EMBLEY NEWS
Eric Twiname Racing Championships
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Our talented Embley sailors travelled to Oxford Sailing Club for the prestigious RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championships. Organised by the Royal Yachting Association in conjunction with the Eric Twiname Trust, the championships bring together school and sailing club teams from across the UK.
Unlike traditional sailing competitions, where individual boats race against one another, team racing requires sailors to work together, using tactics, communication and a thorough understanding of the racing rules to secure the best combined result for their team. Races are short, fast-paced and highly tactical, with teams competing in identical RS Feva dinghies in the Junior and Super Junior divisions. With rapid changeovers between races, the event provided a fantastic opportunity for our young sailors to develop their decision-making, boat-handling and teamwork under pressure.
Our Junior Embley Blue team (U17) represented by William, Hugo, Felix and Fin delivered an impressive performance, finishing 12th out of 23 teams, with six victories from 12 races. Competing against strong opposition, including Seaford College, Sevenoaks School, Sherborne, Royal Hospital School and Radley College, the team demonstrated excellent tactical awareness and growing confidence. The result is an encouraging reflection of the progress being made within our competitive sailing programme and demonstrates the team's ability to challenge established opposition at national level.
For our younger sailors in our Super Junior Embley Green team (U15), the weekend represented an exciting milestone in their sailing development. Harry, Seirian, Sam and Tom only began learning the discipline of team racing in September, giving them just a handful of training sessions before competing at national level! Taking on experienced teams after such a short introduction to the sport was a tremendous achievement in itself. Throughout the weekend, the team demonstrated determination, resilience and fantastic team spirit, putting their newly acquired skills into practice while gaining invaluable experience of team racing.
The weekend brought a real contrast in sailing conditions, testing our students patience and adaptability. Saturday saw strong, gusty winds sweeping across the racecourse, with gusts estimated to reach around 30 mph. While the Junior fleet continued racing, conditions proved too challenging for the Super Juniors, resulting in postponements. Sunday brought the complete opposite, with frustratingly light winds and further postponements for both fleets as sailors waited for enough breeze to race. Despite the interruptions, both teams showed fantastic determination and resilience across all their races and made the most of every opportunity to get out on the water.
