The BT Challenge Trophy for the Young Sailor of the Year is presented by the Manx Yachting Association. This year the trophy has been awarded to Luke Crowe(age 17). He was nominated by the Manx Sailing & Cruising Club in recognition of his achievements in 2018.
Luke started training at the MS&CC in dinghies. This year he has qualified as an RYA Dinghy Instructor and been a great help to the Club.
He sailed with Jerry Coleman on the Sigma 33 Sea Pie de Cultra, doing a couple of Round the Island races and West Highland Week where they finished 2nd in class. Jerry says “Luke is great to have on board your boat as he doesn’t come to tell you something is broken, rather he says I found this broken and have fixed it”.
Luke is competing at Injebreck in a Laser this winter and is committed to volunteering at MS&CC next season to help with junior training.
In July 2017 Luke appeared at 7th Wave as a work experience student from Ramsey Grammar School. It should have been a two week placement, but he stayed for the whole summer volunteering with us. We were so happy to give him a job this year. He’s now a core member of our team, the guy that never lets you down and the first to volunteer at short notice. He travels down to us on the bus as he hasn’t passed his driving test yet. An average bus ride of 4 hours a day – true dedication to the cause! Naturally we fully endorsed the nomination from MS&CC.
Congratulations Luke, an all round top man, I was delighted to present the trophy to him at Injebreck on Boxing Day. A wonderful way to round off an amazing 2018 sailing season.