Battle of the nippers

RYA Eric Twiname Championships get underway on Rutland Water

The battle of the Zones raged at Rutland Water as day one the 2009 RYA Eric Twiname Championships got off to a full-on start today.

The pinnacle of the racing calendar for the RYA Zone and Home Country squads, the Championships pit the nine squad teams against each other over two days for the prestige of picking up the coveted Eric Twiname Shield and being named top RYA Zone.

Contested in the Optimist, Topper and Cadet dinghy classes, and with the windsurfers racing on Bic Techno boards with 4.5m, 5.5m, 6.8m and 7.8m rigs, some 226 sailors in 211 boats took to the water as the quest to wrestle the coveted Eric Twiname Shield from the grasp of 2008 event winners - the North Zone - got underway.

And with the full possible complement of four races being completed by all the classes at Rutland the destination of the 2009 shield lies delicately poised ahead of tomorrow’s showdown races.

South Zone duo Mary Henderson, 13, and 12-year-old crew Jack Hardie were in cracking form – winning two and coming second twice - to throw down the gauntlet to their fellow Cadet sailors. But just a point in arrears, East Zone rivals Joseph Butterworth & Joseph Chadwick will not lay down quietly in the race to take top spot.

Two race wins for Northern Ireland’s James O’Hare, 13, sees him head the Topper pack overnight but tied on eight points with the South East Zone’s Oliver Machell, 14, there is everything to play for on day two. Machell’s South East teammate Charlotte Fenn, 15, leads the girls’ contest by a point from Wales’ Danielle Rowe.

At just 10 years old, South Zone sailor Jennifer Cropley holds a commanding seven-point advantage in the Optimists, scoring two race wins and discarding a race two 33rd, to lead Wales’ Daniel Whiteley, 11, in second.

In the windsurfer classes, 11-year-old Henry Bloodworth (South East) and the South Zone’s Tom Squires, 15, both picked up two bullets and two seconds apiece to forge ahead in the Techno 5.5 and 7.8 respectively. Chloe Bennett (North Zone) sits just two points behind Squires as the leading girl on the biggest Techno rig being raced.

At the top of the 4.5 pile, the West Zone’s James Bloor, 11, sits pretty on four points, two points ahead of top girl overnight 10-year-old Sarah Labourne from the North Zone.

In a double for the Labourne family, big sister Emma, who is actually the reigning Techno 4.5 RYA Eric Twiname champion, is winning the 6.8 event with seven points having moved on to the bigger rig this year. She holds just a point lead from North Zone teammate Max Bushell.

Meanwhile, with the event also doubling up as the first part of the selection process for the 2009 Laser 4.7 and Mirror National Junior squads, Scotland’s Lorenzo Chiavarini, 15, has been in scintillating form dominating the Laser 4.7s with four points from their four races. Sitting in ninth overall Liverpool’s Amy Mercer, 14, is the top girl at the halfway stage.

In the Mirrors, Tom Lovesey and Millie Pugh enjoy the narrowest of advantages over Alex Lloyd & Jack Moore, Lovesey / Pugh sitting first on countback having discarded a second to Lloyd / Moore’s third.

With a maximum of six races set for the weekend, it is the intention to run two races tomorrow. Racing is scheduled to start at 10.25am with no warning signal after 3pm.

Thanks to the long-standing and ongoing support of the Eric Twiname Memorial Trust, the event is free to enter with all costs associated with the running of the regatta met by the RYA and the Trust. The RYA are also delighted that Gill, marine wear designers, have come on board as official event supporters for this year’s Championships

For full results and details on the 2009 RYA Eric Twiname Championships visit