by Jenni Kneale, Don Edwards, Phil Hardisty and Rob Cowell in 2008. The aim was to train a squad who would take part in two national events each year. The sailors have exceeded all expectations and can now boast training three World Champions!
