Still all to play for in the 2025 North East & Yorkshire Youth Traveller Series
by Fiona Spence 6 Jun 18:34 UTC
21-22 June 2025
Glorious conditions at Scaling Dam - North East & Yorkshire Youth Traveller Series © Fiona Spence
Sailors are gearing up for the next round of the North East & Yorkshire Youth Travellers Series which resumes at Pennine Sailing Club on Saturday 7 June after a short siesta over the half term period.
Pennine is round 8 of this season's series and so far over 130 sailors have been on the start lines over the 7 rounds held so far and with an average entry of 26 at each event.
From 7 rounds we've had 7 different winners which means the overall series is still very much to play for with the discards still playing a large part of the top 10 score board.
South Shields SC hosted the first round in September 2024 and we had 22 boats waiting on shore till lunchtime until the fog cleared before 4 races in the harbour to give Alanna Starke (Derwent Reservoir SC) the event win, closely chased by Lara Eagleton's Topper and Fred Buckley's ILCA6. The regatta fleet was won by Henry Jones making it a double bullet for DRSC.
Next up was Covenham SC, way out on the Lincolnshire border, Molly Wilson's RS Tera Pro triumphed here with younger brother Harry's Tera Sport in hot pursuit in second. Home boats dominated the Regatta fleet with Edward Worthington leading from Elliot Hodgson. The wind always seems to be good at Covenham thanks to the flat plains that allows the North Sea breeze to roll in without disturbance.
Yeadon SC hosted round three which was a small turnout as it clashed with several major class events and the NSSA team racing event which took lots of regulars away from the series. This gave opportunity to focus on the regatta fleet to develop skills for those who started to sail in the summer. This round was won by Rose Versey in her Optimist from DRSC, making it a 3-0 lead for the girls in the series. Lucas Davey took the honours in the regatta fleet with first home boat James Hardcastle in 4th Regatta.
The series then paused for the winter months, partly to give NEYYSA sailors time to indulge in their other favourite pastime with 37 of them competing at the Eric Twiname Double Handed Team Racing Champs at Oxford in various team combinations and to provide race coaching sessions at numerous clubs across the region during the colder winter months.
We re-started the series with a bang at Yorkshire Dales SC in April 2025 with 40 boats arriving for the Spring Fling sprint racing, we welcomed the North 29er fleet to the event who were using it in their traveller series. Mother Nature was not kind, delivering 20knots plus for most of the day and all sailors coped extremely well. The event ran single lap 8-10 minute races based on class and produced some big grins, screaming planes and spectacular capsizes which kept the safety crews busy.
The event also produced one of the funniest team effort thank you speeches we've heard in ages delivered by all the class winners. The girls didn't win this one but were second in quite a few classes.
A development in this year's series is the Rookie Fleet which allows younger, less experienced sailors to compete with an adult in the boat (competency criteria apply!) saw 7 year old William Wright out with his Dad at Yorkshire Dales SC in their family 2000 and they gave the guys at the top a good run for their money before a spectacular capsize at the gybe mark ended their racing with a dunking in the very cold water. The idea is to introduce and include younger sailors who may otherwise be sitting on the bank particularly those with older siblings in the series. The idea was trialled successfully in 2024 and proved popular.
On to West Riding SC and a super sunny day with great winds. Ulley's Aleks Svietek snatched the win from Molly Wilson and Emily Dengate with Edward Worthington winning the Regatta fleet with Sheffield Viking's Nia Jenkins putting it all together to take second. Huw Jenkins notched up a win in the Rookie fleet with Dad in their family Feva. It was great to see some of West Ridings newest sailors joining in and learning new skills with the support of the series coach Ollie Kent who is supporting the Regatta fleet at all events this season with the aim of giving consistency to improve skills quickly.
A 29 boat fleet at Ripon SC had some of the big guns flexing their muscles before their temporary retirement from the series for exams. Last year's series winner George Spence along with Chris Hampshire and Olly Lumb had a close tussle all day in RS Aeros with Hampshire beating Spence to the overall. Chased hard by Ripon's Oscar Manning (Topper) in 3rd overall and Aleks Svietek's in 4th. Ripon's Matthew Marks put in a stellar performance in his Optimist to finish 5th overall.
The regatta fleet was again won by Lucas Davey from Covenham which sets up the regatta fleet for a covenham showdown to decide the winner unless Nia Jenkins pulls out the stops in future events to move up the podium. Ripon's friendly environment saw Huw Jenkins and Bassenthwaite's Lucy Smith enter the Rookie fleet with a parent each in tow and Smith's mother's knowledge of the lake shifts and wiles proved the winning combination!
The final round before the half term break was at Scaling Dam Sailing & Watersports Club high on the North York Moors. It was a glorious day with a great wind, if from a slightly challenging direction. 30 boats took to the water including several Rookies crewing for main fleet sailors (a welcome development in their sailing experience) plus a few SDSC new sailors joining the race course for the first time.
Fred Buckley's ILCA6 from Yorkshire Dales SC led the fleet chased hard by club local Henry Blades ILCA4 with Alanna Starkie in 3rd. Oscar Manning had a good day racing against Simeon Shackleton to finish 4th and 5th overall respectively.
Again the regatta fleet was a Worthington /Davey/ Jenkins 123 with Noah Gaunt starting to show time in the boat is paying off finishing 4th Regatta. First double hander was Lewis Gordon & James Catterall in a RS200 with first Rookie Hazel Wright in 13th crewing for Lara Eagleton in a Feva. Big mention to club member Xavier Lal who learned to sail 3 weeks prior to the event and met & then got into a Firefly with Cody Braithwate for the first time on the day.
After racing, an impromptu swimming and paddle boarding session went on into the evening.
And so, to the next round at Pennine SC on 7 June. All to play for and the overall leaderboard reflects the mix of winners and shows that consistency and attendance pays off as currently the series is being led by Noah Smith from West Riding SC with Freddie Price (Covenham SC) 2nd and Oscar Manning chasing hard to make up for a couple of missed events in 3rd overall. Blades, Starkie, Buckley & Svietek are also all in with a chance of the big prize if they do enough to cancel out their DNCs from earlier events.
The Regatta series is going to be a dance off (currently) between Davey, Jenkins & Worthington and the Rookie is a close-run thing between Smith & Jenkins.
The last 3 rounds are at Filey (14 June), Derwent Reservoir SC (28 June) and Sunderland YC (5 July).
If you would like to know more about this fantastic and long running series and all the other events that NEYYSA organises to support North region youth &junior sailing, please head to our website www.neyysa.org
We have lots going on additional to the traveller series including team racing and coaching and we are very much looking forward to hosting the North Region Youth & Junior Championships which promises to be the biggest youth & junior event in the regional calendar at Ullswater Yacht Club on 21 & 22 June.