Blog

Today we have fitted new, exciting asymmetric spinnakers to the Topaz fleet. This afternoon students were out flying them almost instantly. Brilliant!

The National 18′ class national championship started today at the Royal Cork Yacht Club. Two Manx boats have travelled to Cork for the event.

After Day 1 Anthony Ellis, Michael Wilson and Nige Collin are leading. Michael Kneale, Phil Hardisty and Don Edwards are currently in 15th place.

This year the RCYC have a record number of entries for the class with over fifty boats competing. It promises to be an exciting week of racing….

Five Manx sailors competed at the RS Tera National Championships held at Hayling Island Sailing Club last weekend. Racing was held inside Chichester Harbour where an understanding of the strong tides was crucial in the light winds experienced by the sailors. The ‘Sport’ fleet saw a record entry of 64 boats which made for some exciting and very close racing.

Greg Kelly had an excellent start to the regatta with top three finishes in the first three races and a 14th in Race 4 which left him lying in second place overall at the end of the first day. After a win in the first race the following morning he struggled to get clean starts in Races 6 and 7, but found his form again and finished fifth in the final race of the series.

Discarding races 6 and 7 left Greg with a 14th to count toward his total which put him in fourth place overall. This is an outstanding result in such a big fleet, where getting off the start line with any clear air is incredibly difficult.

Also racing in the Sport fleet were Ffinlo Wright and Ben Batchelor. Both boys scored some good results during the weekend with Ffinlo finishing sixth in Races 6 and 8. Ben’s best result of the weekend was 12th place in Race 6, an excellent result for his first time at the Nationals. Overall Ffinlo finished 16th and Ben 26th, at age 11 and 10 respectively, both showing great promise for the future.

The RS Tera ‘Pro’ fleet saw 24 entries including Manx girls Izzy Sharpe and Amie Shute, with both girls finishing in the top ten. Sports Aid Foundation recipient Izzy Sharpe had a good start to the series with a 4th, 5th and 6th in the first three races before suffering a broken rudder in Race 5. After discards Izzy had a top ten score in all her races, finishing as the top girl in the fleet in fifth place overall.

With her commitment and dedication to training paying off, Amie put in her best performance at a major regatta to date. She finished third in Race 2 and fifth in Race 8, and took an early lead in Race 6 only to be pipped at the post to finish in second place. Amie finished in a well-deserved 7th place overall and second girl in the fleet.

Both girls will compete in the Pro fleet at the RS Tera World Championship in Denmark this summer, while Greg and Ffinlo will sail in the Sport fleet. The light winds this weekend at Hayling Island have been a good testing ground for the likely light airs competition in Denmark.

Manx Youth Sailing Squad coach Rob Cowell travelled to Hayling with the team. He said “they have been a credit to themselves and the squad; they were very determined in tough conditions, kept their focus and they’ve achieved results to be proud of”.

It is the Sure Beach Party tonight in Port Erin, where there will be bands on the beach and plenty of activities too.

If you fancy getting on the water our kayaks will be available to hire and we are running a sailing taster session for juniors from 6pm – 7.30pm. If anyone would like to attend this session please contact us before 5pm today.

Five members of the Manx Youth Sailing Squad are travelling to Hayling Island today to compete at the RS Tera National Championship this weekend.

Greg Kelly, Ffinlo Wright and Ben Batchelor will compete in the Sport fleet with Izzy Sharpe and Amie Shute sailing in the Pro fleet. Coaching support for the Manx crew at Hayling is being provided by Rob Cowell.

We wish them the very best of luck.

Results will be posted here as we receive them over the weekend….

It’s TT Practice Week and we are back on the water after a long spell of too much wind.

This week the wind has dropped and we have had another enjoyable Youth Sailing Week, with eight young sailors on the water. To add to the excitement here have been numerous basking shark sightings in Port Erin Bay over the last few days. Today there were two sharks spotted, one of them was incredibly close to the beach at lunch time.

Saturday Club sailing sessions for juniors are back on again, with two sessions this Saturday, contact us if your youngsters would like to get on the water this weekend.

Five years today since we opened the doors to 7th Wave for the first time and we are still here, going strong. There were some who thought that starting a sailing school at 54 degrees north was some-what fool hardy, maybe it is, but the past five years have all been wholly worthwhile.

With the help of family and friends e opened 7th Wave, bringing an RYA Training Centre to Port Erin. In June 2006 Jack the Dog joined the family after the loss of our puppy Pearly. Jack is much more suited to the nautical life and loves being on the boats, although he won’t get his feet wet!

At the end of the 2006 season Jon qualified as an RYA Powerboat Instructor and has delivered many, many powerboat courses since then.

In 2007 Jenni qualified as an RYA Shorebased Instructor and Jon as a VHF Assessor. We achieved RYA Shorebased recognition allowing us to offer RYA Dayskipper and Yachtmaster Theory courses.

Also in 2007 the ‘Pig’ joined our powerboat fleet and our team of Tom Howitt, James and Greg Kelly won the IOM Topper Challenge.

2008 was an exciting year: Jen and Jon got married on 3rd May, Sarah Butler represented 7th Wave at the RYA Honda Youth RIB Championship final in Southampton, Alex Sharpe and James and Greg Kelly won the Topper Challenge, 7th Wave received a Toursim Award from the IOM Government for the ‘Best Coastal Experience’.

The Manx Youth Sailing Squad was formed in 2008 and the team competed at the RS Tera Inland Championship at Draycote S.C. Greg Kelly won the first race and finished 3rd overall!

Lucy Gregg and Alex Sharpe represented 7th Wave at the Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship final in Southampton in 2009. Alex, James and Greg won the Topper Challenge again! 7th Wave hosted the Queenie Festival’s ‘Sails and Tales’ event, over 100 children attended the storytelling evening on the beach in glorious sunshine.

The Manx Youth Sailing Squad travelled to the RS Tera National Championship at Dabchicks S.C. and won the National Team Champions Trophy. Squad members were also selected to join the GBR RS Tera racing squad and to attend the World Championship in 2010.

2010 saw the launch of our new Taz and Topaz fleet and ‘Betty’ the tractor. Ffinlo Wright and Matt Petts entered the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) national sailing regatta and finished in 4th place. Jon qualified as a RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor. Ffinlo, Greg and Tony Pitt won the Topper Challenge once again!

The Manx Youth Sailing Squad sailed at the RS Tera World Championship in Carnac, Brittany and produced some outstanding results. James Kelly won the event become RS Tera World Champion and Hannah Howitt finished first girl! At the Inlands in October the team came home with the RS Tera Inland Team Trophy and Izzy Sharpe finished third overall.

By the end of 2010 we had trained over 160 powerboaters and have taught 60 adults and over 300 youngsters to sail, including two world champions!

Although it is still early in the 2011 season quite a lot of notable things have already happened: RYA CEO Sarah Treseder visited us in March on a tour of the RYA regions around the UK. “Small but perfectly formed” were her observations of 7th Wave.

7th Wave t-shirts and hoodies have are now for sale in the shop along with some great new designs from Chickens Rock Clothing.

Sailing received four nominations in the IOM Sports Awards: James Kelly – under 21 boy, Hannah Howitt – under 21 girl, Jenni Quillin – Coach and the Manx Youth Sailing Squad – Team of the Year. Izzy Sharpe, Hannah Howitt and James Kelly were each awarded Sports Aid Foundation support for 2011.

Just last week Ffinlo Wright (who has been sailing with us since 2006 when he was just five years old!) and Matthew Petts once again competed at the IAPS Regatta in Weymouth – they won the event scoring a first in every race!

And so today we are five! I wonder what adventures the next five years will bring?

There were two, maybe three basking sharks spotted in Port Erin Bay yesterday evening. These are the first I’ve seen in the Bay this year. Hopefully there will be plenty more sightings over the summer. Last year was disappointing, we only saw four sharks between us during the whole season!

Manx Youth Sailing Squad sailors Ffinlo Wright and Matthew Petts put in a superb performance at the Independant Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) annual sailing regatta, which was held in Weymouth on Thursday last week. This prestigious nationwide schools regatta saw entries from over 40 schools around the UK. The boys represented the Buchan School in the age 11 and under class.

Racing in two-up in Picos with a jib there were 30 boats in the 11 and under class. Conditions were near perfect with sunshine, blue skies and wind which built steadily throughout the day. Four races were sailed in Portland Harbour, giving all the youngsters an exciting opportunity to sail at the 2012 Olympic sailing venue.

Ffinlo and Matt started the regatta as they would continue, scoring two firsts in the morning races. They were leading overall during lunchtime when the fleet was split into Gold and Silver fleets for the afternoon’s racing. There was some good racing throughout the day, Ffinlo and Matt had some good starts and led the fleet by up to five boat lengths in some of their races! Once again the boys won both the afternoon races, making them the clear overall winners.

Ffinlo and Matt are the only team to have ever won every single race outright at the IAPS Regatta, an acheivement they are very proud of, which has been made possible through training at the IOMYC and 7th Wave RYA Training Centre in Port Erin.

Final presentations included surpise appearances from some of Skandia Team GBR sailors. The mens 49er crew of Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh and the womens 470 crew of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clarke presented medals and trophies to the winners in the Under 11 fleet, Ben Ainsle presented the prizes in the Under 13 fleet. The Skandia Team GBR sailors had all taken time out from their ‘Sail for Gold’ training programmes to present the prizes, sign autographs and chat to the youngsters, which made for an inspiring finale to the IAPS regatta.

Congratulations to Ffinlo and Matt who have won the IAPS Regatta today.

It was a four race series sailed in a steady Force 3 – 4.

Ffinlo and Matt lead the fleet from the off, winning every single race comfortably.

We are absolutely delighted for them, another great Manx performance, this time at the 2012 Olympic Sailing Venue!