Volvo Gill Optimist Selection Trials
Date Posted: 14/05/2012
WPNSA played host to the Volvo Gill Optimist Selection Trials, one of the most important Optimist events of the year which was held over the bank holiday weekend.
The top 86 Optimist sailors in the country, completed a 15 race series over 4 days in Portland Harbour and in Weymouth Bay, for the honour of representing GBR in this year’s World and European’s and Development teams, the Flanders team and training in Greece. Only the top 5 GBR sailors are able to qualify to compete in the worlds, and 7 including the top 3 girls in the Europeans.
Ainslie, Mills, Clark, Percy and Patience, all members of our GBR Olympic team, made this right of passage in their younger years, so there is a lot of prestige attached to a sailors CV in making a team.
Friday dawned dry and bright with a cold shifty north easterly at 8-12 knots, and 4 races were run back to back in the Harbour. The long slower shifts caught many out and there were a lot of inconsistent results
Saturday was another day of the shifty challenging nor easter, and it was cold all day. The wind peaked early on at 15-17kts and dropped off as the day went on.
Gill Race Team Member,Milo Gill-Taylor, fresh from the oppy worlds in New Zealand was having a quiet sort of event, but that was about to change...
On Sunday, the plan was to sail in Weymouth Bay and to start early as there was a chance of the wind fading away after lunch. The fleet was afloat and being towed out into the Bay by 0845, and were out in the middle of the Bay ready to start by 0945. There was plenty of muttering about going out into the Bay, but it turned out to be a glamour day that most won’t forget in a hurry.
The wind was north east at 8-11kts and it gradually went right to south east during the day. Protecting the right was really important. The day challenged the race team led by Olympic Course Race Officer, Stog, assisted by Frank and Jenny Newton, Peter and Catherine, Henry on the pin and the mark layers, who were second guessing how much the wind would go right next! After race 3 we thought the wind was going to die away and we were going home, when suddenly the sun came out and the breeze became thermally enhanced, and a decent sea state developed providing great conditions for the 4th race, which created a big grin factor for most.
By this time the current was also moving right to left towards the top of the course, and considerable gains were made by sailors who used the current to their advantage. Following the 4th race of the day the whole fleet sailed back in an armada on a reach to the academy, for some it was their longest sail and their first time on Weymouth Bay.
Milo started to wake up scoring 21,1,1,2.
Monday, after 12 races it was still all to play for and no one was safe in the teams. The final day dawned wet, miserable and windy [ well it was a bank holiday!]. Fortunately the rain stopped, and the sun came out. The wind was southish and coming just from just right of the Bill which made it a bit tricky but it was it was pretty obvious that the middle right was good and far left was oblivion because of the wind shadow over the Bill. Later the wind went further right, became steadier and made race course easier to read.
Milo Gill-Taylor [Spinnaker] , Max Clapp [Royal Southern], Martin Wrigley [Cardiff Bay] , Jamie Calder [Royal Forth and Loch Tummel], and Arran Holman [Hollowell], all did enough to secure their places in the Worlds team which will travel to the Dominican Republic for the worlds in July. Milo continued his excellent run of form with a 3,1,4 to win the trials [and his coach and dad, Ravi gets a new bike as a performance bonus].
Benno Marstaller [Restronguet] and Jo Burns [Spinnaker] were on equal points going onto the last race and even though both had quite good starts Benno pulled out a 5th to take the final boys Europeans place joining Robbie King [Warsash/RLYC], David LaBrouche [West Mersea/Dabchicks], and Dan Whitely [Port Dinorwic]. The girls Europeans places will be filled by Sarah Norbury,also a Gill Race Team member [South Staffs] who finished 8th overall, Jenny Cropley [Royal Lymington], and Karyna Manuel [Grafham].
The Development Team will be going to Hungary in the summer and the team includes; Milly Boyle [Royal Lymington], George Ford [Royal Lymington], Jemma Viney [Cardiff Bay], Emma Baker [Weir Wood], Alistair Grant [Alton Water], Josh Haynes [Trent Valley], Alex Platt [Restronguet], and Max Moyles [Royal Lymington].
The Flanders team will include; Sam Thomas [Cardiff Bay], Rhys Lewis [Cardiff Bay], Ryan Orr [Royal Lymington], William Hall [Cardiff Bay], Clark Rutter [Emsworth], Matt Thornton [Burghfield] and Hamish Taylor [Clyde Cruising].
The racing was challenging and everyone learnt a lot from it, a top class fleet, dealing with shifty conditions, tough starts and sailing in the Bay, all great experience for the future. There were a few protests, mainly port and starboard and tacking inside at the windward mark- some lessons to be learnt there about risk.
Class Chairman Simon Rogers presented Milo with the winner’s trophy and Milo made a great speech thanking everyone for their help and support with the event.
Optimist Sailing
Podium finishes for Milo & Sarah at the Volvo Gill Optimist End of Season Championships.
Date Posted: 14/10/2011
Gill Race Team members Milo Gill-Taylor and Sarah Norbury produced fantastic individual performances at the Volvo Gill Optimist End of Season Championships last weekend to achieve 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
The annual event is the last major event on the Optimist calendar and a chance for IOCA UK Worlds team members to compete against some top competition before they head off to Napier, New Zealand at the end of December.
Over 290 young sailors battled it out over the weekend in testing conditions that ranged from no wind to 25 knots so it was great to see Milo and Sarah working so hard to finish on the podium. Well done!
Optimist Inland Championships
Date Posted: 16/05/2011
Capsizes, tows, and cold sailors were the order of the day on Saturday but there were smiles all round. Sunday saw the winds drop slightly which improved conditions for the young sailors. The Regatta fleet were not able to race on Saturday due to the conditions but the Main fleet got in three races with another six on Sunday.
Matthew Whitfield won the Inland Championships with Gill Race Team member Sarah Norbury coming second and the Regatta fleet was won by William Heathcote so congratulations to you all.
The Inlands was our first event as sponsor of the Volvo Gill Optimist Class. It was great to meet you all and we are looking forward to seeing you again at the Nationals.
Gill Race Team member selected to compete in the European Optimist Championships
Date Posted: 11/05/2010
Gill Race Team member Sarah Norbury has successfully seen off her competition to win a place on the British Optimist European Team!
78 optimists took to the water to compete in the selectors which were held over two weekends - the first in Weymouth and the second in Pwllheli. Overcoming stiff opposition and extreme weather conditions, Sarah was delighted to finish 6th overall and 1st Girl by quite a margin!
Sarah is the youngest member on the girl’s British Optimist European Team and the first 13 year old girl to win a place in the team for a number of years.
Over 40 countries send sailors to the European Optimist Championships and there will be around 230 sailors taking part.
Our congratulations go out to Sarah for yet another fantastic result!
Gill Race Team members triumph at Dutch Easter Regatta
Date Posted: 07/04/2010
Gill Race Team members Scott Wallis and Sarah Norbury were among the 40 British Optimist sailors that descended on Braassemermeer to compete against a 230 strong invitational fleet.
Individual race wins were notched up by Scott Wallis. Consistency and avoiding the black flag was the key to success and by Sunday night when the fleet were split into Gold, Silver and Bronze for the finals, Team GBR were in good shape with Scott leading the pack.
Two gold fleet races were held in 6- 13 knots, with some quite large shifts and pressure differences across the race course, which made the racing challenging. The first gold fleet race was a nervy affair, general recall on a blue peter followed by a black flag start. Scott Wallis was 8th by the last leeward mark, but his nearest rival, German Fabian Graf sailed a perfect race to score a bullet.
Sarah Norbury, still carrying a black flag from a previous race came a creditable 4th and Scott missed one tricky shift to still lead by 3 points going into the last race.
In the final race, Scott managed a blistering start but was caught by a loss of pressure in the middle of the windward leg. By the last leeward mark he had made up 10 places to sit behind Graf up the last beat. After many tacks and dummy tacks and other shinanigans Graf managed to get a small bunch between him and Scott at the finish to take the title, leaving Scott with a more than delighted second place.
Meanwhile Sarah Norbury managed a 7th which pushed her up to 4th overall and 1st girl.
Our congratulations go out to both Scott and Sarah.
