A windy Junior Race Week
Published 20:18 on 3 Sep 2025
Report: A windy Junior Race Week.
Day 1:
Racing got underway in an 18 knot SSW wind gusting low to mid twenties. In the 420's Ruthie & Beanie led Ella & Emma from start to finish with a healthy 3-minute lead. In a 3rd 420, Max put in an appearance, crew-less, and was a great sight fully extended on the wire, with sails set and spray flying, blasting up-wind. The challenge came when tacking, so a wise decision was made to retire before it got too complicated!
In the Feva fleet the capsizes came thick and fast, along with Johnny, the sole Radial enjoying some great blasts on the reach... and some specular death rolls down-wind.
The Tera fleet saw 12 starters with just a single retiree in race 1. Ben made a good start and slowly edged away to build a commanding lead over Jonas in 2nd, with the mid-fleet a little further back, but not so far as the handicap dropped Jonas down two places.
The sole Oppi, with Jack at the helm, kept on the transom of the trailing Tera and just pipped it at the line. Well done Jack.
In race 2, the 420's of Ella (with Emma as crew) fought hard to keep up with and at times ahead, until a rather disappointed crew Beanie saw helm Ruthie fall over the stern with the tiller and rudder literally in her hand. The inevitable capsize that followed saw them retire from the race just short of the last rounding mark.
The Tera fleet saw some excellent starting and close battles all through the fleet. Jonas and Ben had a close battle at the front, with Jonas just losing out when overstepping the gate and letting Ben slip through.
Back ashore smiles were seen all round after a very enjoyable afternoon on the water.
Day 2:
The wind kept the RO guessing today - teasingly close to the limit, then stepping over whilst the briefings in play, averaging low 20's but gusting high 20's. After a short delay where the wind abated to 18-20 gusting low 20's, we were good to go racing.
In the 420's Ruthie, with rudder attached this time, came away with two wins, whilst Ella was not quite on pace today.
The Tera fleet battle continued at the sharp end for Ben and Jonas. With 10 seconds separation for race 1, Jonas was out on top for the day - but sadly he wasn't as on handicap two Tera Sports slipped through on time.
With winds at their top limit, starts were still hotly contested, with the Feva of Henry and Adam powering up just seconds too early and OCS at the gun by half a boat length in race 2, as the rest of the fleet came through.
Back on shore, the boat park chatter picked up with 'can we have a shorter beat' it's tough up-wind as a Laser sailor!
Day 3:
More of the same, pushing the start line, OCS boats, close racing, spectacular swims and all in 18-22 knots - it doesn't get much better.
In race 1 there could be only one winner, a dominant performance by Ruthie & Max saw them almost half a lap ahead at the line.
The race 2 start line turned into mayhem at the committee boat end, 1 ILCA capsized on a Feva, 1 ILCA capsized on the Committee Boat! Ella & Emma with a clear lane were away and gone; Ruthie & Max blocked by the mayhem started late and were left with work to do, but with their dominance in race 1 it was only a matter of time. Ella & Emma held them back for two laps before being passed, and Ruthie & Max had a lead of nearly 3 minutes at the line on lap 4.
In the Tera fleet size really doesn't matter, with Felix in his Tera Sport taking it to the larger Tera Pro's, keeping pace on the water taking 2nd in race 1, and leading from start to finish in race 2, leaving Ben and Jonas to battle over 2nd on the water, which saw Ben do a classic roll in to windward on the first down-wind leg and saw him fall down the leaderboard.
In the Oppi's the Addison brothers raced each other, with Jack clearly having the measure of his younger brother Tobias, who did well in his first experience of these stronger winds.
Day 4:
The end the week and windy again so sadly another day on the bench for regatta fleet, although the final race started in just 12-14 knots.
It was another day of close racing; a better day for Ollie, consistency from Scarlett and a good result for Margarita (both FPSC). Sadly for Ben, we'll never know if he was on for a 2nd overall, as when leading Jonas in race 7, sadly a broken mast meant an early shower.
For the final race, with boats well spread along the line, Jonny found himself OCS and had to turn back. Once away and 2 laps in, Escort up anchored and motored toward the Club to set up for the final championship race finish on the Club Line, only to find itself in a race to reach the line before the leading 420!
Mooring alongside on the Club Line, with the sun out, blue skies, spray flying, the 520 with Max on the wire and Ruthie on helm came in to finish just seconds after Escort arrived, to lead the fleets across the line. A fantastic way to end what has been a fabulous week's sailing.
Thank you to all those who signed on or stepped in at the last minute, in patrol boats, in the Committee Boat and on tallies. Thanks too to Nigel our Bosun for fixing everything that we broke and keeping us on the water and to Simon for getting our results posted online.
Full results on the website: https://www.emsworthsc.org.uk/juniors-2025/junior-race-week-2025 , for paparazzi results see
https://emsworthsailingclub.smugmug.com/On-the-water/2025/Junior-Race-Week-2025
An epic event, THANK YOU ALL
Rob, Hailey & Brian