More than 40 teams of young sailors are set for battle this weekend as the 2021 Eric Twiname Team Racing Championships returns.
Around 240 junior and youth sailors from across the country will descend on Oxford’s Farmoor Reservoir to compete for the top spot over two days of team-on-team action. It will be a welcome return for the much-loved event, which had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Racing will take place in Firefly dinghies for youth teams and RS Fevas for juniors, with prizes awarded in each category. Teams are made up of three boats in the youth fleet and two boats for juniors, each crewed by two sailors. Teams compete in a round robin before the top teams face off in a knockout to determine the winners.
To promote gender equality in sailing, mixed gender teams were given priority during the entry process. As a result, of the 47 teams competing only five are single gender with a significant increase in the proportion of female helms competing from previous years.
Niall McLeod, RYA Racing Services Manager, said: “The Eric Twiname Team Racing Championships is a real highlight of the racing calendar, and we’re delighted to see it return in 2021. Team racing is a really exciting, fun and sociable discipline of sailing combining tactics and teamwork, and it’s great for improving fleet racing skills such as boat handling and rules knowledge too. We are pleased to see so many mixed gender teams at this year’s event, and we’re looking forward to a real showcase of team racing this weekend.”
The regatta, named after famous sailor, author and journalist Eric Twiname, has seen many members of the current British Sailing Team compete in previous editions such as 470 sailors Eilidh McIntyre, Amy Seabright and Georgina Povall. Entries are subsidised by the Eric Twiname Trust, which was set up in Twiname’s name following his death in 1980.
Results will be posted at http://events.ksail.co.uk/. Follow the British Youth Sailing social media accounts for updates throughout the regatta, including a live stream of Sunday’s finals on the BYS Facebook page.
