New recruits making waves with British Sailing Keelboat Academy
by British Keelboat Sailing 27 Mar 15:25 UTC
British Sailing Keelboat Academy (offshore) training weekends in early 2025 © Henry Redmond
Recruits selected to join the 2025 British Sailing Keelboat Academy have been making the most of training weekends to develop their teamwork, boat handling and racing.
Coaches for the squad have been impressed by the Academy's latest cohort of 40 young sailors, who have joined from as far afield as the south-west and north-east, Scotland and Wales, with many having only previously raced dinghies.
At London's Queen Mary SC the sailors were able to learn asymmetric and symmetric spinnaker boat handing aboard the club's RS21s and Royal Thames YC's Sonar fleet, with a variety of conditions and a chance to get used to working in teams of four or five.
An inshore weekend at Port Solent (8-9 March 2025) then enabled the sailors to further their skills in teams of 8 to 10 aboard Prometheus Sailing's charter fleet of 40ft Sunsail racing yachts.
Sunshine, relatively flat water and stable easterly breezes of 13 to 19 knots provided glamour conditions to develop onboard communication and crew work, explore different roles and learn how to handle larger sails and spinnakers.
Teamwork
Academy Lead Coach Phil Devereux said: "It's all about doing your own role well and trusting the person next to you to likewise do their job to the best of their ability. There were some good conversations about how the individual roles add up to a collective and coordinated effort with clear, accurate, quality communication.
"We've had productive weekends and the feedback from the coaching team reflects how pleasant and hardworking everyone is in this year's intake. They're team players with the types of character attributes that we' re very happy to have representing the Academy. I'm proud of the squad and what we've achieved so far."
Ellie Yonge, aged 23, who is working as an accountant in a professional apprenticeship, is among the 2025 intake benefiting from the Academy's online and on-water training.
She said: "I've found it really useful to go back to the basics of sail trim and settings in our evening sessions and really break down what helps get the most speed out of the boat. It's then been great to play with this in a forgiving environment on the water and with encouraging support from the coaches.
"During the inshore sailing weekend, we were all able to experiment with roles that we had not previously had any experience in. By the end of the weekend, I was far more comfortable during manoeuvres, such as symmetric hoists, because I understood how each crew member was contributing to the execution.
"I grew up sailing at Hamble River Sailing Club but seriously picked up sailing again on the university team racing circuit. Since leaving university, I have been lucky enough to participate in 2024 with JOG (Junior Offshore Group). I'm looking forward to putting my new skills and knowledge into practice when the sailing season kicks off."
Chris Long, aged 23, of Royal Southern YC, added: "I have really enjoyed getting to meet and learn from great sailors, both the coaches and the other members of the British Sailing Keelboat Academy, across a variety of different boats. I have particularly benefitted from the training I have received on symmetric spinnakers and look forward to applying that in races later this year. Having come from a mixed dinghy racing and yacht cruising/deliveries background, I have found the BSKA particularly useful at translating that experience into racing on bigger boats with more crew."
Inshore and offshore
An optional offshore weekend (22/23 March 2025) saw around half the BSKA's recruits sailing out of Hamble aboard two Fast 40 boats chartered from Britannia and included navigation, night sailing, cooking on board, watch systems, man overboard drills and safety.
Among those taking part was Henry Redmond, aged 20, an ILCA sailor from Covenham Sailing Club in Lincolnshire and a trainee electrician, who hopes to work in the marine industry and keelboat racing.
Henry said: "I heard about the Academy from a friend and hadn't done much keelboat sailing at all apart from some fun days out on the Humber estuary. Now that I've been lucky enough to join the 2025 squad, I realise what it's all about.
"I've had some of my best times sailing with the BSKA so far. The Queen Mary SC training weekend was two great days of sailing, and our next venture onto the Solent wasn't far short of phenomenal for me. Although I've covered much of the Solent in an ILCA, this was my first outing there on a yacht and it was fantastic being able to practice each role on the boat, learning to read the various charts on board and even get into some races with the other boats.
"The offshore weekend was then brilliant, learning skills I'd never touched on before. How to plot a route into an unfamiliar marina through dark was a highlight, and actually carrying out that plan. I also learnt tonnes of practical yacht sailing skills such as 'peeling' sails and getting to grips with mast/bow work. I'm used to trying to point a boat in the right direction from ILCA sailing, however knowing how to sail a yacht is completely new to me so the weekend was a great way to learn and solidify new skills."
2025 recruits
The Academy as a whole will be in Cowes for a weekend of J70 racing (5-6 April 2025).
This will also include an opportunity to network with members of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, and hear from Vendée Globe star Sam Goodchild, whose journey in keelboat racing first began as a young sailor with the Academy.
The 2025 British Sailing Keelboat Academy was chosen following a busy BSKA selection weekend in November 2024 and comprises the following recruits:
Jasper Amirante (University of Manchester SC); Thomas Brindley (Redesmere SC); Finn Caddy (Weston SC); Tyler Carrott (Girton SC / Lincoln Sea Cadets); Edwin Cross (Shoreham / Datchet); Ethan Deeley (Brunel / Datchet); Daniel Fletcher (Queen Mary SC); Lewis Fowler (Tewkesbury); Matt Gillet (OUYC / Southport YC); Jack Goodwin (Royal Southern YC / Junior Offshore Group / Tudor SC); Will Jarman (Warsash SC); Wilum Johnston (Norfolk Broads YC / Snowflakes SC); Owen Jones (Cardiff Bay YC / Bournemouth University Sailing Team); Jason Larner (Midland SC); Christopher Long (Cambridge University YC); Laurie Maddalena (JOG / Exeter University); Nicholas Oldroyd (University of Bristol SC); Henry Redmond (Covenham SC); Mark Ripley (Paignton SC); William Sears (Christchurch SC); Adam Southern (Emsworth SC); Dylan Thatcher (University of Bristol SC); Todd Watkins (St Helier YC / Royal Channel Islands YC / St Catherine's SC / UWE Sailing); Thomas Woodall; Julia Barnes (Royal Torbay YC / Edinburgh University SC); Freya Brown (Restronguet SC); Anna Cox (Exe SC / Royal Victoria YC); Hannah Entwistle (RWBSWC); Robyn Francis (Royal Tay YC); Harriet George (Royal Harwich YC); Rachel Harper (Hayling Island SC); Imogen Palmer (Rutland SC); Honor Procter (Cardiff Bay YC); Jill Reid (Cramond Boat Club); Ava Roberts (South Cerney SC); Emily Shears (Reading SC); Megan Thomson (Island Barn Reservoir SC / Royal Lymington YC); Miranda Van Heel (Swanage SC / University of Manchester SC); Rebecca Vartan (Hill Head SC); Eleanor Yonge.
Look out for when applications re-open for the next intake in late summer 2025, follow @BritishKeelboatSailing on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest news, and find out more at British Sailing Keelboat Academy.